State-sponsored racism, Canadian style

Six or seven years ago, when I arrived for the first time in Canada, I was appalled by the shameless and abusive way in which other Mexicans would try to bend the Canadian refugee system in their favour. Most of the people I knew that were claiming refugee status weren’t actually facing persecution back in Mexico; their lives were not in danger either. Furthermore, many were working illegally in construction, as movers, as banquet hall waiters and other similar jobs while at the same time cashing their refugee status check. I particularly remember a pair of twins claiming their lives were in danger back in Mexico because they were homosexual, but every Wednesday night, like clockwork, they would meet their girlfriends to spend the night with them partying and drinking through their refugee compensation.

“Sooner or later” -I thought- “the Canadian government will have to do something about this”, and so they did… I just never imagined they would make me and my family and the families of all other thousands of hard-working Mexican immigrants, pay for the failure of the refugee system.

The decision by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to require a Visa from Mexican visitors does not even come close to justify referring to the Canadian government as racist. As many Canadians would shamefully admit, this mere annoyance pales in comparison to the county’s treatment of aboriginals, the gold-standard for racism in the country. But when the CIC minister Mr. Jason Kenney decides to skip bilateral talks already underway to solve this problem, announcing the decision overnight and giving a 48-hour ultimatum to ALL Mexicans travelling into Canada, well… that is not exactly what I would call respectful, so I am forced to acknowledge Mr. Kenney’s efforts to drag the CIC into my top racist Canadian policy makers list.

In the meanwhile, my family, who have happily spent their earnings in Canada for the past 5 summers and a couple of winters, will be coming at least $450 short and a lot more annoyed than ever before. But we are some of “those people” who can pay their way in, so congratulations Mr. Kenney! you have achieved your goal of keeping “the poor ones” out. After all, we wouldn’t want the Leamington workers to get distracted with family visits; that would probably add a few cents to the cost of our tomatoes and nobody would want to pay for that, right?

I hope my government in Mexico reacts at least as strongly as the Czech Republic’s, if anything, just to show some self respect. In the meanwhile, I encourage any Canadian reading this to share it with their MPs and MPPs (can’t wait to become a citizen). Who knows… maybe we can get the Queen to start paying my family five dollars a year in reparations.