4 ms·

xenophobia is an easy path to votes.

by ojbyrne 16y ago

danudey 16y ago
Not in Canada though, or at least not in the big cities. If it weren't for immigration our population would be in decline (especially once the baby boomers start dying off).
- warwick 16y ago
  It really depends on the area of Canada you're in. My folks live in Southern Alberta and there's still a bit of xenophobic climate there. That being said, I didn't notice it when I went to school out east, or now that I live on the west coast. Edit: Actually, I should mention that since I went to school in Quebec, there was usually some sort of xenophobic/racial issue in the news. I went to an english school though, so most of the kids were from Ontario or Montreal where it's way less of an issue.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    I've lived in Northern Ontario (St. Josephs Island), and owned a gas station. We employed the one black person in the region in a gas station we'd invested in and saw a noticeable drop in sales. Xenophobia is doing fine in rural Ontario. Needless to say we stood by our employee.
    - gruseom 16y ago
      Xenophobia is endemic to rural areas in general. But I agree with your implied point (unless you weren't implying it, in which case I'll take it) that Canadians have a blind spot about praising ourselves for how tolerant and inviting we are. Like everything else about Canada (I mean English Canada), it needs to be understood in terms of an implied contrast with the US. Hmm, that's a lot of implying. And this is kind of inflammatory material. I think I'll stop here.
      - jacquesm 16y ago
        > Canadians have a blind spot about praising ourselves for how tolerant and inviting we are. That's true. For big cities the situation is better but not nearly as good as it could be. Technically Canada is 'colour blind', but in reality it definitely isn't, which is a pity. I'm not even sure if it is better than all of the US, both countries have enough variation that some areas are ahead of others in both countries. As for it being inflammatory, I think it's perfectly ok to outline the shortcomings of a country as long as its done in a realistic way without an agenda. My own (current) country, the Netherlands has gone from being fairly tolerant to being outright hostile to foreigners, especially those of Maroccan, Turkish, Romanian and Polish descent (for a variety of reasons). In the last elections the ultra-right scored the biggest gain of all parties, a full 15% of the electorate now backs them. A very scary development.
- tman 16y ago
  That sounds like a recipe for population replacement. Historically a wonderfully bad idea. Why are Canadians (like whites everywhere) not having children? It strikes me that we should answer that question before replacing them by populations a bit further left on the civilizational bell curve.
ntownsend 16y ago
In 2006, nearly half the population of Toronto was a "visible minority". It's estimated that more than half are now. Similarly, half of the population is foreign-born.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  And almost all of the population is of foreign descent. It's quite funny to have your application denied by a Chinese first generation immigrant. I've spent 5 years getting 'landed immigrant' status in Canada and finally gave up, to anybody that is planning to try to emigrate to Canada, make sure that you get your paperwork done before you move, no matter what they promise you. The Canadian government will routinely break their promises to immigrants, also be aware that there is a whole crowd of people who feed of those that arrive in Canada and that do not yet know how the game is played (immigration lawyers especially), and that even though Canada at face value seems to be a healthy and equal society in practice it is much less so, there is a lot of resentment between ethnic groups. On top of that you lose between 4 and 6 months per year (depending on where you live) to the winter.
  - kingofspain 16y ago
    A good friend of mine has been working as a graphic designer in Canada for 2 years now. He's a UK citizen but has all his reference, a job obviously and several weathly family members dotted around the country. He just managed to get a year's extension by the skin of his teeth after 6 or 7 months of wrangling. Anecdote it may be, but it wouldn't fill me with confidence if I was considering a move myself.
    - JimmyL 16y ago
      Have him call his MP - I can't stress enough how helpful this is (or even better, have someone who's a citizen and lives in the riding call the MP). The vast majority of MPs have someone in their constituency offices who spends 90% of their time on immigration issues. They know who to call at CIC, they know their way around immigration laws inside and out, and they know which organizations in the community are reputable when you need one for sponsoring, etc. This isn't something they do in their spare time; a major part of constituency work is helping people deal with the Federal government, and seeing as there is such a high number of immigrants in Canada, this often means dealin with immigration/citizenship issues. Talk to them - and if they can't help you personally, they'll know every immigration lawyer in the area and who to trust.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

xenophobia is an easy path to votes.

by ojbyrne 16y ago

xenophobia is an easy path to votes.

