Skip to content

Love the people, not the bureaucracy

Love the people, not the bureaucracy Last Friday, I was interviewed by the Yukon News (Yukon Woos 'Unwelcome' Mexicans, Friday, August 21). I am concerned that people were given the wrong impression about how I feel about Canadians and coming to Canada.

Last Friday, I was interviewed by the Yukon News (Yukon Woos ‘Unwelcome’ Mexicans, Friday, August 21).

I am concerned that people were given the wrong impression about how I feel about Canadians and coming to Canada.

In all of my travels to Canada I have been warmly welcomed as a visitor and find Canadians incredibly open and generous. I am very happy to be here as part of the LLAMA Project’s Mexico/Canada exchange of artists (people can learn about the project at www.llamaproject.com).

The main difference between this trip and others I have made to this country was the new travel visa requirement the government of Canada suddenly put in place this summer, just as I was preparing to travel.

The staff at the Canadian Embassy were not prepared to deal with the flood of requests in such a short time. The resulting process was not pleasant and people were stressed.

Although I think it will get easier with time, the government of Canada’s implementation of this new visa requirement was very fast and felt unwelcoming.

The people in Mexico were not very happy about this change in our relationship.

This does not change my attitude about the Canadian people, who I think are very generous.

Cesar Damian

Whitehorse