We’ve been here before

West Kildonan

As you read these words, we are approaching the anniversary of Kristallnacht – the “night of broken glass.” This state-sanctioned pogrom on Nov. 9-10, 1938, confirmed that the Jews of Germany, indeed anywhere the Nazis placed their jackbooted feet, were considered lesser humans, fit prey for the master race to misuse, and eventually exterminate, at will. As we remember that infamous milestone, and move directly into Remembrance Day, it might be a good idea to pause and consider how that terrible time informs our own day. In a quote often attributed to the American author Mark Twain, history seldom repeats, but it often rhymes.

Back then, in 1938, the bystander countries of the world did little to help save those who attempted to flee. In particular, Canada has been accused, in the well-known book None is Too Many, by Canadian historians Irving Abella and Harold Troper, of setting an immigration policy that was “legalistic and cold.” While their claim that only 5,000 Jews were allowed into Canada between 1933 and 1945 has been disputed, there is no question that safe haven in Canada was not available to most of those desperate to get out of Europe. Why did that happen?

In 1931, the Canadian government set draconian immigration restrictions on anyone who did not originate in Western or Northern Europe, in what has been described as the “tightest immigration admissions policy in Canadian history.” This despite Canada being a country that was just as large then as it is now, and much more sparsely populated, and just as desperately in need of workers of all kinds as it came out of the Great Depression (which was at least partly caused by high tariffs imposed by our southern neighbour).

Then, as now, the trauma caused by inadequate government support of workers led to a wave of nativist and xenophobic sentiment. This was not just directed at Jews, but at anyone who was seen as different – prospective immigrants from countries such as Turkey, Syria and Italy were in the same category.

Nowadays, brown people from all parts of the world are being accused of “birth tourism,” of having “anchor babies” to allow them illegitimate access to our riches. There are calls to restrict immigration into Canada, at least immigration of the “wrong” kind, although few people are saying that part out loud, at least for now.

In 1945, a government memorandum explained that “The claim is sometimes made that Canada’s immigration laws reflect class and race discrimination: they do, and necessarily so. Some form of discrimination cannot be avoided if immigration is to be effectively controlled. In order to prevent the creation in Canada of expanding non assimilable racial groups, the prohibiting of entry of immigrants of non assimilable races is necessary”.

Let’s not let history rhyme in this shameful way.