Re-Imagination Part 4
Once again with thanks to Ben Mulroney for his November 10th article that has inspired this group of posts we look at the fourth area of Canada that is in need of rethinking. That of immigration.
Immigration is one of those catch 22 departments. Grow the number of Canadians through immigration too much and you get outcry as services are over used and cost of housing skyrocket. Too few immigrants and the western issue of a non-replacement birthrate becomes the base problem as it becomes harder to fill jobs and houses with less folks in the country.
Another big issue is the idea of multiculturalism. A century ago we had our last big drive of immigration. the early 1900’s were times of great drives for immigrants to Canada. Our early development as a country was by immigration. Back then our population of 7,000,000 was 22% immigrant. The Immigration Act of 1919 stressed assimilation as being the criteria most important in determining who we let in.
When you read the Act today is seems filled with racism and post-war prejudice. The concept of assimilation was used to restrict potential entrants not guide them when they arrived. Non the less, it was during this period in 1913 that we gave entry to 400,000 new Canadians, the greatest number by percentage until just recently. The post war period through to the 1960’s saw a restriction in immigration levels changing slightly during periods of war and disaster, particularly with refugee numbers.
The 19060’s saw a revolutionary change in immigration policies across North America. In the United States the Immigration and Nationalization Act of 1965 was begun by President Kennedy and pushed through the Senate by his brother Teddy. Canada as well began overhauling its immigration system, removing race restrictions in 1962 and introducing the points based system in 1967. Prime Minister Trudeau then brought comprehensive immigration reform to Canada with the Immigration Act of 1976. This was also the period that saw Canada launch an official policy of Multiculturalism.
The period from then to now has been one of a steadily increasing number of new Canadians. As Government adds more and more services to the lists of things they provide Canadians, the method of payment is to overgrow the population so as to keep ahead of costs. This ponzi scheme of an immigration policy works so long as the new arrivals do not outstrip the use of services. Health services and housing being the biggest problems as new Canadians from mostly underdeveloped countries are over burdening our healthcare, and stripping needed housing from Canadians with mental health or short term financial issues.
Other concerns with our current policies are with the burgeoning foreign student population. Creating schools out of whole cloth to ‘teach’ these young folks from around the world is problematic. Having our great universities and colleges become dependent on foreign student revenue is a problem. The jobs these students take from our youth in their desperate need to pay for schooling and housing while here in Canada is a problem. The fact that many drop out then go underground so as to not have to leave is a problem.
Our refugee system is a big problem. When our Prime Minister says welcome to political refugees from the United States and scores of people make the journey to northern New York State to illegally cross into Canada and claim refugee status we have a problem. These people can’t work, where do you house them? How do you pay for the health services they use? All things that aggravate an already unwieldy system. We see the issue of this often here in Niagara as the motels and hotels in Niagara Falls are filled with these refugee claimants. The resulting wait times at the emergency room for the Niagara Falls hospital are almost measured in days not hours.
The doctor shortage here in Niagara is critical. I have a neighbour, they are from Siberia, their daughter is a doctor who lives and works in Syracuse, New York. Do to the shortage of doctors she now also works at the Niagara Falls, Canada hospital. That is one heck of a commute. It is not unusual for folks moving here from the GTA to continue driving back for their family doctor as they cannot get one here. There are many reasons for this, of course, but too many people seeking a dwindling resource is the biggest.
My daughter would like one day to buy a house, or condo or some such property.Maybe even renting an apartment on her own. At 26 years old having trouble imaging this is not something someone from my generation was familiar with. I owned my own house at 26. My second at 30. Today I own three. Buying a home today is out of reach for most. Except for immigrants. Cultural differences mean acceptability of multi-family and multi-generational home ownership and occupation. Buy a big house with three or four family incomes, then all live in it.
Our government needs to revisit what immigration is to our country. No longer a unifier and source of pride, its is now seen by more and more Canadians as the problem. Lack of assimilation needs to change. Basic things like language need to be criteria for entrance. You must speak one of the two languages we use. Knowing our history should be a basic requirement. As should an understanding and sworn allegiance to our legal system. Groups of people need to be excluded for their culturally ingrained biases. We do not need to import hatred from other areas.
Immigration could once again be a source of strength for Canada. We need it to be but it seems that some only see it as a way of maintaining political power. This truly must change.