Letter to the Editor, Toronto Star:

I am so angry at my country. Now, after a little boy is drowned, Canadians may be moved to action. Until now, the Syrian refugee crisis has not been on any political party’s radar, and now suddenly, in an election campaign, they are all full of concern? Do they really want to help, or do they just want our vote?

We are the people who elected Stephen Harper and Chris Alexander. We are also the people who chose Mike Harris as premier a few years ago, and the people who just elected Patrick Brown to lead the PCs provincially, and continue to elect Fords to represent our city. These men, and they are all white men, appeal to our basest, most selfish instincts. In power, they pass laws that weaken our democracy and grind down the poor and vulnerable.

Last December, a group to which I belong began working on Syrian refugee sponsorship. Together with a partner mosque, we’ve raised nearly $80,000, enough to fully support two families in Toronto. Our first refugee family, a family of four, has been identified, and the paperwork has been completed and sent to the Middle East, but the family is now going though a slow process of interviews, security and medical checks.

It shouldn’t take a photo of a drowned child to get us to notice. What if there had been no photo? What if it were a photo of a drowned adult? Where’s our imagination? Where’s our compassion?
Douglas Buck, Toronto