SLOBODIAN: Assad dictatorship ousted, time for jobless, able-bodied Syrian refugees to go home

When dictator Bashar al-Assad fled Syria in fear Sunday, a 50-year iron-grip reign of terror ended. Like his ruthless father Hafez al-Assad, this stain on humanity sadistically inflicted horrors on the Syrian people.Immediately after Bashar’s Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party was driven out by opposition rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), thousands of Syrian exiles in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon returned home through unguarded border crossings.Syrian refugees across Canada waved Syrian flags and jubilantly celebrated Assad’s fall to the hardcore Islamist HTS, a designated terrorist group.Too many foreigners from various nations that Canada welcomes and financially supports somehow neglect to wave the Canadian flag. Too many openly champion terrorist groups.Since Assad is no longer a threat, it’s time for many Syrian refugees in Canada to start packing up to go home.They have a homeland to rebuild. And unemployed able-bodied Syrians who have found refuge in Canada for years should be rested enough to be up to that task. Canada has welcomed 100,000 Syrian refugees since 2015. Between 2016 and 2021, 30% of refugees to Canada have been Syrians.Despite Assad’s regime being toppled, the federal government assures us more Syrians are on the way, many of whom will get signed up for welfare. Jobs, even if they want them, are scarce.According to a Statistics Canada study — entitled The short-term labour market outcomes of blended visa office-referred refugees — a staggering number of Syrian refugees aged 15 to 54 remained on government assistance four to six years after their arrival in Canada, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resettlement program.As time passed, total reliance on struggling working Canadian taxpayers didn’t subside, it increased from 42.3% in 2014, to 50.4% in 2015, to 60.5% of Syrian refugees here four years in 2016.Canada’s unemployment rate just hit 6.8%, the highest level since 2017, so who knows where overall — not just Syrians — refugee unemployment and reliance on welfare stands now. It would be foolish to believe it hasn’t soared.Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration reported one-third of government-sponsored refugees rely on food banks in their first year in Canada, according to Blacklock’s Reporter Wednesday.It confirmed that half remain on welfare five years — or longer — after arriving. Of the 207,060 refugees let into Canada from 2016 to 2022, 88,838 were government assisted.And while Canadians struggle and hold down two jobs to make ends meet, most of them were men under age 29 — 33% from Syria, 33% from Afghanistan and 15% from Eritrea.“The resettlement program has an ultimate outcome of refugees living independently in Canadian society,” said the report Evaluation Of The Refugee Resettlement Program. Well, that’s not working well, is it? Why? Federal government incompetence. “Program governance remains a challenge with negative impacts on internal coordination and communication,” said the report.The UN reports that since civil war erupted 13 years ago, 7.5 million to 14 million people fled Syria.With a powerless Assad believed to be cowering somewhere in a hideout in Russia and no longer a threat to Syrians, many European countries paused, or suspended processing asylum claims from Syria. Austria is only one country considering deportations. Germany is pondering offering incentives for Syrian refugees to leave.But not Trudeau’s Canada!Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Canada will still greenlight asylum claims. He justified this on the grounds that Canada isn’t Germany. There are only 1,600 pending Syria claims here he claimed, as opposed to 47,000 in Germany.What about a possible surge of new applicants from Syrians — Druze, Shiites, Alawites, Kurds, and Christians — perhaps wanting to flee the hardcore Islamist HTS affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS?Sure, the HTS promised to protect minorities. We’ll see. The Taliban promised a lot of nice things too when it overran Afghanistan which is now groaning under neanderthal rules, women being flogged for not covering their heads and public executions.But what about Assad’s henchmen who’ll be hunted down by HTS? With European countries refusing to process asylum claims, Canada’s open arms will look very appealing to them.We can’t trust this Liberal government, the most anti-Christian government in Canada’s history, to differentiate between Syrian Christians who may want to seek asylum and Assad’s terrorist thugs.Count on undesirables slipping past the refugee board, and like Syrian refugees before them, likely immediately gain permanent residence status and regular cheques via direct deposit.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada danced around the issue when it told Global News they “can’t speculate on future policy decisions.”The Syrian Canadian Foundation’s executive director Marwa Khobieh said conditions in Syria remain too unstable for refugees to move back, but visits aren’t out of the question. Figure that logic out.“Many people would like to visit. But I think moving and leaving Canada is still a premature move.”Feckless Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly issued a statement reaffirming Canada’s commitment to the Syrian people.“Our hearts are with all Syrian people, including those who have embraced Canada as their new home, enriching our nation with their resilience, courage and contributions.”Of course, our hearts are with the Syrian people who have suffered under Assad. If only Joly and her Liberal cronies had a heart for Canadian taxpayers. But no. As sad as it is, Syria’s fight and rebuilding Syria isn’t the burden of Canadian taxpayers to bear. Canadians are heaving under the weight of Trudeau’s taxes, inflation, and the housing crisis the Liberals created.The Liberals believe otherwise.“This is an opportunity to rebuild a Syria where all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion or background, can live with dignity,” said Joly. “We will collaborate with our partners throughout this transitional period to support the Syrian people.”Translation? Radical Islamic HTS terrorists can expect buckets of Canadian taxpayer cash headed their way. Just like Hamas terrorists enjoy the hundreds of millions of dollars that Canada funnels to them through the corrupt United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).And working Canadians must pay able-bodied Syrians to sit and relax on the couches Canadians bought them. For how long? A lifetime?Canadians have been extraordinarily generous. Assad’s gone. Go rebuild your country and let us try to salvage what’s left of ours.Meanwhile, don’t think president-elect Donald Trump isn’t watching the Trudeau government’s wilful negligence that will likely lead to Assad’s thugs sliding into Canada along no doubt with the other terrorists who may have already entered.Incoming US border czar Tom Homan rightfully calls the porous northern border a national security threat, because terrorists from Canada have so easily crossed into the US.Trump has vowed that on his first day in office, he’ll impose a 25% tariff on both Mexico and Canada on all products until both countries stop the flow of drugs and “invasion” of illegals into the US.The economic impact would be catastrophic.But the Trudeau government stubbornly carries on making bad decisions. It's almost like it's taunting the US. Trouble is, it's at the expense of suffering Canadians taxpayers.

SLOBODIAN: Assad dictatorship ousted, time for jobless, able-bodied Syrian refugees to go home

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