a perspective from over the border- the other border

Some may think I'm from Mars, I'm actually from Canada, same difference to some and to others- no it's not another state! All of that to say I have a so totally different perspective on immigration that I feel like I have two heads on my neck, a freak in the south, so far from "home".

How do I start? My mom is from Jamaica, dad is Canadian, but can trace his roots abroad within 2 generations. For a huge portion of the Canadian population, this is not at all weird, it's reality and it's celebrated. When a foreigner comes to our borders it's not the Spanish inquisition, but something like: "Wow, new blood, someone else to fill this vast space and help me out of the ditch in winter, want to immigrate?" Ok, so maybe not quite that easy. But Agent B was given the welcome mat, "we'd love to have you live here" speech by immigration a couple of trips ago, to my sheer delight.

You see it's a Canadian thing that we embrace different cultures. That is our pride: our diversity. The more the merrier.

Don't know our language? We'll learn yours! That's how I learned French. There has always been a tension between the French side of Canada and the English. If they were recent immigrants, I'm sure they would be welcomed with open arms. But the real battles of race there (French-English-Native) are rooted in the founding of Canada, which is not all that ridiculously long ago as compared to most the world. One proposed solution to the tension was to set up French immersion schools. Not where the French could learn English- the majority spoken language (like Spanish immersion here), but so that the English folk could better understand the minority. Neither of my parents know French, but they sent all 3 of their kids to French immersion schools (K-12) and me to a French college in Quebec-- it's all about learning about each other, learning to live as one, appreciating and embracing the new culture.

Canadians root for the underdog-- having troubles in your country? "Come to Canada- we have been there, if not this generation, then not too long ago." In the wintery North, our common battle is the cold, the elements, the vastness of space and what is seen as the oppressive neighbor to the South. Over and over immigrants are spouting off their love of Canada in that it has welcomed them and made them feel at home and among family.

I totally don't understand the arguments I hear here about: "illegals using up tax dollars and resources, those people coming here and taking our jobs... [our whatever]. I work hard to enjoy what we have here".

The fact is most of the world works hard so that we can enjoy what we have here, while they get diddly squat. They work interminable hours so that we can buy exotic foods cheap, an insanely huge variety, while they can't afford the very food they labored over for us (rich north americans). Who are we to say that we OWN the resources on this continent (and on every other continent if I hold up my almighty dollar- and that no- you can't have a chance to make a dollar too- and have my privileges like eating good food)? Is this not some kind of slavery? Why is it that I was born in a certain zip code (postal code for Canadians) and not on some dung heap in third world wherever? Would I be all adamant claiming my rites of nationality if I lived over raw sewage, if my kids basically working as slaves, if there was no opportunity for any real living? Would I not go looking somewhere else? Would I not be any less entitled? Are we not all humans on planet earth?

I've always seen the entire world as my home and as a totally alien place too. That I could live anywhere and also not be fully at home. There is Scottish, Norwegian, Jamaican and Canadian blood coursing through my bones, no telling where all the roots come from. So I've kinda thought I could just fit anywhere. It's true too. Hispanics here assume I'm Hispanic. Blacks think I'm black and Yovos (whites in the language of the Fon of Benin, West Africa) think I'm white. I can kinda drift in and out of situations and lay low.

But all this talk on immigration to me is like a slap in the face-- like go back to picking cotton you N*g** (Which I was called once as a kid and thought the other kid asked if I came from the county of Niger- which we had just studied in class).

To me, the entire immigration squabbles miss the point. The point being that we are all immigrants if we go back far enough (except a very precious few) and that any country's most valuable asset is not money or land or medicaid, but it's people. And that people coming from different places carry with them a richness that can not be duplicated even if they just come with the clothes on their backs. They come with culture, language, stories and drive, creativity, uniqueness, flavors, music, arts, knowledge and uniqueness that will become that of their new country if they are only welcomed, embraced and made to feel at home. I heard that genetically we are all related within 10 generations. Are we not all family?