More than 100 people rallied in Fredericton Saturday afternoon, urging Ottawa to open the country’s doors to Syrianrefugees as soon as possible.
St. Thomas University professor Sylvia Hale was one of the speakers who slammed the federal government for its inaction to the crisis.
"There’s a huge ‘war on terror’ discourse that leaves people fearful of doing anything,” she said. “The Harper government, I think, is fixated on this fear of terrorism – the need for security – and that is making it very, very difficult to act.”
Gul Caliskan came to Canada from Turkey in 1999. She says the spotlight is on the plight of Syrians right now, but there are also more than three million refugees around the world.
"There always have been refugees and there always will be,” said Caliskan. “Unfortunately, we always have to remember that human beings, we all are vulnerable and things can change from day to next day."
Those who attended the rally applauded a family of Syrians arriving in Fredericton late Friday.
Organizer Asaf Rashid believes Saturday’s rally is starting a conversation, but hopes it will soon turn into action.
"We might not be a large centre, but there are refugees who come here, migrants that come here, and we need to do what we can, as well as being involved in pressure against the Canadian government to do something about these exclusionary policies,” he said.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Andy Campbell.
