A group in Windsor, Ontario is hoping to turn their community into a so-called “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, be it a library card, subsidized housing or even employment with the local government.
Regardless of immigration status, sanctuary cities provide all individuals with the same services and privileges as legal tax-paying residents and Canadian citizens.
These policies, however, also encourage more illegal immigration and can help to facilitate dangerous criminals hiding from law enforcement.
The Windsor Law chapter of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers recently organized a panel to discuss how a U.S.-style sanctuary policy could be implemented.
The group has made up a new euphemism, “access without fear,” to soften and water down the more specific term, sanctuary city.
The panel was moderated by Gemma Smyth, the Associate Dean of Law at the University of Windsor on February 5.
Smyth believes that sanctuary cities can be extended to any municipal service.
“It’s as simple as getting a library card,” said Smyth.
“Anything a municipality is involved with funding. It really depends on the individual municipality.”
Regardless of what you call it, sanctuary city policies have proven to be expensive failures wherever implemented.
While American sanctuary city policies have come under intense scrutiny in recent years following a string of murders committed by illegal migrants who were aided by sanctuary policies, many places in Canada still champion this failed U.S. policy.
Cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Hamilton have all instituted sanctuary city policies without consulting their residents — in effect nullifying Canada’s laws by giving migrants the same right to services as tax-paying citizens and legal immigrants.
Sanctuary cities spend huge sums to provide services for people who have no legal right to be in the country.
New York City, one of the world’s largest sanctuary city, spends around $5.6 billion a year on servicing illegal immigrants.
The costs of hosting illegal immigrants in Toronto, a sanctuary city, has skyrocketed since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invited the world’s migrants to come to Canada, with the federal government paying millions in taxpayer money to the city to provide more housing.
Windsor may soon be the next city to deal with the costs of providing “access without fear.”
