I’m an immigrant. I’ll be the first in line to agree that all the demands (and the specifics of those demands: personal space, hygiene, clothing, noise etc) for assimilation by western societies that I’ve ever heard re: immigrants, are reasonable - assuming such luxuries can be afforded (nobody crams themselves 8 to a room by choice).
But, people aren’t robots whose movements are controlled by an on-off switch. The government introduced the means for people to arrive and work, and so the people arrived. They are continuing to arrive because the policies have not been updated yet. How is it the immigrants’ fault? Why the hate and the attacks on their dignity & humanity?
The nonstop online vitriol hurts me deeply to read - nowhere is “safe” - Reddit, HN, Instagram… the hate spewers seemingly spend all their time spewing on these platforms to manipulate opinions and tap into the fundamental atavistic psychological flaws of the human mind.
If you are a 19 year old Canadian who is priced out of everything and is in a line at the local movie theater 100 long with desperate foreign students trying to get your first job you're going to feel cheated and pissed off.
If you are a 37 yo millennial who still doesn't own a house, can't afford to have kids moving back into the shitty style of apartment you lived in your early 20's but now it costs $2700 a month, you are going to be fucking pissed off.
If you are a new parent waiting 9 hours overnight in an packed emergency room, you are going to feel pissed off.
It is hard to tell Canadians this is good for them when everything has gotten worse.
I think this is because immigration is mostly pushed by people with heavy ideological reasons (far left, no border militants, etc.) but also rich employers who just want cheap and malleable workers.
Now you have the common people to whom you never asked their opinion about mass immigration: they now understand that instead of increasing wages, giving better benefits and improve working conditions to attract potential workers where it is lacking (supply and demand), the rich employers cheated the game with the help of elected politicians, by bringing hundreds of thousands of people who are willing to do it for less.
Add to this difficulties to buy a home, wages stagnation, rent going up, general inflation... The rich get richer, the rest gets poorer. This is how hatred is born unfortunately.
i recently saw a refreshing perspective on canadian immigration that addressed these issues at their origins: failures in housing policy and complacent governance. it's the perspective i wish more canadians held so we could steer the government towards policy that's better for all. maybe nativist nimbyism isn't inevitable.
That video gets cited regarding every discussion about the current Canadian immigration disaster. It pushes two basic ideas-
1) If Canada had housing, services and infrastructure that met any growth in population, there would be no problem!
2) Look at all these problems occurring, isn't it wonderful‽‽‽ It's going to force a revelation and everything will be super fixed and it'll be better than ever! The future is now! Things that don't kill you make you stronger or something.
That covers 100% of the video, and the delusional, pie in the sky notion pushed by the creator. If that video were presented as farce it would actually be funny. Instead it's depressing and sounds like the dope-fueled meanderings of someone absolutely decoupled from any semblance of reality.
Nothing is being fixed. Housing starts have dropped. Housing projects are moving slower than they did before this influx (but wait, isn't the video holding that there has been some amazing, wonderful transformation? Where?). The health system is in shambles. Demographics ghettos grow. A whole generation are going to be living in their parent's basements indefinitely, and anyone looking for a future is moving out of Canada.
Canada is poised for a very unfortunate hard turn to the right due to the policies of the very minister quoted and his peers who pushed the same "no problem here!" dismissals to growing concern. Busy making excuses as problem because disaster became catastrophe.
It is very unfortunate that some of the anger and outrage about government policy is reflected in racist or xenophobic outbursts as described in the root post, but it was basically inevitable: This government basically declared war on a demographic of Canadians and they're "fighting back". I'm lucky to work in a high skill position and live in an affluent area, but I can recognize the absolute disaster that is occurring: When coffee shop chains are buying up apartments and evicting the residents to bring in an army of TFWs, something has gone profoundly awry. When international students don't actually go to classes, get a worthless diploma, and are buying a work permit and a path to residency, something has gone wrong.
Canada needs immigration. Canada was built on immigration. Canada is a multicultural nation. What has been happening is a perversion of that and has put a country on edge.
But, people aren’t robots whose movements are controlled by an on-off switch. The government introduced the means for people to arrive and work, and so the people arrived. They are continuing to arrive because the policies have not been updated yet. How is it the immigrants’ fault? Why the hate and the attacks on their dignity & humanity?
The nonstop online vitriol hurts me deeply to read - nowhere is “safe” - Reddit, HN, Instagram… the hate spewers seemingly spend all their time spewing on these platforms to manipulate opinions and tap into the fundamental atavistic psychological flaws of the human mind.