What if ...

You had come to Canada as a refugee from a conflict zone?

In Canada you meet people who might have been enemies in your homeland, but in Canada past conflicts are overlooked and everything is peaceful. What was conflict in your homeland is respectful political debate in Canada.

And what if ...

Years later, in response to partisan lobbying, Canada decides to honour one of the combatants from your former homeland?

Canada finances the partisan lobby to publish revised histories that bury controversies, glorify the chosen combatant, and erase your own national and cultural identity from Canadian history?

Canada instructs all of your compatriots to adopt the revised history and the identity of the chosen combatant or else be tagged as ungrateful for your admission to Canada.

Far-fetched?

That's exactly what Canada has done to the former Vietnamese boat people.

We must not allow government to frame partisan political issues as ethnic, cultural, or heritage issues in order to shut down political debate and erase diversity. We must not allow government to import foreign conflicts and use them to define Canada’s communities.

Please defend tolerance and political freedom in Canada's diverse society