The River of Migration
Throughout the ages, in all corners of the globe, people have been forced to leave their homes for one reason or another. In Colombia, for instance, hundreds of people leave their homes every day, fleeing the war that has ravaged their country for almost four decades. Families are torn apart, their members often facing different futures, all uncertain. Some will become part of the very large internally displaced population. Some of the women will be systematically raped by security forces, paramilitaries, or guerrillas. One or two family members will cross the border, and become recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. One person might even make it to Canada. But most will move quietly and covertly in-country and across the border as "migrants" to avoid being visible targets in the conflict; under the cloak of invisibility, they are often exploited or murdered, enslaved or 'disappeared'. Same family, same history of violence, different futures. The river of migration has many currents.
The international community has created many categories to describe people who move, depending on what we perceive to be the reason for their movement, and where they may end up: "refugees," "asylum seekers," "internally displaced persons," "development displacees," "trafficked persons," "economic migrants," "immigrants." But these categories assume, first, that the people within them are all the same, and second, that the categories themselves are distinct. Because of the way we label, define, and categorize people who move, we obscure and make invisible their actual lived experience. And because of our categorizations, the solutions we seek most often do not transcend the problem, but reinforce it instead. The majority of Colombia's population - or Burma's, or that of any other country devastated by conflict - are dispossessed, dislocated, and made vulnerable by war, ignored because they are "migrants" and not "refugees" or "displaced persons."
Categorization is also a form of control. While the majority of the world's population on the move remains within the poorest countries of the global south, many people in the countries of the north live in fear of the so-called masses supposedly clamouring to get in. The mainstream view of migration is frequently reinforced through water imagery. Migration is often described as a flood, an unstoppable torrent, a force of nature bent on destroying those in its path - in other words, a threat to the privileged in their protected places.
The reality is that people are encouraged to cross borders all the time, when they are needed as cheap sources of labour. Most, however, are denied the rights of citizenship, categorized as "economic migrants" rather than "immigrants" or "refugees," regardless of their reasons for leaving home. They become a vulnerable and expendable workforce, with few or no rights within their 'host' country. This ruthless logic is the reason why no northern country - including Canada - has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
In Canada, our history is one of both inclusion and exclusion. The Chinese "migrants" who helped build our nation by constructing the railway were charged a head tax of $500 (equivalent to the price of two houses in the day) and denied citizenship, while at the same time, "immigrants" from European countries were offered land on the prairies and instant recognition as Canadians. Our boundaries of belonging have been protected through a racialized politics of control and categorization that continues to this day.
The problem is not migration. The problem is the way the powerful seek to control migration. Migration policies are a form of population control; the issue is who is controlled and how. And because of the who, and the how, migration policy is a justice issue. And it is a pressing one. We must insist that the Canadian government immediately compensate and apologize to those Canadians who paid the Chinese head tax, and their families. We must push for Canada to ratify the UN Migrant Workers Convention, and beyond that, for the rights of citizenship for all who contribute to our nation. We must insist on a common standard of dignity, rights, and security for all who live within our borders.
The river of migration is a part of our human ecosystem. It may ebb and flow, but it remains constant and necessary to who we all are, and who we will become.
East Timor: Testimony
The people of East Timor have endured the brutality of colonization and invasion, to emerge into the uncertain light of nationhood. At this point of transition, through stunning images and insightful texts, East Timor: Testimony presents a broad overview of the country's history, culture, and aspirations. Sixty-four of photographer Elaine Brière's eloquent photos form the core of this haunting, informative book. Nine authors, including renowned scholar Noam Chomsky, have contributed original essays.
Inter Pares is proud to have supported the development and publication of East Timor: Testimony. It is available through your local independent bookstore or directly from Between the Lines Books (
www.btlbooks.com).
ISSN 0715-4267
221 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6P1
Phone (1-613) 563-4801 Fax (1-613) 594-4704
Inter Pares works overseas and in Canada in support of self-help development groups, and in the promotion of understanding about the causes, effects and solutions to under-development and poverty.
Charitable registration number (BN) 11897 1100 RR000 1.
Financial support for the Bulletin is provided by the Canadian International Development Agency.
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