In America, it is impossible to bring up Syrian refugees without someone else raising national security concerns. Consider Donald Trump: He wants to ban all Muslims from entering the US out of fear that Muslim refugees will carry out a terrorist attack in the US.
Canada is taking a different approach. As one Canadian guest told The Daily Show on Tuesday, "So we're gonna decide not to help 49,999 people because one person went bad? … That's not how we look at it. We wouldn't blame all Syrians for that one Syrian. We don't blame all Americans for Donald Trump."
Canada has been inviting refugees into their country by the tens of thousands, and some private advocacy groups are calling for more refugees. As advocates see it, they have a real opportunity to help tens of thousands of people fleeing violence in their home country — not just by taking in refugees generally, but sometimes taking in refugees directly into their own homes. And while some refugees may cause trouble, it's a very small chance, and it's still worth helping the many more who are suffering.
As The Daily Show's segment shows, it's a totally different mentality than America. In the US, some pundits have even freaked out about what Canada is doing, suggesting that it could lead Syrian refugees to cross the border and attack America. But the US's neighbors up north just don't seem worried.
The segment was one of two parts. On Wednesday night, The Daily Show's Hasan Minhaj will talk to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who's called for bringing in more Syrian refugees — in what he called "The Battle for North America."
