Harper's Canada has more than one refugee death on its hands | Martin Lukacs

The Conservative government's fortress-style border policies at home and its wars abroad are a lethal contribution to a global refugee crisis

Undeserving people exploiting the generosity of a benevolent government. Cheating an application process. Taking advantage of welfare. Stealing our jobs. That is the image of "bogus refugees" that Canada's Conservative government has spent years carefully cultivating. But a single photo of a drowned child has shattered all the stories meant to harden Canadians. 3-year old Alan Kurdi's fate off Turkey's shore has seared the reality of a refugee crisis into our consciousness and left Canadians stunned about our complicity in the death of a child.

Those now putting Canada's refugee policies under scrutiny will realize that this much else is clear: the Harper government has more than one refugee's death on its hands. It is not simply that Alan Kurdi's family's attempt to reach Canada was dismissed by the government. Nor that Canada's Immigration Minister ignored a hand-delivered plea. Under the Harper government's overhaul of the immigration and refugee system, those fleeing war, poverty or persecution arrive not to a haven but a hazard. Never has this country been more unkind and unwelcoming.