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Seeing what the data say is not inherently anti-immigrant or anti-refugee. I’m a second-generation Canadian myself, my father having had the great wisdom to come here at the age of two and a half. (I guess I’m really third generation). His parents weren’t refugees, but they were looking for a better life. So was some ancestor of every one of us now living here, whether they arrived by steamer from Europe, as in my grandparents’ case, or by land bridge from Asia, in the case of First Nations.

For us to slam shut the door behind us would be wrong in many different ways. And of course many immigrants, refugees even, will do much better than the median numbers suggest. (In fact, for the 2011 immigrant categories mentioned, average incomes are higher than median, which means some people already are doing better.)

Besides, 25,000 Syrian refugees are less than one-tenth of one per cent of Canada’s population. In the larger scheme of things, the challenges they pose are barely noticeable. We’re a rich country. We can afford to help out some of the most desperate people in the world.

But let’s not kid ourselves. There will be remarkable and inspiring exceptions (which the CBC will surely find and broadcast) but on average, people who come here speaking neither English nor French and without a high-school diploma won’t find it easy going in the kind of economy Canada’s is now.

Yes, as interviewed champions always tell us, with hard work and determination anything is possible. But possible is not the same as likely. Even with hard work and determination, many people who start with such big disadvantages will face tough sledding.

That doesn’t mean we should keep refugees out. It does mean we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if their income numbers don’t turn out the way we’d like.