Illegal immigrants: Toronto police board approves 'don't ask don't tell' policy

The Toronto Star reports today that the city's police board has approved the so-called 'don't ask don't tell' policy I blogged about yesterday. Under the policy police won't ask witnesses or crime victims about their immigration status.

Tracy Huffman writes (Police board approves `don't ask, don't tell', Feb 16):

In an effort to break down a wall of silence between crime victims living illegally in Canada and police, the Toronto Police Service is adopting a "don't ask, don't tell" policy whereby officers investigating a crime won't ask victims and witnesses about their immigration status.

The concept was unanimously supported by the police services board yesterday after outreach workers and members argued in its favour.

It is now Chief Bill Blair's job to write the policy, "to ensure that victims and witnesses of crime shall not be asked their immigration status, unless there are bona-fide reasons to do so," the motion stated.

The move will help protect non-status residents who are in abusive relationships or witnesses to crime, said Andrea Gunraj, an outreach manager with the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children.

[. . .]

Read the rest of the article here

This is one more sign that the government has no intention of doing anything about illegal immigration. Canadians should be concerned that their country's immigration laws are being openly flouted, but aside from the occasional grumbling on talk radio and in letters to the editor, there doesn't seem to be any outrage. I'm guessing that a lot of Canadians don't see how this issue affects them. Either that or they feel there's no point in complaining because the government won't listen to them anyway.