Context

If you read today's thread from /u/Cordhorde, you'll know that the Canadian government's plan to bring in Syrian refugees only includes women, children, and families, while excluding single men for security reasons.

This announcement of the details is new, but the plan to bring in Syrian refugees has been known (and debated) for some time. Many people have opposed it on security concerns, but they seemed to be widely dismissed as racist, Islamophobic, and xenophobic. Now, the Canadian government is doing the same thing but targeting men instead of Muslims/Arabs. I made the point that I didn't think that many people would speak up when men are the target instead of Muslims/Arabs.

News

A politician spoke out against it! Not just any politician, but Thomas Mulcair, leader of the 3rd biggest party in Parliament (44/338 seats). It's not the widespread outcry that, say, a similar exclusion of women would receive, but it's more than I expected.

"We do not believe it is appropriate to make a vast generalization about a category of refugees and exclude them ahead of any processing because of who they are," Mulcair said in Ottawa on Monday, a day before the government announces all the details of its refugee resettlement plan.

"That's simply wrong," he said.

Mulcair said he was worried that "the politics of fear and division" that Canadians saw from the Conservatives during the federal election campaign are resurfacing under the new Liberal government.

"While security concerns remain of vital importance, will a young man who lost both parents be excluded from Canada's refugee program?" said Mulcair "Will a gay man who is escaping persecution be excluded? Will a widower who is fleeing [ISIS] after having seen his family killed be excluded?"

"Excluding them in advance is not the Canadian way," said the NDP leader.

The previous government came under fire for prioritizing refugees by "the most vulnerable," which critics saw as code for excluding Muslims — an accusation the Conservatives repeatedly rejected.

This is really big to me. I don't remember the last time I saw a politician speak up specifically for men. I considered just posting this as a comment in the other thread but this is so novel of a thing that I thought it warranted its own thread.