I recently visited a friend out west who was of the opinion that Canada has far too many immigrants, or to be more specific immigrants of colour. That is to say, immigrants of a specific colour, namely “brown” people. Or at least that was the term they used. Meaning Muslims and new arrivals from South Asia.

The fear my friend has is that they – namely brown skin immigrants – are taking over parts of Canada and forcing their culture and religious beliefs on the rest of the country.

To make their point they argued that if they moved to a Muslim country, or the sub-continent they would be unable to practice their religion and cultural beliefs without severe ramifications.

In making that argument they didn’t realize they were actually making an argu-ment as to why many immigrants want to come to Canada in the first place. Which is where I stepped in to turn the situation into an opportunity to educate.

Most if not all immigrants, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, come to Canada in the hope of raising their children free from repression, persecution and poverty.

The desire for your children to have a better life than you have is universal, and Canada gives your children a better shot at having a better life than most countries, especially in the countries they’re fleeing from which don’t have the same freedoms that we do.

What makes Canada one of the best countries in the world is that we offer everyone the freedom to practice whatever religion they wish. It’s true that if you went to Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan, or Egypt, you would have a difficult time pursuing the same beliefs and practices you can pursue and practice here in Canada.

But again, that is what makes Canada so great. We are a melting pot of dozens of different cultures, religions and customs. Our multicultural make up is something that should be celebrated, not degraded.

It is one of the thing that separates us from all those other countries.

Over the past 125 years we have welcomed immigrants from around the world. At various times we’ve had waves of immigrants from Italy, Poland, Ireland, Germany, Lebanon and Vietnam and each wave was met by resistance and derision by so-called “ordinary” Canadians.

And each wave of immigrants settled in communities where they could be among their own people. It’s how Chinatowns and Little Italys were formed in every major city in Canada. During the 50s and into the 60s, Alta Vista was made up predominantly of Lebanese immigrants.

Part of the reason was social and part of the reason was economical. When you’re a new arrival to Canada, there’s only so many places you can afford to live.

Many Canadians who want to curb immi-gration and severely restrict new arrivals from certain countries have a mortal fear that immigrants are taking over Canada.

According to the most recent Census conducted in 2021, visible minorities make up less than 30 per cent of Canada’s total population. Of that number, just over seven per cent identified their ethnicity as South Asian, which includes India. Another 4.7 per cent identified their ethnicity as Chinese and 3.7 per cent identified themselves as Arab or Middle Eastern.

By far the fastest growing immigrant com-munity in Canada is from India. In 2024, a quarter of the 400,000-plus immigrants granted permanent admission were from India. Two thirds were from Asia which includes the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, China, Korea and the Philippines. But that’s still only 275,000 people which is less than one per cent of Canada’s total population.

At one point, I was walking through the West Edmonton Mall with my friend when they made a remark about the number of people of colour who were there. But when I did a quick survey of the people in my field of vision, only about a third of them were a visible minority. For some reason my friend either couldn’t see, or didn’t acknowledge the non-visible minorities, they only say the visible minority folks.

To the people who say immigrants from Muslim countries and India are destroying our country or what it is to be Canadian, it is actually they who are destroying what it is to be Canadian.

To be Canadian is to be accepting of others and to welcome anyone who appreciates the same freedoms that we all enjoy. Sure there are some new arrivals who try to take advantage of the system, but they are just a small minority.

The fact of the matter is that most immi-grants appreciate the opportunity they’ve been given and want only to create a better life for their children so that they can grow up in a world free of war, famine and perse-cution. And who can fault them for that?

(If you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred Sherwin at fsherwin@orleansstar.ca)