To what end do we look at the migrant, or the one seeking protection, or the refugee, or even the immigrant, as someone who is only here to take advantage of our way of life and our resources? Note the question. It does not ask whether the perception is true or not. It asks, what is the gain in having such a perception?

I was in a meeting today, during which we looked at the statistics for people seeking to cross into the States from Mexico each month. The numbers are down significantly with Presidential orders banning access to protection after 2500 claims each day. There are more people arrested in two months along that border than have ever tried to come to Canada in a year. Yet, there is a rhetoric in Canada that is strongly negative. To what end? For what purpose? I often try to understand the motivation behind the rhetoric:

Are we so afraid of losing our way of life that we would deny people having a chance for life at all? What do we think happens to people who are deported? Are we really so poor, that we cannot help those that have had everything taken away, often even family members?

The whole world gasped on July 13, 2024 when an ex-president was shot at, a fireman lost his life to save his family, and two others were critically injured – all at one event. Yet, we barely cast a glance at the reality that tens of thousands of people face this kind of violence every day and just want to get somewhere safe. They risk their lives to protect the lives of their families. Is their experience any less horrific? Can we gasp for them? Can we gasp at the evil that drives them to us, rather than at them for coming to us?

Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash