I feel like Canada in general profits from the difficulty and uneasiness people experience discussing issues involving immigrants. Somehow we are often made to feel like we are being critical of immigrants, and are being intolerant. I think a more nuanced and honest approach would focus on the Canadian economy, and how it relies to an abnormal and unhealthy extent on using immigrants and the dreams they have for their future to the advantage of the country and certain industries. For example, I live in Montreal. I could take you to at least 8 restaurants on St. Catherine’s Street where the dishwashers are all Indian immigrants on student visas working 80 hrs/week for cash under the table at $8 to 10/hr. These dishwashers are happy with this arrangement as they make more money than they would otherwise, and who can blame them? Another example is our system of universities, where people from outside the country pay 3 to 4 times the tuition, sometimes to retrain in a field they already have a degree in back on their home country. And before being accepted to university they are often obligated to take language courses in private schools that themselves hire exclusively immigrant teachers, as they are vulnerable and less likely to resist persistent wage theft and substandard work conditions. I have worked in schools which had an unwritten policy of not hiring locals as “they cause too many problems.”
It just seems to me that Canada would fall apart without its immigrants, and while we should (and do) certainly celebrate and value our diversity, this shouldn’t obscure the alarming exploitation that often occurs and is hidden beneath bland generalizations such as, “Canada values its immigrants.” (Fake smile) Do we really? Or do we just need them in order to continue this weird economic status quo that we already know isn’t working very well.