Not in Canada though, or at least not in the big cities. If it weren't for immigration our population would be in decline (especially once the baby boomers start dying off).

warwick 16y ago
It really depends on the area of Canada you're in. My folks live in Southern Alberta and there's still a bit of xenophobic climate there. That being said, I didn't notice it when I went to school out east, or now that I live on the west coast. Edit: Actually, I should mention that since I went to school in Quebec, there was usually some sort of xenophobic/racial issue in the news. I went to an english school though, so most of the kids were from Ontario or Montreal where it's way less of an issue.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I've lived in Northern Ontario (St. Josephs Island), and owned a gas station. We employed the one black person in the region in a gas station we'd invested in and saw a noticeable drop in sales. Xenophobia is doing fine in rural Ontario. Needless to say we stood by our employee.
  - gruseom 16y ago
    Xenophobia is endemic to rural areas in general. But I agree with your implied point (unless you weren't implying it, in which case I'll take it) that Canadians have a blind spot about praising ourselves for how tolerant and inviting we are. Like everything else about Canada (I mean English Canada), it needs to be understood in terms of an implied contrast with the US. Hmm, that's a lot of implying. And this is kind of inflammatory material. I think I'll stop here.
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      > Canadians have a blind spot about praising ourselves for how tolerant and inviting we are. That's true. For big cities the situation is better but not nearly as good as it could be. Technically Canada is 'colour blind', but in reality it definitely isn't, which is a pity. I'm not even sure if it is better than all of the US, both countries have enough variation that some areas are ahead of others in both countries. As for it being inflammatory, I think it's perfectly ok to outline the shortcomings of a country as long as its done in a realistic way without an agenda. My own (current) country, the Netherlands has gone from being fairly tolerant to being outright hostile to foreigners, especially those of Maroccan, Turkish, Romanian and Polish descent (for a variety of reasons). In the last elections the ultra-right scored the biggest gain of all parties, a full 15% of the electorate now backs them. A very scary development.
tman 16y ago
That sounds like a recipe for population replacement. Historically a wonderfully bad idea. Why are Canadians (like whites everywhere) not having children? It strikes me that we should answer that question before replacing them by populations a bit further left on the civilizational bell curve.

ntownsend 16y ago

In 2006, nearly half the population of Toronto was a "visible minority". It's estimated that more than half are now. Similarly, half of the population is foreign-born.

jacquesm 16y ago
And almost all of the population is of foreign descent. It's quite funny to have your application denied by a Chinese first generation immigrant. I've spent 5 years getting 'landed immigrant' status in Canada and finally gave up, to anybody that is planning to try to emigrate to Canada, make sure that you get your paperwork done before you move, no matter what they promise you. The Canadian government will routinely break their promises to immigrants, also be aware that there is a whole crowd of people who feed of those that arrive in Canada and that do not yet know how the game is played (immigration lawyers especially), and that even though Canada at face value seems to be a healthy and equal society in practice it is much less so, there is a lot of resentment between ethnic groups. On top of that you lose between 4 and 6 months per year (depending on where you live) to the winter.
- kingofspain 16y ago
  A good friend of mine has been working as a graphic designer in Canada for 2 years now. He's a UK citizen but has all his reference, a job obviously and several weathly family members dotted around the country. He just managed to get a year's extension by the skin of his teeth after 6 or 7 months of wrangling. Anecdote it may be, but it wouldn't fill me with confidence if I was considering a move myself.
  - JimmyL 16y ago
    Have him call his MP - I can't stress enough how helpful this is (or even better, have someone who's a citizen and lives in the riding call the MP). The vast majority of MPs have someone in their constituency offices who spends 90% of their time on immigration issues. They know who to call at CIC, they know their way around immigration laws inside and out, and they know which organizations in the community are reputable when you need one for sponsoring, etc. This isn't something they do in their spare time; a major part of constituency work is helping people deal with the Federal government, and seeing as there is such a high number of immigrants in Canada, this often means dealin with immigration/citizenship issues. Talk to them - and if they can't help you personally, they'll know every immigration lawyer in the area and who to trust.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]