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That’s just as it should be.

You don’t need to prove citizenship status to rent an apartment, or (illegally) to get a job, or to spend the money you make at that job in Toronto. Why would Public Health need citizenship papers from a tenant with a bed bug infestation, or Parks and Recreation from a parent enrolling a child in swimming classes?

Whatever the cost, denying children of non-status residents a public education would be ghastly, and our public boards quite rightly have “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies on the books.

It’s none of the City’s business, basically. It’s fine to make it clear to undocumented residents that they have nothing to fear from City employees; there’s no benefit to anyone in people living in irrational fear. But precisely because their status is none of the City’s business, it is simply not possible for council to declare Toronto a “sanctuary” for them. Because illegal immigrants … are illegal.

It’s a tough life. Perhaps most notably, to get health care you need a health card. And to get a provincial health card, you need status. Frankly, there is nothing to be done about that, unless we simply grant everyone in Canada citizenship. So, council voted to “request the federal government to establish a regularization program for undocumented residents.”

But it simply isn’t going to happen. Not even a New Democrat government would declare a mass amnesty, because then it would have to deal with the ensuing influx of undocumented arrivals anticipating the next one.

We’ve seen precisely this phenomenon with our slow, backlogged refugee system: Where people see an open door to a better life, they walk through it; and many of them won’t walk back even if you ask nicely.

I don’t blame them a bit. But the law is the law. And some Torontonians are, irreparably, on the wrong side of it.

National Post

cselley@nationalpost.com