Canada has been secretly giving asylum to gay people in Chechnya fleeing persecution - Polidicks

[url]https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/canada-chechnya-gay-asylum/article36145997/[/url] [quote]For three months, the federal government has been secretly spiriting gay Chechen men from Russia to Canada, under a clandestine program unique in the world. The evacuations, spearheaded by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, fall outside the conventions of international law and could further impair already tense relations between Russia and Canada. But the Liberal government decided to act regardless. As of this week, 22 people – about a third of those who were being sheltered in Russian safe houses – are now in Toronto and other Canadian cities. Several others are expected to arrive in the coming days or weeks. "Canada accepted a large number of people who are in great danger, and that is wonderful," said Tanya Lokshina, Russian program director for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organization, in a telephone interview. "The Canadian government deserves much praise for showing such openness and goodwill to provide sanctuary for these people. They did the right thing."[/quote] [quote]The program has been a closely held secret within the government for months. Non-governmental organizations that were involved have also kept silent, for fear that any leaks could imperil the people they were trying to help. However, Kimahli Powell, executive director of Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian NGO, said the time has come to speak publicly about the Chechen refugees, because those who wanted to come to Canada are now here, and because the new arrivals need help with employment, language training and counselling, which are difficult to provide when their presence is being kept under wraps. "We needed to be discreet about the program for as long as possible to maintain their safety," said Mr. Powell, whose Toronto-based organization offers support for LGBT people at risk in other countries. "We now have to focus on settlement and integration of these individuals. And it's important that our community, who are concerned about them, know that they're here, that they're safe."[/quote] TLDR the Canadian government worked with NGOs to operate a fullblown underground railroad in Chechnya to help gay people get out. They're now eligible for permanent resident status and citizenship in Canada. The program is coming to an end now so they've decided it's okay to reveal it publicly so that the refugees don't have to hide their past. The whole thing appears to have gone completely undetected by the Russian and Chechen governments.

This is some movie-level good guy espionage. Love it.

This is so amazing and heartwarming. I'm gay myself, so it means a lot to me when I see a government doing so much for gay people who are persecuted in another country. Stories like these make me feel that there is still a lot of good in humanity, even when so many horrible things are happening in the world.

Not much of a secret anymore eh?/s Neighbor to the north once again shows up Tiny Hands. Way to go Canada.

For all the shit Canada gets for some of their multiculture aspects, they do many great things to advance humanity

I think I'll just become a legal and respectable resident there. Shit's hopeless down here.

Canada continues to be awesome, good on you guys!

Man I feel proud to be a Canadian today. [IMG]https://fi.somethingawful.com/images/smilies/emot-canada.gif[/IMG] A reminder that Canada was the ultimate destination for the underground railroad in the slavery era, too.

Heh, perhaps the US would've been best if it stayed under English control. Canada turned out pretty alright, and Hong Kong did great as well.

So Like the Soviets did with the nuclear missiles and Cuba? No one knew not even people inside the Soviet government and they used a super complicated system of movements to cloak their cargo under exports or something like that. But this time, Canada, Gays and Russia/Chechnya?

This is awesome but there will be some people in our country who will unjustly criticize Tredeau for this.

Good old Canada, as friendly as a walrus. I hope they've saved a lot of lives doing this.

[QUOTE=Speedhax;52643894]This is awesome but there will be some people in our country who will unjustly criticize Tredeau for this.[/QUOTE] Who cares what those mumbling retards think. These are literally being genocided in those countries. Canada gained alot of respect from me today.

[QUOTE=Sky King;52644075]Who cares what those mumbling retards think. These are literally being genocided in those countries. Canada gained alot of respect from me today.[/QUOTE] Though I agree, there is going to be a VERY large push against Trudeau next election (in a couple years). An unfortunate amount of people here want someone an unfortunate amount like Trump.

[QUOTE=Turing;52643341]For all the shit Canada gets for some of their multiculture aspects, they do many great things to advance humanity[/QUOTE] The shit that Canada gets for "multiculture" is exactly that: shit--or bullshit, rather. It's impossible for a country to be "too multicultural". I suppose it's possible to criticize a place for trying to [i]enforce[/i] multiculturalism, but Canada is a great place, and only looks better with this news.

