The Editor:

Re: "Zundel makes a mockery of refugee system," Mindelle Jacobs, Edmonton Sun, April 2, 2003.

German national Ernst Zundel is hardly the first to jump aboard Canada's immigration gravy train in the guise of a refugee. There have been more egregious examples of abuse. Indeed, "a slap in the face" was how Liberal immigration critic, Sergio Marchi, decried the intervention of Gerry Weiner in the 1986 Abraham Finkel case. Weiner, Canada's Minister of State for Immigration, had arranged for Finkel, an Israeli citizen with 20 criminal convictions, including one for highway robbery with violence, to obtain his permanent-resident status in Canada. Normally, an applicant with his rich history of past crimes would not be considered eligible for such a status. But, in fact, Weiner had been lobbying on Finkel's behalf since his time as a back-bench Conservative MP from Montreal's West Island.

1. Haven's Gate: Canada's Immigration Fiasco, Victor Malarek, Macmillan of Canada: Toronto, 1987, pp. 232-239.

Sincerely yours,

Orest Slepokura
Strathmore AB

c. Mindelle Jacobs