Dale Boyd’s column “Ramble On” (Western News, Nov. 20, Terrorist attacks haven’t become the routine) sure did ramble on.
He “covered” so much ground with generalizations and anecdotes, that a cogent reply in a short letter is impossible but a couple of issues come to mind.
At one point he posits that fearful members of the public are “arguably racist” and later in his diatribe directly accuses those who caution against refugees as being racist. He also alleges that we, the public, are taking “the actions of a few and extrapolating that to insinuate refugees from Syria and the Middle East are dangerous”.
The truth is that Canada has welcomed people from all over the world and is itself a nation of immigrants and refugees.
Canadians are willing to consider refugees from Syria but, given the terrorist threat emanating from that part of the world, they expect the threat to be negated through acceptable vetting procedures. Under the circumstances, such precautions are reasonable and indeed, necessary That is not a general rejection of all refugees from Syria.
The suggestion that such precautions are xenophobic, racial or based on religious beliefs is insulting and unworthy of further comment.
Thomas E. Linning
Penticton