Regina, Saskatchewan has decided that it will not become Canada’s next “sanctuary city.”
Sanctuary cities are an American invention — designed to help illegal migrants in the U.S. evade federal deportation orders. Left-wing activists in Canada have recently taken to appropriating this policy and importing it to our country.
Sanctuary cities are known for refusing to verify a person’s immigration status before that person is eligible to receive taxpayer-funded municipal services.
Regardless of immigration status, sanctuary cities provide all individuals with the same services and privileges as legal tax-paying residents and Canadian citizens.
The motion, first made in 2017, to turn Regina in a sanctuary city has since been downgraded to an “undertaking.”
Now the City’s Executive Committee is looking to remove the issue from their list of outstanding business, thus saving the city from the expensive title of a sanctuary city.
Originally put forward under the ambiguous term “access without fear,” to pass a sanctuary city policy would mean that those who have no legal right to live in Canada would have the same access to municipal services as those who do.
These services could include anything from a library card to subsidized housing.
New York City has to spend $5.6 billion more a year to provide services for illegal migrants since becoming a sanctuary city.
Even Canada’s Minister of Immigration had warned the city from taking on the status.
In 2018 Minister Ahmed Hussen’s office sent the city a letter saying that “a ‘sanctuary city’ has no meaning or status in Canada’s asylum system. There is a risk that such declarations will create incentives for more migrants to enter Canada between ports of entry and establish themselves in ‘sanctuary’ cities.”
Cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton have all instituted sanctuary city policies without consulting their residents.
Other cities, including most recently Windsor, On. have been considering adopting the sanctuary city status.
Regina has decided to respect the rule of law and respect the taxpayer by announcing it will not be the next Canadian city to have to deal with the consequences of a sanctuary city policy.
