As the white supremacist regime to the south of us embarks on a
policy of ethnic cleansing we should look at our own immigration and
citizenship policy.

I have written posts
about immigration previously but this post. rather than dealing with
specific programs, will deal with the broader philosophy of
immigration starting with some basic facts and values.

Firstly, 95% of
Canadian residents are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants
so, unless they are indigenous, someone claiming that they have more
right to be here because their people immigrated here before people
that immigrated later is making a baseless argument.

Also claiming that
one’s place of birth gives someone more rights to a decent life and
human dignity than someone born elsewhere is just as baseless an
argument.

As I have written
before in On
Immigration:

Immigration has traditionally been a matter of consensus within
Canada with everyone agreeing the country needs immigrants and has a
responsibility to refugees. Political differences have been minor and
over implementation rather than broad policy.

Change has come with strategists in the current Conservative Party
thinking that the road to power is emulating Trump and cultivating a
hard core right wing base. Unfortunately for the Conservatives this
path will never lead the party back to the glory days of the former
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

Canada’s
immigration policy needs to be shaped by Canadian values.

Canada actively promotes inclusion and respect for diversity at home
and abroad. Diversity is a natural characteristic of every society.
Canada recognizes diversity as a source of strength and works to
champion inclusive attitudes and encourage the adoption of inclusive
approaches that lead to the full and meaningful participation of all.
(Source:
GofC)

The Canadian Multiculturalism Act serves as a
legislative framework for promoting diversity, equality and inclusion
in Canada, recognizing multiculturalism as a defining characteristic
of Canadian identity. (Source:
GofC)

Canadians do not
fear the other, 95% of us were the other.

There are two major
reasons people want to immigrate to Canada.

The most urgent one
is fleeing conflict zones where a normal life is impossible or
fleeing persecution by the authorities or others because of who they
are. This group is known as asylum seekers or refugees. Canada has
both a moral and legal requirement under international treaties to
accept refugees and asylum seekers.

The second group are
those seeking a better life for themselves in Canada. This group is
often referred to as economic migrants. This is the group that Canada
seeks as refugees as they are needed to fill jobs existing residents
are not educated or trained for or simply not interested in doing.
They are are also needed to provide demographic balance and support.
an aging population. Of course, refugees more often than not, also
serve this purpose.

There is another
group, family members abroad of those that have already immigrated
here and wish to be reunited with their family members in Canada. We
could refer to this group as family values immigrants.

All immigrants
provide much more than an economic benefit, they help build our
communities and contribute to the diversity and multiculturalism that
makes up the fabric of Canadian society and the core our value
system.

Morally there should
be no borders that determine that people deserve a better life based
on where they are born and people would be able to move freely
globally to try and make a better life for themselves.

But realistically,
to maintain the society we have we need to limit immigration to
levels our society and infrastructure can accommodate at any
particular time, and we need to protect ourselves from those that
pose serious criminal and national security threats to the country.

However immigrating
is not a crime, so those entering the country without proper
documentation or without following proper procedures are not
criminals but have committed administrative offences, so while they
should face due process they should not be treated as criminals.

I would also argue
that anyone who has entered without following proper procedures and
has established themselves as contributing members of society should
be deemed to have earned their right to be here and provided a path
to citizenship like all other immigrants.

I would further add
that minor criminal offences should not be an automatic reason to
refuse admission or deport people but should be considered within the
overall character of the individual and their contributions or
potential contributions to Canadian society.

Also “terrorism”
should not be used as an excuse to exclude people based on their
expressed opinions rather than any actual threat to Canada.

As Canada has only
one class of citizen we should also have only one class of immigrant.
We currently treat people who come here to do permanent continuing
work, such as harvesting crops, differently by calling it temporary
employment simply because the work is seasonal, even though the jobs
continue from year to year and often the same people do the same jobs
from year to year,.

This creates a
category of underpaid work with little or no benefits where employees
are subject to exploitation and cannot organize to improve their
conditions because they can be deported at any time at their
employers discretion. It is time to end this practice of exploiting
workers then casting them aside till the next year and grant these
workers permanent residence status. If we need people to do these
jobs they should be able to do them as Canadians.

The only exceptions
should be truly temporary jobs, such as foreign workers temporarily
working here to install foreign purchased equipment or to train
Canadian workers to use the equipment, as well as foreign performers
touring Canada.

And it goes without
saying that all immigrants should have a path towards full
citizenship.

Canada needs to
return to being seen as a welcoming society.