[QUOTE=Speedhax;52643894]This is awesome but there will be some people in our country who will unjustly criticize Tredeau for this.[/QUOTE] up until they realize the people coming in aren't all brown, then it's probably cool

[QUOTE=Smeetin;52644805]Though I agree, there is going to be a VERY large push against Trudeau next election (in a couple years). An unfortunate amount of people here want someone an unfortunate amount like Trump.[/QUOTE] Which is a damn shame, because while Trudeau's not a saint, he's still a damn sight better than Harper's conservatives ever were.

Wouldn't lifting the secrecy of it present a threat to the Russian safehouses? The FSB are gonna be interrogation suspects.

I think they're only lifting the secrecy now because they're pulling out. The last refugees being brought over are already out of the reach of those who would do them harm.

Canada better up their intel and espionage services now because I can imagine Russia is really going to attempt to put another Trump like figure up in retaliation. Then again, Putin is smart enough to play the long con so he might sit on this and act later.

[QUOTE=archangel125;52646475]I think they're only lifting the secrecy now because they're pulling out. The last refugees being brought over are already out of the reach of those who would do them harm.[/QUOTE] Hopefully this means that whoever were operating on the safehouses got their ticket out as well

[QUOTE=markfu;52646487]Canada better up their intel and espionage services now because I can imagine Russia is really going to attempt to put another Trump like figure up in retaliation. Then again, Putin is smart enough to play the long con so he might sit on this and act later.[/QUOTE] The difference is, unlike the US, in Canada we can trigger new elections at almost any time. We also don't elect the Prime Minister by direct vote, the leader of the party with the majority in Parliament becomes the Prime Minister. So, Putin would need to a) replace or corrupt the head of a political party, b) help that party win the election, and c) keep the fuckbuffoon from triggering a Vote of No Confidence and a new election immediately; if we had elected Prime Minister Trump we'd be having new elections already. There's also the aspect of a minority government, which is where the ruling party has the most seats/votes of any single party, but the minority parties collectively hold more seats than the largest party. In conditions like these, a No Confidence vote is much easier to pass, and so the party in charge has to carefully craft legislation based on compromise and winning votes from the other parties, because every bill they try and pass could bring them down. Minority governments are, in my opinion, preferable to majorities that require their own party members to defect in order to risk a No Confidence vote -- the last two Harper election cycles delivered his party a majority in Ottawa and they used it to fuck over environmental protections, among other things, without opposition. If Putin's puppet only managed a minority government they'd be too fragile to effectively use as a blunt goon the way Trump is. America has impeachment but it only kicks out the President and it requires the Senate to hold a trial and achieve a two-thirds majority. All it takes in Canada is for the ruling party to lose a vote on a bill, followed by a successful No Confidence motion, and then either the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition goes to the Governor-General with the successful No Confidence vote in hand and requests the government be dissolved and elections called. And while it is possible for the Governor-General, on behalf of the Queen, to [I]refuse[/I] to dissolve Parliament with a No Confidence vote in their hands, such an act would trigger a constitutional crisis and would almost certainly cause Canadians to reject the monarchy and demand the country evolve into a constitutional republic without a royal as the official, if ceremonial, head of state.

Moments like this make me so damn proud to call this country home.

Damn I should had went to Canada when offered the choice. Stuff like this just shows how good a country it is.

[QUOTE=Amplar;52643835]Heh, perhaps the US would've been best if it stayed under English control. Canada turned out pretty alright, and Hong Kong did great as well.[/QUOTE] Not likely. The modern US is made up largely of former French and Spanish territories. The parts under English control would most likely have just been partitioned into the Canadian Provincial Governments had they not eventually rebelled.

I'm hoping that Canada will be the new super powers because Unity is a true master race.

Praise Canada, this is a lovely movement by their part. My sister and uncle are gay and luckily they're not in countries that don't accept it, but if they were, I'd want nothing more for this movement for them.

[QUOTE=Amplar;52643835]Heh, perhaps the US would've been best if it stayed under English control. Canada turned out pretty alright, and Hong Kong did great as well.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=L'Citizen;52648500]Not likely. The modern US is made up largely of former French and Spanish territories. The parts under English control would most likely have just been partitioned into the Canadian Provincial Governments had they not eventually rebelled.[/QUOTE] Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfuss wrote a Alternate History Novel with this premise [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Georges[/url]