Elizabeth Roelands
Writing Project: Suzuki Immigration
June 25, 2014
June 25, 2014
David Suzuki recently commented on Canada’s immigration
policies, saying that “Canada is full” and should no longer accept
immigrants, except in refugee situations, where lives are in danger if
people do not immigrate to Canada. While I agree that it is more
important to accept immigrants if their lives are in danger in their
current country, the idea that Canada is “full” is an almost comical
perspective on the availability of resources and land in Canada.
Immigration policies in Canada may not be perfect, but there is still
plenty of space and resources to support more people in Canada,
especially considering the amount of land in the northern half of the
country, rich in resources, yet not being used. The majority of our
population lives along the Canada-US border, and even along the more
densely populated border, there is still land available for use.
To
say that Canada is full is to imply that the land and resources we have
can support no more human life than it already does. This may seem to
hold some truth when one takes a look at the cities on the southern
borders of our country, but outside of the cities, and farther north,
the theory fails. We are not even using half of the resources available,
which is a fact that becomes ever more apparent the more one sees of
this nation. Travelling a little would tell any observer that we have
resources in abundance that are not being used to their full potential.
The land that we have easily produces enough food for the entire
population, and the diversity in climate across the country gives us
diversity in food products. We can get fish and seaside products from
our maritime provinces, meat, poultry, and grain from the inland
provinces, and fruit and vegetables from almost anywhere in the country,
especially through greenhouse farming. There are people all over the
nation with the skills to produce anything we need, though they often
lack the means necessary to create a business that uses their skills.
In
terms of physical space, Suzuki is also mistaken to say that Canada is
full. Canada consists of 9,984,670 square kilometers, or 2,467,211,957
acres, of land. Stats Canada estimated that Canada’s population was 35,427,524 in April of 2014.
That gives each man, woman, and child 0.28 square kilometers or 69.2
acres; in 2011, our population density was measured at 3.79 people per
square kilometer.
Even though we all love having space to ourselves, few of us actually
use that much land on an individual basis; having enough land for each
of us to own 70 acres hardly puts Canada on the map as a nation out of
space. Canadian farmers use that amount of space and more, growing food
for the rest of the nation, but throughout the rest of Canada, we could
find entire towns of people living on that amount of land. In cities and
towns, many families call a half acre lot home, and are happy with that
amount of space. If Canadians were to spread out, and if each person
used their own 69.2 acre piece of the country, it would be quite easy to
see that Canada is not “full” as Suzuki would have us believe. In fact,
there is plenty of room to have newcomers in the country, though I
agree that we should not merely admit whoever expresses a desire to
enter the country. There should be distinctions made, but we should not
shut the doors to immigration except in refugee situations. However, to
stop immigration on the claim that we are out of space is simply
childish and selfish, easily disproven by a little math.
Jason
Kenny, Canada’s minister of citizenship and immigration at the time of
Suzuki’s comments, said that “Suzuki’s views [on immigration] are toxic
and irresponsible.”
Kenny was frustrated that people simply take Suzuki’s word at face
value, without checking into the facts, which will give Canadians the
wrong attitude towards immigrants, thinking that immigrants use up our
resources and take up land that should belong to people born on Canadian
soil. This attitude is both damaging and based on a falsehood. To look
at our resources, we can see that we have resources in abundance, yet
our Canadian goods are shipped out to other countries, and we import
from other countries. The Canadian lifestyle can be supported by
Canadian farming and industry, yet a visit to the supermarket proves
that most of our products come from outside Canada. If Canadians are
truly concerned about Canada’s resources and products, we should buy
Canadian goods, contributing to the economy in a way that supports our
fellow countrymen. There are many who would love to set up a business in
Canada, but cannot do so due to circumstances beyond their control (for
example, Ontario’s exorbitant hydro costs).
Immigrants
will not exhaust the nation of resources, and, as shown above, we have
the space for them. When considering an immigrant’s admittance to the
country, we should consider whether they will contribute to the strength
of the nation, or if they will add an unnecessary burden to working
Canadians. Our nation is one built on the back of immigration; few among
us can say that our family has lived in Canada since the beginning of
time. We have a multicultural society, built of people that have come
from somewhere else, whether they immigrated 500 years ago or 50 years
ago. If immigration had been stopped by comments like Suzuki’s at some
other point in history, which of our citizens would we not have? Human
life should be cherished, regardless of its place of origin, and if
people want to immigrate to Canada in search of a life better than what
their home nation has to offer, they should be allowed to pursue that
goal and enter the country, provided that they will make an effort to
contribute to society.
SOURCES:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/canada-facts/.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/canada/population-density-people-per-sq-km-wb-data.html
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/11/jason-kenney-slams-david-suzukis-immigration-views-as-toxic-and-irresponsible-after-environmentalist-says-canada-full/
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