From: Dan Murray [mailto:dmurray@alternatives.com]
Sent: Wed 10/13/2004 3:35 PM
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Holland Is Full, And So Are Greater Vancouver, Greater Toronto and Greater Montreal

Dear Prime Minister Martin and Fellow MP's:

Please take note of The Toronto Star article below. It should provide a
clear warning that some dramatic reductions have to be made in Canada's
immigration and refugee numbers.

Here are a few of the main points:

(1) A recent Dutch parliamentary report drew the following conclusions
about Holland's immigration policies:
      (a) Successive governments were to blame for policies that encouraged
           segregation rather than integration of immigrants and refugees.
      (b) It had been a mistake to allow children to speak Turkish, Arabic and
           other Native languages (rather than Dutch) in primary schools.
      (c) It was wrong to continue to allow 70-80% of Dutch-born immigrants to
           import their spouses from "home countries" (primarily Turkey and
Morocco)
      (d) Holland's immigrants needed to become more Dutch and spend more time  learning the Dutch language.

2. This debate was not just on immigration. It was about national identity.

3. The debate is centred in the most populated cities such as Rotterdam.
Events
such as the planned building of a huge mosque on the Maas River in
Rotterdam (similar in scale to the proposed construction of a huge Buddha
statue in Richmond, B.C.) have sparked controversy. Also, reports that by
2017, almost 60% of Rotterdam's population will be of non-Dutch origin have
fuelled the controversy.

4. All Dutch mainstream political parties have adopted many of the late Pym
Fortuyn's immigration proposals. Among these ideas are the following:
     (a) Holland is full.
     (b) The needs of Native Dutch people have to be placed first.
     (c) Holland's immigration and multiculturalism policies have to be
re-assessed.

5. A group called The Liveable Rotterdam Coalition has risen as a protest
against the crowding in that city.

The parallels between the environmental/cultural impact on Canada's largest
immigrant/refugee receiving areas and the Rotterdam and Amsterdam areas are
clear.

The Citizenship and Immigration idea that unneeded immigrants can be
diverted to smaller population centres, many of which have high
unemployment, makes no sense. Canada needs dramatic reductions in
immigration now.

Best wishes,
Dan Murray
Immigration Watch Canada

The Dutch transformation
>Warm welcome for newcomers has turned cold
>Holland's liberal tradition mirrors Canadian attitudes
>
>ANDREW DUFFY
>ATKINSON FELLOW
>
>ROTTERDAM—Ibrahim Spalburg came to Holland as a nine-year-old boy frrom
>his native Surinam and as he matured, he grew convinced that his adoptive
>home was an ideal place in which to raise a family.
>
>He married an immigrant from Indonesia whose father had fought for the
>Dutch against the Japanese, and together, they raised three daughters and
>a son. For years, the university-educated Spalburg was employed by the
>City of Rotterdam as a liaison to the area's growing Muslim community.
>
>Rotterdam was renowned for its liberal approach to issues such as
>immigration and the poverty that many newcomers suffered. Dominated by
>socialist politicians, the