Refugee Sandwich: Stories of Exile and Asylum

Abstract

R efugee Sandwich ought to be compulsory reading for every Canadian member of Parliament, and is recommended reading for anyone who votes in this country. Peter Showler has a careers-worth of experience working in all aspects of Canadian refugee law. It is a tribute to his immense insight that Refugee Sandwich is his chosen contribution at this point, the culmination of well nigh thirty years of reflection. The book goes right to the heart of the central problem of refugee law and policy here and elsewhere: positions on all sides of public discourse are entrenched, no one is learning anything new, innovation is stifled by a need to defend each corner. It is impossible to express any complexity in this atmosphere, let alone shed any light on the labyrinth which is refugee decision-making. Showler is an advocate. At a juncture when many advocates would have written a political tract, led a non-governmental organization, joined a think tank, or published a text, Showler has given us a work of what might be called ‘fiction’. It is a crowning achievement. Refugee Sandwich is principally comprised of thirteen stories told from and about different positions in Canada’s refugee determination process. We are introduced to lawyers and judges, interpreters and decision-makers, bureaucrats, refugees and claimants. Even the much maligned refugee protection officer has a voice. Heroes and villains are largely off-stage. Despotic regimes and genocidaires are condemned, but this is never the focus of the narrative. The people we meet are too complex for easy labels. Each story works its way around a sharp grain of truth, aiming at the oyster’s trick. Some are told in the first person, some with omniscient narration. Every pearl is not evenly formed, but then each bit of truth is not an equally attractive starting premise.