Statement by Archbishop J. Michael Miller who served on the Vatican Pontifical Council

for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.

August 25, 2010

The arrival of 492 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka has generated much discussion

about Canada’s immigration policy and the appropriate means of dealing with the

men, women and children who recently came by ship.

Some of the reaction has focused on the desperate individuals who have arrived

on our shores, smuggled here to flee persecution in their homeland. There has

been outcry, much of it hostile, about queue jumping, abuse of the system, and

the need to keep Canada from being overrun with would-be refugees.

It is critical at this time to keep in mind the fundamental dignity of each

human person, particularly these new arrivals. In his own life and ministry,

Jesus identified himself with refugees and other marginalized groups: “I was a

stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35).

Catholic Social Teaching is uncompromising on the rights of refugees, and these

men, women and children must not become scapegoats in otherwise relevant debates

over immigration policy, enforcement and reform.

While it is incumbent on responsible governments to establish the identities of

newcomers so as not to open a door to potential security risks, the Catholic

Church maintains that people who are victims of armed conflicts, misguided

economic policies or natural disasters, as well as "internally displaced

persons," must be recognized as refugees and offered international protection.

Canada has a well founded reputation as a nation of immigrants and refugees, and

a long history of welcoming those seeking a haven from injustice.

It has been well documented in recent years that one of the global consequences

of overly restrictive immigration and refugee policies by industrialized

countries has been an increase in human trafficking, particularly of women and

children.

The United Nations has called people-smuggling the fastest-growing form of

transnational organized crime.

Pope John Paul II warned against the tendency of affluent countries to “tighten

their borders under pressure from a public opinion disturbed by the

inconveniences that accompany the phenomena of immigration. Society finds itself

having to deal with the 'clandestine' men and women in illegal situations,

without any rights in a country that refuses to welcome them, victims of

organized crime or of unscrupulous entrepreneurs." (Pope John Paul II, Message

for World Migration Day 2000, n 4.)

While the state must ensure immigration policy is subject to the requirements of

the common good, such control must not inspired by selfish attitudes or

"restrictive policies."

It is only just that as we discuss federal immigration policy, we keep in the

forefront the men, women and children currently in detention – all of whom have

risked their lives to escape persecution back home.

Before coming to Vancouver, Archbishop Miller served on the Vatican Pontifical

Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants, established by Pope

John Paul II in 1988 to minister to the spiritual welfare of those who no longer

are or who never have been members of a parish.