The Daily UbuntuFeatured
Africville: uprooted at home
To belong is to be expected. You can be exiled without leaving your country, as the story of Africville reminds us.
Read the articleThread 01 / 07 · Stories
Exile and migration.
To arrive somewhere is to hope that an “us” will open up.
The thread
To belong is to be expected. Stories of arrival, welcome and exclusion, from yesterday to today.
15 articles · each in four movements: a scene, a documented case, a voice, a question
All articles · page 1 of 2
history
Making the other a stranger
Othering turns a difference into a border. From everyday glances to dehumanization, it follows a slope we can learn to climb back up.
Readimmigration
Saint-Jérôme, first stop after fifteen years in a camp
In December 2008, the first Bhutanese refugees welcomed by Canada arrived in Saint-Jérôme. Their story raises a question: how do we make people want to stay?
ReadCanada
"You're not from here": the weight of four words
A harmless-sounding question can draw a border. Even people born in Canada are often reminded that they supposedly come "from somewhere else."
ReadQuebec
The "boat people" and a medal for a whole people
In 1979-1980, thousands of Canadians sponsored refugees from Southeast Asia. In 1986, the UN honoured the entire Canadian people.
Readimmigration
From Haiti to Montreal: exile that takes root
Since the 1960s, thousands of Haitians have fled dictatorship for Montreal, where, through mutual aid, they built a community essential to Quebec.
Readimmigration
Guardian angels: those who watched over us
In 2020, asylum seekers who cared for our elders in the middle of the pandemic were given a pathway to permanent residence.
Readhistory
Komagata Maru: two months outside the harbour
In 1914, 376 passengers from India were kept for two months in Vancouver's harbour. In 2016, Canada apologized to them.
Readhistory
The St. Louis: a ship no one was waiting for
In 1939, Canada refused to take in more than 900 Jewish refugees from the liner St. Louis. In 2018, Ottawa apologized to them.
Readimmigration
Roxham Road: a border at human scale
From 2017 to 2023, tens of thousands of asylum seekers entered Quebec by a small country road, until it was closed.
Readimmigration
Syrian refugees: a winter of welcome
In the winter of 2015-2016, Canada welcomed more than 25,000 Syrian refugees, several thousand of them in Quebec, with the help of thousands of sponsors.
Readhistory
The head tax: the price of a door
From 1885 to 1923, Chinese immigrants had to pay to enter Canada. In 2006, Ottawa offered a full apology.
Readimmigration
One permit, one boss, one fear
A UN rapporteur believes that permits tied to a single employer expose foreign workers to exploitation. Ottawa disagrees, but the debate remains open.
Read