What I Do
What I do for a living? Oh, I worry about a few things immigration-wise, and have input into this and that, and you hear about it here.
But what I have dedicated the last twenty years of my life to is not getting immigrants into Canada, its what to do with them when they are here; basically, to preventing what is going on in France right now, has sort of happened in England already and will likely happen more, to say nothing of Germany. (I can't find one or two pithy links I agree with; basically, young immigrant men who are enjoying an I kid you not 50% unemployment rate in a continent that is developing a labour shortage are pissed off and behaving badly. Go read the news if you want to catch up on it.)
Canada has been able to avoid those horrors for a whole number of reasons, but partly, if not largely, because of me and my colleagues. Mostly we are, I think, a reflection of our society and it's fundamental values; we aren't government, we are what is known in the trade as community based. Which is actually pretty true, we've got a ton of volunteers, and people giving us money, to the point we can sort of face down the government once in a while.
I do a fair amount of public speaking, around immigration and its realities, and while Canadians tend to be polite and noncontroversial so I am never sure if I am addressing a bunch of people that truly disagree, my audiences do still seem awfully interested and welcoming.
And what we have been doing has Just Worked all these years, big time. On all our's behalf, what we have been doing has worked out pretty massively well for this country so far, really.
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You're welcome.
But please listen to your machinery when it starts complaining a little. You don't want to be in Paris right now. We are the people that prevent that. We are kind of boring when we drone on about integration and structural reform, but we know what we are talking about. You really don't want to be in Paris right now.

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