{"id":7784,"date":"2017-03-22T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/?p=7784"},"modified":"2017-03-22T10:20:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T14:20:23","slug":"unpacking-kellie-leitchs-phony-threat-sanctuary-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2017\/03\/22\/unpacking-kellie-leitchs-phony-threat-sanctuary-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpacking Kellie Leitch’s phony threat to sanctuary cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an echo of President Donald Trump\u2019s policy-by-Twitter, MP Kellie Leitch has turned her attention to sanctuary cities. In a March 9, 2017 tweet<\/a>, the Conservative leadership candidate wrote, \u201cOne law for all is a Canadian value. “‘Sanctuary cities\u2019 will be ineligible for transit funding if I am PM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, Leitch\u2019s position is doomed to fail.<\/p>\n

If Ms. Leitch is looking to the U.S. as a positive case study, she won\u2019t find much to support her position. Washington can\u2019t order municipalities to spend their own money to deliver federal programs. In the U.S., in fact, there are hundreds of sanctuary cities. Each is guided by its own legislation. But in most cases, the aim is financial: cities have passed these policies so their police services aren\u2019t required to do another government\u2019s work. Put another way, American municipalities don\u2019t want to provide a federal service without receiving any payment for it.<\/p>\n

Sadly for Trump, courts have come down on the side of U.S. cities. A Supreme Court decision has restricted any conditions on federal funding to the purposes that such funding is provided. Unless the court decides otherwise, Trump will have trouble forcing sanctuary cities to enforce immigration laws by threatening to take away federal funding.<\/p>\n

Canadian cities aren\u2019t worried about this dynamic anyway. The country\u2019s five (and growing) sanctuary cities \u2014 Toronto, Hamilton, London, Montreal and Vancouver \u2013 weren\u2019t created to prevent the use of their funds to deliver another government\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

Instead, these municipalities have adopted this status to create inclusionary urban policies and services for the 500,000 non-status migrants who live below the radar in Canada \u2014 working, raising families, and paying taxes. City staff \u201cdon\u2019t ask\u201d a person\u2019s immigration status before providing service and \u201cdon\u2019t tell\u201d if they find out. Sanctuary city policies mean that residents can sign their children up for swimming lessons or buy parking permits without fearing that they will be turned over to border enforcement officials.<\/p>\n

In his public statement<\/a> made on January 31, 2017, Mayor John Tory said that \u201cToronto has also affirmed itself as a Sanctuary City, with a formal policy allowing all residents of Toronto to access City services without fear arising from a lack of documentation, so that everyone can be kept healthy and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, Canada\u2019s sanctuary cities are doing exactly what they are authorized to do. Under the Canadian Constitution, municipalities are \u201ccreatures\u201d of the province. While they don\u2019t have the power to make decisions that fall within the jurisdiction of federal or provincial governments, most big cities have broad powers to pass by-laws that affect the health and safety of their residents.<\/p>\n

Non-status residents have unique and serious health issues that are exacerbated by a constant risk of deportation. These fears reduce the likelihood that non-status people will access the very services they need, like education, shelter, and labour protection, further exacerbating their marginalization.<\/p>\n

If anything, Canada\u2019s sanctuary cities should do more. After a year-long review of the City of Toronto\u2019s policies, a Ryerson University report found<\/a> that many municipal staff aren\u2019t aware of sanctuary city policies and better integration should take place across the organization\u2019s many departments, especially Toronto Police Services. As the report noted, \u201cAlready vulnerable to abuse, non-status victims and witnesses cannot report crimes to police due to fear of deportation, which dissuades many from seeking police assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine a court asking cash-strapped cities to refund desperately-needed transit funding for introducing a policy they are legally empowered to approve \u2013 and which protects their most marginalized residents.<\/p>\n

The next time Ms. Leitch decides to take on Canada\u2019s big cities, she might want to read the Constitution, not Trump\u2019s tweets.<\/p>\n

\n

Alexandra Flynn is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto (Scarborough) where teaches and writes on urban governance. Read more about sanctuary cities <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. Follow her on Twitter at @alexandraeflynn<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an echo of President Donald Trump\u2019s policy-by-Twitter, MP Kellie Leitch has turned her attention to sanctuary cities. In a March 9, 2017 tweet, the Conservative leadership candidate wrote, \u201cOne law for all is a Canadian value. “‘Sanctuary cities\u2019 will be ineligible for transit funding if I am PM.\u201d Sadly, Leitch\u2019s position is doomed toContinue reading “Unpacking Kellie Leitch’s phony threat to sanctuary cities”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8282,"featured_media":7789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnpacking Kellie Leitch's phony threat to sanctuary cities - Spacing National<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2017\/03\/22\/unpacking-kellie-leitchs-phony-threat-sanctuary-cities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unpacking Kellie Leitch's phony threat to sanctuary cities - Spacing National\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an echo of President Donald Trump\u2019s policy-by-Twitter, MP Kellie Leitch has turned her attention to sanctuary cities. 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