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Ottawa is getting set to sign Canada onto another showy international agreement, the United Nations’ Global Compact on Migration. You’ve probably heard of it in recent days because certain right-wing commentators in Canada and abroad seem rather agitated about it.

The agitation is fairly overblown. The compact isn’t worth defending, and we’ll get to why it’s a bad idea in a moment. But despite what you may have heard, it wouldn’t actually compel Canada to demobilize our border guards and welcome caravans of migrants across our border to set up camp in Winnipeg. The non-binding agreement is typical of documents of the sort: dozens of pages of progressive fluff that will be signed with great fanfare, celebrated with the mandatory cocktail parties, immediately ignored by all the signatories and then essentially forgotten about.

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Countries apt to treat migrants poorly won't be much impressed by yet another paper-shuffling exercise at the UN

The general goal of the compact — safer and more humane lives for migrants and refugees — is fine. But the grim reality, as is always the case with international law, is that the countries that would bother to adhere to the compact are already treating migrants with proper concern for the rule of law. Canada, for example. And those countries apt to treat migrants poorly won’t be much impressed by yet another paper-shuffling exercise at the UN.