DOES CANADA REALLY WANT ME?

In a field like information technology, the entire world uses the same transferable skills, so why ask immigrants for Canadian experience knowing full well that they have recently arrived in the country? Image credit: *KIRILL BALOBANOV* on Unsplash.

By DR VICKI BISMILLA

It was alarming to read the lead article in the Insight section of the Toronto Star (June 11, 2023) that highly qualified South Asian immigrants are leaving Canada, frustrated by this country’s rejection of their skills.

Reading that research, it became clear that if you are a highly qualified, highly skilled, highly educated South Asian immigrant, you should not come to Canada unless you are willing to sweep the floors of less educated, less qualified, less skilled Canadians who hold the top jobs that you should be allowed to vie for.

In a field like information technology, the entire world uses the same transferable skills, so why ask immigrants for Canadian experience knowing full well that they have recently arrived in the country?

If the skills and credentials are impeccable, then there can only be one explanation for asking for Canadian experience and that is racism. And the frustration of being told to remove masters and doctoral degrees and shave off some enviable work experiences from one’s resumé to qualify for entry level positions is shameful.

While their credentials are qualifying them for the immigration department requirements, those same credentials are being used to discriminate against them by job-gatekeepers. Immigrants with stellar credentials are now looking to leave Canada for promising careers in the US and such previously unlikely locations as China and the Gulf countries or returning to India or other South Asian countries.

For South Asians in Canada, job denial is only one of the serious issues our communities are dealing with. In British Columbia, The Fraser Health-affiliated South Asian Health Institute (SAHI) lists issues like diabetes and heart diseases as well as poverty as serious challenges being faced by South Asian Canadians.

Also, there are other issues that South Asians become unwillingly intertwined with. For example, 20 per cent of the trucking industry is made up of South Asians who do not necessarily want to be identified with the recent negative press and behaviour of the so-called freedom convoy.

Vibha Bhalla, Fulbright Research Chair with Brock University’s Centre for Canadian Studies, is examining how race, class and gender impact truckers. She is using the magazine Road Today, a truckers’ online publication, to sift through their issues.

South Asians are still dealing with the anti-Asian hate that spiked during the COVID pandemic and young people, afraid of violence, are having to quit their frontline jobs out of fear. (See Two years into the pandemic, anti-Asian hate is still on the rise in Canada, report shows, CBC News ).

There were 943 reports of racist incidents across Canada in 2021, a 47-per cent increase over 2020. The report showed that hostile incidents were suffered most by front line Asian and South Asian women who reported violence, verbal harassment and being coughed or spat at and alarmingly, reports by children and adolescents increased by 286 per cent.

The report shows hate incidents reported by South Asian and Southeast Asian people increased by 318 per cent and 121 per cent respectively.

Fear, anxiety, and depression are so prevalent amongst our communities that The Lancet Journal of Psychiatry is raising the alarm that it is time to address the mental health challenges of the South Asian diaspora in North America and the UK. Even though the South Asian diaspora is made up of migrants who showed immense courage, resilience, and determination over their two centuries of immigration, the discrimination, unemployment, and economic struggles they continue to face have taken their toll.

While the government of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy page on its website boasts, “The Indo-Pacific region will play a critical role in shaping Canada’s future over the next half-century,” it seems that Canada’s only interest is economic.

The website goes on to say:

“The Indo-Pacific is rapidly becoming the global centre of economic dynamism and strategic challenge. Every issue that matters to Canadians – including our national security, economic prosperity, respect for international law, democratic values, public health, protecting our environment, the rights of women and girls and human rights – will be shaped by the relationships Canada and its allies and partners have with Indo-Pacific countries. Our ability to maintain open skies, open trading systems and open societies, as well as to effectively address climate change, will depend in part on what happens over the next several decades in the Indo-Pacific region.”

It continues to claim, “Waves of people who have come from the region have contributed to Canada’s vitality and prosperity. Their legacy and descendants continue to enrich Canada from coast to coast to coast. Today, fully half of new Canadians come from the region, and Canada’s largest diasporas are of Indo-Pacific origin.”

So, it seems that Canada’s position is not what Canada can do for immigrants from those South Asian countries that it is wooing, but what those immigrants can do for Canada in the way of sacrifices that they are making. The website says that Canada wants to invest in and connect people but the on-the-ground reality for people already here from those countries does not match the stated aspiration of Canada.

While we continue to honour immigrants through specific celebratory months like Asian and South Asian month, the harsh realities of everyday discrimination remain a constant challenge.

TRUTH BE TOLD

DOES CANADA REALLY WANT ME?