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Re: ‘Your chosen land’: 40 people from 13 countries become Canadian, by Tamar Harris, July 1.

It is great to hear that people see Canada as a safe, open country in which to live. According to polls, Canada is seen as the most admired country in the world. Therefore, I’m a bit miffed that Canada should be only “second choice.”

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Claudette Katerere and her nine-year-old daughter became Canadians at the citizenship ceremony this weekend. Katerere is from Zimbabwe. When she couldn’t get refugee status in the U.S., she immigrated to Canada.

She goes on to say, “I came as a refugee (to Canada) because I was living in the States and I decided to come here for a better life.”

Is Canada now accepting refugees from the U.S.? Jokes about Donald Trump aside, I thought refugee laws did not permit people to “immigrate to Canada” as second choice if things didn’t look as advantageous elsewhere.

Katerere says that “Canada is the land of the free and that’s the reason why we came here.” I think that there could be some Americans who take exception to the implication that Canada is free, but the U.S. is not.

What has happened to the definition of refugee?

Evelyn Meyer, Belle River

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