For years, Canada has prided itself on opening wide its doors to
asylum-seekers and immigrants. Yet such a tradition has been recently subject to scrutiny after 17 men belonging to immigrant families have been arrested due to an alleged terrorism plot. Critics within and outside the nation have argued that too many immigrants have been received by the Canadian government without being thoroughly screened. Moreover, they claimed that asylum-seekers were routinely permitted to roam around freely and that the government's multiculturalism policy hampered the assimilation of immigrants to the Canadian culture.
Needless to say, the
Canadian government argued that the accusations of laxity in immigration policy were a bit exaggerated. Canada's ambassador to the United States cited that Canada had tightened its immigration rules after the September 11, 2001 attack. He added that no additional changes would be made to the current immigration policy despite the recent arrest. The Bush administration commended the Canadian government for arresting the 17 men and for preventing any potential terrorist act. Yet some members of the US congress took the incidence as their chance to raise certain complaints against Canada. Currently, Canada holds the highest rate in terms of immigrant admission per year. Last year, the government accepted more than 262,000 including 35,000 refugees.
