Our openness is our best asset
Donald Trump has an uncanny ability to shoot himself and his country in the foot. With his decision this week to end legal protection for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants, he has done it once again.
Trump’s announcement that the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program will be ended has been widely condemned as morally wrong — and it is. It puts the threat of deportation over the heads of some 800,000 young people who were brought to the United States as children, mostly from Mexico. Most have known no other country.
But Trump’s move is also a self-inflicted wound to the U.S. and its economy. The so-called “Dreamers” covered by the program are disproportionately well-educated, law-abiding and upwardly mobile. They are, in short, the kind of people any country would want to welcome.
Some see an opportunity for Canada in this latest Trump travesty. Independent Sen. Ratna Omidvar, a long-time advocate for immigrants and refugees, suggested this week that we open the door to at least some of the now-threatened Dreamers. She proposes that Canada give “special consideration” to between 10,000 and 30,000 of them, by encouraging them to come to this country as economic immigrants or international students. “This is America’s loss but it could be Canada’s gain,” she says.
It’s an enticing idea, though not one that’s likely to bear much fruit. The whole point of the Dreamers is that they desperately want to stay in the United States — despite Trump and despite the increasingly hostile climate his administration has fostered toward outsiders of all kinds.
For all intents and purposes they are Americans, with family ties, jobs and associations of all sorts in the U.S. They aren’t shopping around for another country, as attractive as Canada might be. And as long as there’s a reasonable chance that Trump and the U.S. Congress will work something out over the next few months to remove the threat of deportation, they are going to stay put.
It would also be a provocative poke at Washington for Canada to openly woo Dreamers to come north. That wouldn’t be a wise move, especially at a time when Ottawa is deeply embroiled in negotiations with the Trump administration over the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Still, Sen. Omidvar is onto something, and Canada should be prepared for an uptick in applications from Dreamers and others in the U.S. who are finding the political climate there becoming distinctly more chilly. The numbers of those affected are so huge that, even if a small percentage look north, Canada’s immigration system could be overwhelmed by applicants. And if a significant number try to claim asylum, as several thousand Haitians have done recently by crossing the border away from official checkpoints, there’s a risk of a political backlash.
That needs to be carefully managed and politicians of all parties must avoid whipping up public fears. All evidence so far is that the numbers coming in are manageable and not much out of line with those of previous years.
More to the point, responsible politicians should emphasize the tremendous advantages that Canada can potentially reap by attracting well-educated, motivated newcomers to this country. Far from being a danger, it’s an opportunity. And as the United States becomes increasingly closed-off and unwelcoming to outsiders, Canada is well-placed to benefit by attracting talent from all over the world.
Governments, business and universities have all been alert to that possibility, and there are signs that the Trump effect is already taking hold. Canadian universities report a spike in the number of international students this fall (many say applications were up 20 per cent or more). At least some are choosing this country because they don’t like what’s happening south of the border. The challenge down the line will be to persuade the best and the brightest to stay.
To its credit, the Trudeau government has not been slow to appreciate the opportunities for Canada in the competition for global talent — and to try and take advantage.
Back in March, the Star reported that documents prepared for the immigration minister urged creating a category of visa tailored to high-tech workers and would-be entrepreneurs who might have difficulty being granted permission to stay in the United States. The idea, they said, was to create an “attractive alternative” to Trump’s America.
Navdeep Bains, the innovation and economic development minister, followed that up by announcing a “global skills strategy” aimed at easing the way for “low-risk, high-skill talent” to obtain visas and work permits. That officially began in June, and is designed to allow fast-growing firms to bring in high-skilled international employees within two weeks, instead of the months it can normally take to work through the system.
These are good moves, and the government should follow through to make sure companies are taking full advantage to grow their businesses.
At the same time, it should make sure Canada’s immigration and refugee systems have the resources they need to cope with the influx from all sources — including any Dreamers who decide to look north. Long queues and complaints of disorganization will just give immigration skeptics the ammunition they need to discredit the whole system. In that regard, the critics should stop their silly complaint that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau somehow flung open the doors to the whole world when he tweeted last January that “to those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith.”
That was clearly aimed at differentiating Canada from Trump’s travel ban on people from some Muslim countries. It’s ridiculous to suggest, as some have, that it amounted to abolishing this country’s well-established rules on accepting immigrants and refugees.
This is not a time to focus on the inevitable problems that come with welcoming newcomers from around the world. It’s the time to make sure this country is well-positioned to accept and integrate people of all sorts — and to take best advantage of the opportunities presented when doors close elsewhere.
Canada must be well-positioned to accept and integrate people of all sorts