A Brief Note on Canadian Immigration Report Being Barred from Ottawa
CIReport, September 26, 2012
Earlier today, the webmasters of cireport.ca were scheduled to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Due to apparent interference by Liberal and NDP members of the Committee, our scheduled presentation did not happen. You may read what we intended to say by clicking here.
We had been invited to present a 10 minute opening statement and answer questions posed by the Committee members. We made the long drive to Parliament Hill and just a moment after entering the meeting room, a clerk informed us that our time had been given to someone else and that we were not to appear before the committee.
After leaving the room, journalists who were already apprised of the situation informed us that the topic of our presentation was deemed inappropriate and had several screen captures of our website on hand. Still quite shaken by the news of being censored so hastily, we spoke with them for some time and attempted to convey the profound disappointment and confusion regarding this decision to censor us.
The meeting had been planned and rescheduled six times since June 2012. We were very much looking forward to presenting our opinions to the Committee and receiving their questions. It was an honour to be involved in such an admirable democratic process, and a privilege to be among the few private citizens whom were to be permitted to convey their thoughts regarding immigration.
However, it seems that the Liberals and NDP did not believe in their immigration policies enough to defend them before us. Along with all the other Canadians we speak for, we were silenced, censored, discarded.
It is easy to take a cynical stance and state that this committee apparently exists solely to pat itself on the back, but we believe the truth is far more pernicious. It appears that immigration is the only public policy that does not get talked about.
Canada proclaims itself a liberal country.
Since when, we wonder, is it a liberal value to silence your opposition?
The individuals involved with the decision of barring us should be greatly ashamed.
We welcome your comments and will be updating this post shortly.
