Don’t look now, but your xenophobia is showing.
Late last week, the North Superior Workforce Planning Board released a report that shows a bleak economic future for this region. The report projected that if the district’s population trend were to continue, there would be 100 working-aged people for every 80 retired people by 2041.
In layman’s terms, that simply means bad things for the economy of tomorrow.
There is a solution. The report highlights that the future economy can be balanced if the city could begin attracting 2,000 people every year – 50,000 in the next 25 years.
While an important conversation about the economy of Thunder Bay’s future, it was suddenly derailed because of one simple word – immigration.
The commentary from Facebook, Twitter, local coffee shops, comments posted to tbnewswatch.com and even Google+ all had a distinct theme.
“…we can't even find jobs for Canadians who have been living here for generations,” one Facebook user chimed in.
“TOO many immigrants. We don't even have enough housing/jobs for our people!” Responded another.
Dozens of other comments from a variety of different social streams, and even conversations I personally had with individuals face-to-face, almost always seemed to ignore the report entirely and focus instead on how damaging immigration would be to Thunder Bay and even the rest of Canada.
The irony of these arguments is barely worth pointing out. With First Nations being the lone exception this country is made up almost entirely of immigrants and the children of immigrants.
The fact that the report in question is about how damaging a lack of immigration will be to our economy, this conversation becomes even more perplexing.
But the conversation about our economic future is successfully derailed. So it’s time to take a serious look at what immigration critics are really talking about. While some may try and sugar coat their point, others are at least brave enough to wear their ignorance on their sleeve.
“Are these immigrants from the middle east (sic)?” A Facebook user asked
“Have you seen what they've done to Britain Germany (sic) and other places in a last few months!?” Responded another.
Essentially, the fear of Middle Eastern immigrants is so strong in some people that they would rather see their economy retract significantly that run the risk of allowing new people in.
The fear that there aren’t enough jobs or services to support immigration is at best an indication that you didn’t read this report or any of the news coverage surrounding it. At worst it's a revelation of your own bigotry.
There’s really no other reason I can see someone taking the anti-immigration position. Either you accept that we need immigration - or an immediate baby boom - to prop up tomorrow’s economy, or we watch our community’s economic future go into a tailspin.
If the latter is more comforting to you, then we’re all in trouble.
-- Scott Paradis
