Before the election of Trump, Canada had considered immigrants as potential threats
In the modern world, it's all too easy to cast migrants as the enemy, a threat to the nation and its people. Recently, former U.S. President Donald Trump did just that, using immigration as an excuse to lock up innocent individuals in El Salvador's high-security prisons. But this isn't a new phenomenon; throughout history, immigrants have been portrayed as troublemakers, a menace to the country, not just in the United States but also in Canada.
A study by the Observatory for Migrant Justice (OPJM) shines a light on this issue, examining examples from Canadian media and political archives. The main question: How do we craft the image of the dangerous migrant, and what recurring elements drive this narrative?
Amel Zaazaa, director of the OPJM, spearheaded the research. The idea behind the analysis was to explore the demonization of migrants, a strategy that allows for harmful treatment. Meritxell Abellán Almenara, a fellow researcher at the OPJM, explains that this rhetoric bears fruit: migrants are nearly the only non-criminals to be put behind bars.
Strangely enough, early in the 20th century, there were explicit mentions in laws and politicians' speeches about keeping out immigrants deemed "undesirable." Italians and the Irish, for example, were labeled as violent, unassimilable, and unfit for Canada's climate or requirements. This tone wasn’t limited to Italy and Ireland; British Columbia politician Henry Herbert Stevens described the "Orient" as intrinsically prone to crime and fraud.
Jump ahead to 1995, and the murder of a young white woman in Toronto set off a media frenzy, painting all Jamaican residents with the same brush: dangerous criminals. This same dynamic has recurred throughout Canadian history.
More recently, Quebec Premier François Legault suggested during his 2022 campaign that poor immigrant integration was to blame for a decline in the peaceful climate in Quebec, even going so far as to justify the link between immigration and violence.
The tip of the iceberg
We can't afford to think we're immune from this dynamic today, especially on our side of the border, notes M. Abellán Almenara. The detention of migrants has been going on in Canada since the early 1900s, largely due to pressure from the U.S. today. If you catch wind of images of shackled migrants on the White House's official Twitter account, shock and surprise quickly turn to the question: "Detention exists here?" It's not uncommon for immigrants to be handcuffed during transportation to the Immigration Surveillance Centre in Laval, one of Canada's detention centers.
Crime is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the depiction of immigrants in Canada. Throughout history, they've also been seen as a threat to morals, values, and public health, serving to dehumanize the other and promote exclusion. This desire to otherize is not a new issue; it's been going on for centuries, from yesterday's Italians to today's Haitians.
Researchers Virginie Belony and Luca Sollai explored the history of stereotypes surrounding the Italian and Haitian communities, which constituted two distinct waves of immigration. Both groups were viewed as second-class immigrants and associated with criminality or violence in the case of Italians, or disease vectors and a threat to identity for Haitians.
Despite the ongoing portrayal of immigrants as dangers to society, it's crucial to remember that immigrants generally commit fewer crimes than the average Canadian. But the image of the dangerous migrant persists, fueled by fear and misinformation, and this narrative justifies restrictive immigration policies and the marginalization of migrant communities.
In conclusion, the image of the dangerous migrant in Canada has deep roots, reinforced by recurring themes that paint them as security, social, and economic threats, creating a persistent narrative that obscures the complex realities of migration and undermines the valuable contributions of migrants to Canadian society.
- The study by the Observatory for Migrant Justice (OPJM) reveals that the image of the dangerous migrant in Canada has been crafted through recurring elements, such as associating immigrants with crime, which justifies restrictive immigration policies and the marginalization of migrant communities.
- General-news reports and political discussions in Canada often depict immigrants as a threat to morals, values, and public health, serving to dehumanize them and promote exclusion, such as the portrayal of Italians as second-class immigrants and associated with criminality, or Haitians as disease vectors and a threat to identity.
