Tao | Canada is scapegoating migrants. Believe us, migrants are feeling it

It is more anti impact of immigration numbers than anti immigration per se, but not surprising that some perceive it that way with the resulting impact on mental health:

…We seem to have forgotten, over the course of Canadian history, the separation of loved ones by explicit and implicit race-based laws. Today’s social media algorithms shield us from a history replete with narratives of turning away boats and refoulement to torture and punishment and the destruction of migrant businesses and communities. Less viscerally, exclusionary bars were placed on individuals that had the direct impact of separating families, still today healing from the trauma of generations past. 

This collective amnesia, with an election looming and amidst shifting global political tides, has seemingly replaced the amnesty we were initially proposing for those who had served as guardian angels in times of need. In January, the federal government set an intake cap on international student permit applications, limiting the number of approvals to 360,000, down 35 per cent from 2023. Just last week, the government announced it will be reducing the number of temporary foreign workers and that it is considering the number of permanent residents Canada accepts each year. Surgery is indeed being done with a hammer, and with not enough consultation of those migrants that the changes impact.

The “low skilled” workers, who on one hand have been found to work in slavelike conditions and on the other hand are being told they are taking Canadian jobs and homes with that slavelike salary, have received a clear message of: “we don’t need you anymore.” 

As the dialogue shifts more toward displacement and deportation, and as descendents of migrants and those who work in migrant spaces, we want to highlight the harmful impacts that this culture of scapegoating, meme-ing, and generally, mobbing is having on the mental health of migrants.  

We have seen firsthand the mental health impacts that Canada’s move toward anti-immigration policy and sentiment is having on individuals and families, especially our clients, within the context of this dialogue where immigrants are cited as the source of many societal woes. …

Will Tao is a Canadian Immigration and Refugee Lawyer (J.D., LLM Student) and the son of first-generation immigrants to Canada. Karina Juma is an articling student (J.D./MA) and daughter of first generation immigrants to Canada.

Source: Opinion | Canada is scapegoating migrants. Believe us, migrants are feeling it