To all of the people out there that the above statement is referencing, as those who 'complain that your neighbour is an immigrant', this may not be the blog post for you.
I feel very passionately about immigration as a positive influence and high immigration is one of my favourite things about Canada. I absolutely love that Toronto has several cultural and ethnic districts, and I very much enjoy visiting ALL of them.
A proud Canadian is excited to be a member of this diverse land.
The benefits of having so many cultures is not only for their physical presence, Canada also has some of the best cultural festivals in North America - Caribbana, Oktoberfest, etc.The picture above really gets to the core hypocrisies of xenophobia, whether an individual accepts immigration as a positive aspect or feels it is somehow detrimental, they have no choice but to accept globalization.
Our letters ARE Latin, our numbers ARE Arabic, and I don't know anyone who would give up pizza based on the fact that it is Italian.
Canada in particular is very dependent on immigration. Personally on my fathers side, I was the first person born in this country. My family has paid taxes their whole lives, they adore this country, and contribute as much as anyone else. It is an unfortunate reaction when people disrespect immigrants and the positive contributions they make in this, or any other recipient country.
Something else that is interesting is the problems within Canada. I had a conversation recently with a Nova Scotian who had been spending his time working in Albert up at Fort Mac.
His experiences had been unfortunately similar to an international migrant coming to a foreign country.
He expressed a serious disrespect coming from native Albertan's towards easterners who are 'coming out here and taking our jobs away'. He mentioned how Albertans 'Wont work the same hours I will because their used to having the opportunity. I will take everything I get because I came so far to get it'.
Clearly this image above applies to more than international migrants, and the xenophobic nature of society is a problem that needs to be addressed across the planet.
*Love your neighbours
Note: Generalizations are an unfortunate side
effect of conversation. Don't take offense
or assume I accept them entirely.
I really don't understand the issue with immigrants. Our country was populated through immigration for the most part, and will continue to be populated through that form... or we'll shrink! Especially considering our reputation as an accepting and multi-cultural country. I think it is also interesting to note that my father, a German landed immigrant here in Canada, is white, university educated, and speaks English with almost not accent... he does not suffer from any discrimination whatsoever, because immigrants who don't look or sound like immigrants don't get singled out.
ReplyDeleteThats a really good point. The common mental image of an immigrant is not a person who is European, and the ethnic identity of immigrants really impacts peoples judgments and prejudices.
ReplyDelete