Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talked about the importance of immigrants to Canada at a town hall at the University of Regina on Jan. 10, 2019.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced more questions about immigration policy at the University of Regina on Thursday, in the second town hall he hosted in two nights.
"I'm looking at the fact that Germany, France and a bunch of other European countries that stood up on the same side of the fence when tyranny was coming down on us, we've got an open border allowing this stuff to come in freely, and what are we doing about that thing in particular, an open border?" he asked.
"Islam and Christianity," the man responded to some boos and heckles.
The prime minister then launched into a lengthy explanation of how immigrants have helped to build Canada.
"Canada remains one of the only countries in the world where citizens are by and large positively inclined toward immigration," Trudeau said.
The town hall took place in the very province whose former premier, Brad Wall, once suggested that the federal government should suspend its plan to settle Syrian refugees over concerns about security.
Statistics Canada data for Toronto has shown an inverse correlation between recent immigrants and violent crimes such as sexual assault, common assault and robbery.
"Thus, all else being equal, high-immigration neighbourhoods generally have lower crime rates," it added.
Research on violent hate crime has also shown that .
In 2017, Muslims were targeted in 123 incidents of violent hate crime that were reported to police, while Jews were targeted in 53 such incidents.
Violent hate crime targeting Muslims made up 15 per cent of all incidents. With Jews, just under seven per cent.
The Regina event came one night after Trudeau was questioned about immigration — specifically Syrian refugees — at a town hall in Kamloops, B.C.
The question came following the killing of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen, who was found dead in a park in Burnaby, B.C. in 2017.
Ibrahim Ali, a Syrian refugee, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.
"The generalizations and the danger that we get in, in tying in things like immigration policies to incidents like this, is something that I don't know is helpful or useful in a diverse, pluralistic, inclusive society like ours," Trudeau responded.