Topic: Rights of Immigrants
Country: Canada
Delegate Name: Brian Funk
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Canada position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
Concerning the rights of immigrants, Canada believes in giving immigrants opportunity to become citizens of states, as well as giving them equal rights that match those of normal citizens.
Our country has had great success in creating a diverse culture through allowing simple criteria to become a citizen of Canada. By creating four classes of ways to acquire citizenship, many people can become a resident so long they either have family members in Canada, show economic promise, or are a refugee (as determined by a council). Our government does not believe in harshly restricting movement of individuals through immigration laws. Canada also has high immigration rates because of our standards that give all peoples the same rights, whether they moved into the country or were born there. We believe that equality needs to be maintained between all citizens and that immigrants should not be restricted in ways that other residents are not. This idea further extends into our belief that settlers must not be classified by sex, working abilities, whether they are students, refugees, etc. Once anyone becomes a citizen and enters our borders, there are no differences made between individuals and their rights, as we believe it is a natural right that all people who live in a certain country to be treated equally. This generally allows for peace between residents and the government.
We propose that an agreement be made between all member states that sets a standard for the rights of those who move into a new country, as well as the rights of immigrants within countries. Canada strongly believes that the contents of this document be modeled after our own immigrant policies, which favor the rights of the people. Naturally, special case measures should be taken to prevent some of the few problems that we have had with the policy. This includes many instances of soldiers from the United States entering Canada’s borders in order to avoid deployment. On this issue, we believe that a soldier is considered a refugee and has right to remain in a country to avoid going war. Events like this need to be clarified within the text of the proposed policy, as to avoid gray areas and keep problems from arising on this issue. Canada does understand that all members already have existing laws concerning immigrant rights within their respective borders, and that many of them are strict, especially regarding their entrance into the country. However, it is our hope that our procedures are used as an example to show how successful immigration can be while also taking into the account of the rights of the people. Should the proposed settlement be created, it need not be adopted to replace standing country policy, but rather be a guideline for disputes over immigration between members.
