Demonstrators hold signs and chant during a protest against President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel to the United States by citizens of several countries Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. (Jeffrey M. Smith/AP/CP) The Associated Press

How Canadian politicians reacted to Donald Trump’s refugee ban

From the most blistering to the distinctly disinterested, we grade the coast-to-coast responses to Trump’s controversial executive order

By Shannon Proudfoot

January 30, 2017

Add Maclean's(opens in a new tab)

A young girl dances with an American flag in baggage claim while women pray behind her during a protest against the travel ban imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order, at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas, Texas, U.S. January 29, 2017. (Laura Buckman/Reuters)

The world reacted—and almost universally recoiled—throughout the weekend over U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban prohibiting passport holders from seven Muslim-majority countries, including those with visas and green cards who had been living in the U.S., from entering the country. Protesters descended on airports, the White House and the streets, as ordinary citizens and political leaders alike denounced the drastic and chaotically implemented measures, which shut out citizens and dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen—though notably, not those from other Muslim nations, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where Trump has business interests.

RELATED: Twitter, the mosque shooting, fake news and bias

Canadian political leaders, of course, weighed in as well. What was interesting was the temperature range of the responses, and not always from the expected points on the political spectrum. Most—including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has so far assiduously avoided criticizing the president with whom he will have to deal at close range—chose indirect indictment by pointedly reiterating the commitment of their communities to welcoming immigrants and refugees.

Here, arrayed from the most blistering to the distinctly disinterested, are the responses of prominent Canadian politicians.

Blistering denunciation

Alberta Conservative MP Jason Kenney speaks to media as he begins the Unite Alberta Truck Tour in Edmonton Alta, on Monday, August 1, 2016. (Jason Franson/CP)

Former minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism Jason Kenney:

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair

Rona Ambrose. (Photograph by Jessica Deeks)

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose

Tepidly displeased

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley

Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, holds a news conference to update Canadians on the possible impacts of recent immigration-related decisions made by President Donald Trump, in Ottawa on Sunday, January 29, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen

Statement in a press conference on Jan. 29: “I can tell you what our principles are. Our principles are of openness, open to ideas, open to people, open to those who want to come here and make a better life for themselves, contribute to our economy [with] their high skills, and to also to continue to have compassion for those who seek sanctuary in our country, and I think we’ve been a better country as a result.”