An open letter to Immigration Canada

I am all for immigration but I am not for the importation of colonized mindsets

I want to prime this letter by asking: how do we integrate ideas and minds in the interest of continued progress?

Let me speak candidly. I am a proponent of immigration, rooted in my own family’s journey to Canada over three decades ago in the 1980s. As children born in the Caribbean, the transition was a cultural shock. At that time, the ethnic landscape in Canada was predominantly white, with significant Chinese and Korean populations, and only a smattering of Caribbean-born Indians, alongside many Jamaicans and lesser Antilleans. The concept of ‘Otherness’ was not widely understood, and our presence as black individuals was met with visible curiosity and often, discomfort.

Reflecting on those early years, I recall vivid incidents of my brothers, especially, being monitored in stores, singled out unfairly, and facing overt acts of racism by police. These experiences shaped my understanding of Canadian society and the challenges of being black in a predominantly white space.

Despite this, I’ve witnessed substantial progress in race relations over the years, alongside areas where improvement is…