The tragic fate of Fritznel Richard, a few days before Christmas, has brought to light the deep vulnerability experienced by migrants who reach us.
Originally from Haiti, Mr. Richard died after being abandoned by a smuggler who was to take him across the American border on foot, in the middle of a snowstorm. Established here for about a year, he quickly became unable to support himself in a city like Montreal, where rents and food prices are skyrocketing. Without support and without sufficient income – and still waiting for the work permit that would have enabled him to earn it – he had to resign himself to risking his life, once again, in the hope of improving his lot and that of from his family. This heartbreaking choice this time led him to a cruel death.
This great vulnerability is also reflected in the last two editions of the Vital Signs of Greater Montreal report by the Foundation of Greater Montreal.1which deal respectively with the situation of women and girls and that of housing in the metropolitan area.
In both cases, the data analyzed confirmed that migrants are among the most likely to face discrimination leading to poverty and social exclusion.
Their risk of experiencing mental health problems, being victims of exploitation or violence, or living in unaffordable or inadequate housing is invariably higher than average. In some cases, it is even homelessness that awaits them. Indeed, shelters for homeless people are now seeing migrants knocking on their doors. Some estimate that up to 10% of Montreal’s homeless population is now made up of asylum seekers or undocumented immigrants. It’s unprecedented.
Greater Montreal’s community organizations are also taking full measure of the situation: the increasing arrival of these people is putting great pressure on their limited resources and their ability to deliver their services. Beyond the simple number, this creates an additional challenge for the volunteers and staff of these organizations, who are often neither equipped nor trained to help people who are experiencing such distress. Cultural or linguistic obstacles can make communication more difficult with people who, moreover, are still unfamiliar with our institutions and social codes, and their rights as asylum seekers, refugees or undocumented migrants. . As for the organizations specializing in the reception of migrants, they are no longer sufficient for the task.
Marginalize or accommodate
Around the world, political instability, extreme poverty, armed conflict and – increasingly – the impact of climate change are pushing people to uproot themselves and flee to our borders. Putting up higher or more watertight walls there is not only contrary to the values of humanism, generosity and solidarity which should guide us, it is also a perfectly futile strategy which only makes people who are already fighting for to survive. Considering the seriousness of the multiple crises they are fleeing, at the cost of all the sacrifices and sometimes at the risk of their lives, nothing can really stop them. Whatever we think, they will continue to travel the way to us. The choice we are left with is to marginalize them further, or to welcome them with openness and compassion. Of the boat people from Vietnam in the 1970s to refugees from Haiti or Syria at the turn of the 2010s, and even more recently those from Ukraine, Iran or elsewhere, Québec has always succeeded in welcoming those who had to leave everything behind. We have done it before, we can do it again.
The value of a society is measured by the way it treats the least fortunate and, by extension, how it welcomes those fleeing famine, repression or war in the hope of finding a dignified and happy life. Too often, the discourse about refugees has the effect of dehumanizing and abstracting them or, even worse, labeling them as profiteers or invaders. Yet they are human beings like us. And the attitude we have towards them is indicative of our own humanity. This is why we must redouble our ardor to make Quebec a welcoming, humanist, generous land of which we can be proud.