Reactions to immigration slippages | ” It’s my house “

Immigration monopolizes the election campaign and has caused slippages for four weeks: a Prime Minister who says that welcoming more than 50,000 immigrants would be “a bit suicidal”, anti-Islam tweets from PQ members, a wall at the border of conservatives and falsehoods peddled by an immigration minister… How do immigrants perceive this electoral campaign? Not very well, according to testimonies collected by The Press.

Emilie Bilodeau
The Press

Disappointed and angry

” My God! I was angry. I was disappointed and angry. That’s how Francisco Morataya felt when he heard outgoing Immigration Minister Jean Boulet say that 80% of newcomers “go to Montreal, don’t work, do not speak French or do not adhere to the values ​​of Quebec society”.

Mr. Morataya is the exact opposite of this false portrait. He lives in Sherbrooke, has a job in Magog and speaks French.

And it is the openness of Quebecers that made this Salvadoran who arrived in Canada in 2016 want to settle in the beautiful province.

Immigration smiled on him, as he landed a computer job at a big company and found a lover.

Since the beginning of this electoral campaign, Francisco Morataya has watched the two televised debates and he has been informed in the media. “I’m very interested in what happens in Quebec because it’s my home,” says the one who will not have the right to vote on October 3, however, because he is a permanent resident, and not a citizen.

These Quebec elections, however, aroused fear in him. More and more, the discourse on immigration tends to the right, he says, and this does not bode well for other people like him who would like to choose Quebec as a land of welcome.

“Never Good Enough”

Omid Danesh believes that immigrants will never feel “up to it” because of falsehoods such as those conveyed by the outgoing Minister of Immigration. “If immigrants never feel good enough, they will go elsewhere, and that’s a shame because we need to keep people here,” explains this Iranian who arrived in Quebec in 2012.

Mr. Danesh says he loves Quebec. “It’s one of the most magnificent places in the world,” he says in impeccable French. Since arriving in Canada, he has completed a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Concordia University, learned French, landed a job in aeronautics and has been involved in organizations such as the Conseil jeunesse de Montréal.

“I am not a supporter of Québec solidaire”, he nuances, without however specifying for whom he will vote on October 3.

Ready to step out of their comfort zone

Bei Shan follows the election campaign assiduously. She watches the debates and publishes analyzes for Chinese immigrants in Quebec on Weibo social media. However, on October 3, she will not have the right to vote since she is a permanent resident of Canada.

For this Chinese woman who arrived in Quebec in 2016, it is wrong to claim that immigrants do not care about French. “French is the official language of Quebec. We have no choice but to learn it. It’s like someone moving to China. He would have no choice but to learn Mandarin,” she explains, as if it were obvious.

The one who speaks four languages ​​says that it was her knowledge of French that opened doors for her and allowed her to integrate into Quebec.

“At first, it’s not easy, you have to encourage yourself, but it’s worth it,” adds the journalist and financial adviser.

” It disappoints me ”

“In the past, it was said that immigrants stole jobs. Today, it is conveyed that they are unemployed. It seems to me that it’s contradictory,” says Jacques Nacouzi, a Lebanese immigrant who arrived in Quebec in 1995 and is tired of the sugar dumping on the backs of immigrants.

Mr. Nacouzi is still trying to understand why a minister painted a portrait of immigration so far from the truth. And why a prime minister called welcoming more than 50,000 immigrants “a bit suicidal”.

He works in an aeronautics company, owns a business on Saint-Denis Street and became known as a defender of the Réseau Express Vélo.

Even today, he wonders if the CAQ is targeting immigration to win votes from a certain segment of the population. “Does the government really want to take this risk to win its elections? […] It disappoints me and it creates fears in me, ”he says.

“I feel welcome”

It was love at first sight – with a pretty Quebecer met in Buenos Aires – that led Gabriela Piva to settle in Montreal in 2015, after a few round trips between Argentina and Canada.

Even before immigrating, Gabriela Piva started private French lessons in her native country.

M^me Piva explains the one who considers herself lucky to have been supported by her spouse (now her husband and the father of her two children).

The Argentine, who works at an international logistics company, is interested in provincial and federal politics. Since the beginning of the electoral campaign, she has studied the proposals of the various parties concerning immigration.

What about the harsh comments heard from the mouths of politicians? She tries to ignore it.

“I am part of a community. I am surrounded by good neighbours, parents that I meet at my daughter’s school, work colleagues. Among them, I feel welcome,” she says.