The Daily Ubuntu20 articles · page 1 of 2
"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."
ReadAfricville: uprooted at home
To belong is to be expected. You can be exiled without leaving your country, as the story of Africville reminds us.
ReadForty thousand promises kept, and a few still waiting
After the fall of Kabul in 2021, Canada promised to welcome 40,000 Afghans. The promise was kept, thanks to hundreds of communities, but worry for those left behind does not stop at the border.
ReadFrom 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.
ReadGuardian 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.
ReadKomagata 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.
ReadOne 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.
ReadRoxham 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.
ReadSaint-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?
ReadSanctuary city: what a promise can do, and what it can't
In 2017, Montreal declared itself a sanctuary city; in 2018, the City acknowledged the limits of its promise and focused instead on access to its services without fear.
ReadSyrian 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.
ReadThe "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.
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