Oh man, we LOVED Toronto!! It seems the whole civilized world has gone to shit.
I’m no social anthropologist, but I think that too much immigration of any kind (legal or not) without the demand for it can ONLY lead to crime and upheaval. The controlled immigration that our parents and grandparents faced was due to a direct NEED for skilled laborers when our huge cities and infrastructure was being built. They had no reason to turn to crime (of course, some did!) since they could support themselves and their families legally.
But what option does a refugee or asylum seeker have when faced with the fact that he/she lacks the necessary social, language and technical skills to survive?? Not giving them a pass for criminal behavior - no way! But you cannot just thrust people into a strange environment and expect them all to function normally; governments cannot bow to extreme political pressure and flood their mostly homogenous (culturally different but sharing the ethos of the country) citizen populations hoping to absorb these individuals. Look what happened when Angela Merkel let in one million Syrians - still chaos, resentment and in some cases, complete LOSS of German identity in some villages - gone for good and now Syrian. Is that what we want?
What’s going on in both your country and mine is a tragic experiment gone wrong. You and I are probably both offspring of immigrants somewhere down the line - only the Native peoples were here first. I have NO problem with legalized, controlled immigration. That has ALWAYS worked in every country I can think of.
Please let me emphasize for all reading this that these are only MY thoughts and I don’t want to stir up any political red/blue hornet’s nests. I personally view myself as a centrist and have NO registered party affiliation. I have no energy to argue with wing nuts from either side. If you agree or disagree that is your right and privilege…
Be well, James.