Dear Editor,
Re: “Hospital becomes passport mill,” Richmond News, Oct. 13.
When I first started with the foreign language signage issue it was an unaddressed topic for over 20 years, according to documented complaints at city hall.
The birth tourism issue has been no different as it too has gone on for years. The lack of action by government at all levels has manifested into many complex challenges.
Birth tourism is approved by the Government of Canada. It is different from an “accidental” birth in a foreign country by way of wrong calculation of dates or a medical emergency. It is extremely well planned and excludes regular, deserving immigrants who are without sufficient funds to essentially buy Canadian citizenship for their child. It promotes Canadian citizenship as a business transaction and an insurance policy for the future.
Citizenship is a moral and ethical commitment to Canada. It should not be granted to those deliberately circumventing civic responsibilities for personal self-enrichment in terms of free access to Canada’s social safety net.
Australia put an end to birth tourism in the 80s and Hong Kong ended it in 2012. Why can’t Canada put an end to an outdated policy that was created 70 years ago?
Kerry Starchuk
Richmond
Dear Editor,
Re: “Hospital becomes passport mill,” Richmond News, Oct. 13.
This subject has been addressed by media in the past. The numbers will only increase. This will take up scarce beds in our already crowded hospitals. That is the immediate concern.
Secondly, it is a back door into Canada that should be closed.
Women who are pregnant in their third trimester should not be allowed into the country. And the stay should not be approved beyond two months before the due date.
If the loophole is not closed, people from other countries could follow suit.
Politicians have failed to act because they like the money coming in. But this situation could create other unforeseen problems that require spending more money than is spent by the so-called birth tourists now.
So, if a child born now in Canada has medical issues and returns to Canada at a later date, who pays for the treatment?
Obviously, you and I.
Waiman Lee
Richmond
Dear Editor,
Re: “Hospital becomes passport mill,” Richmond News, Oct. 13.
Thank you, your photo on the front page tells this whole despicable story and your Voices Column highlights the problem and who needs to fix it.
Your reporters have done an excellent job giving the residents of Richmond the whole story.
Canadian citizenship for sale! What a terrible abuse of Canadians.
This blatant two-tier immigration policy must be ended by the governments involved and those enabling it. This outrage bypasses our culture and our values and reduces our worth as a country. This act comodifies our citizenship by placing the emphasis on ability to pay as the primary requirement. Citizenship and health care are a right for those who are Canadian.
Unfortunately, the present system is full of back doors to the front of the line. These need to be removed. The whole immigration process needs to be overhauled and updated as it is manipulated by those with enough money to get around the rules.
Obviously with zero conscience this just seems like another business transaction and a whole industry has sprung up to support this. Consultants and baby houses arrange paperwork, and doctors hold appointments for cash only. Pathetic.
For years “birth tourism” has put wealthy individuals at the head of the long line to come to Canada and become a citizen.
This has been going on for too long. How many thousands of queue jumpers have already come in this way?
Make elected politicians accountable. Tell your councillors at city hall to petition their local MLAs to get the B.C. government to instruct the Health Ministry to get all hospitals on the same page. No more different rules in different jurisdictions!
Only Women’s Hospital officials bar foreigners from registering to give birth. That is the right model/template to fix this.
Tell your MPs to tell Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to back up his promise for equal opportunities for those coming to become Canadians. The MPs can read I hope. Read this Mr. Peschisolido. Read this Mrs. Alice Wong. There is enough information in this story to provide them with all they should need and the Prime Minister is in charge with a majority.
This shouldn’t take long to write new laws that work for Canadians and that do not provide business opportunities for the unscrupulous consultants, baby houses, caregivers at thousands of dollars a month.
So make Trudeau responsible to correct this scam. It’s his problem now. Fix it!
David Merke
Richmond
Dear Editor,
Re: “Hospital becomes passport mill,” Richmond News, Oct. 13.
Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido states that, “You have guys looking at loopholes, looking at our generosity and abusing it.”
Yes, that is it Mr. Peschisolido, you finally got it. This statement is true of our housing affordability crisis, our problems with casino money laundering, tax evasion, exploitation of farmland and now with passport mills.
You can draw a straight line through all of these problems that takes you right back to the inaction of our government, at all levels.
Kris von Schalburg
Richmond
