Why East African refugees want to live in Canada

The CBC’s program, The National, aired a fascinating documentary this week detailing the journey of two refugees from East Africa who crossed the border into Canada on the Minnesota/North Dakota border.

The exodus of refugees from the United States was well documented last winter after several from Minneapolis nearly froze when they were dropped off near the border and told to walk.

The two men — one Somali and one Kenyan — stopped in Minneapolis only long enough to observe Ramadan, they told the CBC.

Here’s the thing: The United States was never a destination. It was just a country they had to cross to get to the place they wanted to be: Canada.

When the pair finally arrived in Canada and asked for asylum, they were unsure how the locals would react.

Area teenagers organized a soccer game to welcome them, the CBC program reported.

“The first day I felt like nobody cares about if I’m Somalia or wherever, who is my race, or what is my religion,” one refugee said. “They about me as a person. I’m a human being and they respect that.”