The Brain Drain Debate: Crime fears 'don't deter' those bound for U.S.

Fears of a gun culture and high crime will not curb the flow of skilled workers to the United States, where the potential to make more money remains the most powerful incentive, says a U.S. immigration lawyer based in Toronto.

Responding to remarks made by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Henry Chang, whose firm handles files for Canadians moving to the U.S., said yesterday no one should assume the proliferation of guns in the U.S. or the murder rate will act as a disincentive.

"When it comes down to it, they can make more (money) while they're there," and the gun issue "doesn't override their desire to make more money," he said.

Mr. Chretien on Wednesday said that Canadians who move to the U.S. face a more dangerous society. "They have five times more murders with guns than we have in Canada," he said.

According to the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control, the U.S. has a murder rate involving a firearm that is almost nine times higher than in Canada. For murders using a handgun, the coalition says the U.S. rate is 15 times higher than Canada's.

But fear of guns "almost never" comes up for those intent on moving to the U.S., said Mr. Chang.

"They may say when they have kids, they may want to raise them back in Canada because it's a better place to bring up a family, but they say for money reasons, they're going."

Mr. Chang agreed some U.S. inner-cities can be very dangerous, but that's not the destination for professional people who tend to live in suburbs. He said cities such as Seattle, and the Boston area, are attracting lots of high-tech talent, while banking executives go to New York and management people end up all over the United States.

Others say they wouldn't trade Canada's relatively low crime rate for all the money in the world.

"No one could pay me enough or cut my taxes low enough to entice me to move to the United States, because I think the quality of life in Canada is much higher," said Wendy Cukier, a justice studies professor at Ryerson Polytechnic University and president of the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control.

Ms. Cukier said it was a myth to believe that crime only happens in poor neighbourhoods.

"If you talk to any of the victims of gun violence in the United States, they come from all walks of life.

"The notion that it's only poor folk in certain parts of the city who are at risk is not accurate.

"They have metal detectors in nice, middle-class schools É no one in the U.S. is immune from gun violence."