Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor’s book Flying Fish in the Great White North: The Autonomous Migration of Black
Barbadians outlines an extremely important and ignored part of the history
of Canadian immigration. It situates the West Indies, particularly Barbados, as
having a history with Canada that I never knew existed due to the lack of its
teaching and acknowledgment. The history of immigration policies in Canada is
one filled with vile discrimination and overt racism--particularly anti-Black
racism. It brings shame to, and taints the image of the accepting and
inclusive, multicultural country we have been so distinctly taught. In par with
the rest of the colonial lands, Canada, led and modelled by Great Britain, has
its very own history of land theft, enslavement, segregation, genocide--all
concepts that began with White superiority and supremacy.
The foundation of racism lies on the fragility of a concept
such as skin colour, the identification of Africans as a monolithic colour. It
continues to be the reasoning behind lack of value of Black lives.
Lighter-skinned people worldwide are taught to internalize feelings of superiority
while darker skinned people are encouraged to do the opposite. This goes back
to the White hegemonic rule of Indigenous and African peoples. Whites have a
history of cold-blooded murder, destruction of communities/families/culture,
and a pattern of grounding it in religion--removing the guilt or empathy as
they situate themselves as doing good. The ‘Curse of Ham’ is a great example of
this, as it is often described as one of the key religious reasoning behind the
justification for slavery.
Although the curse fails to mention Blackness or
Africanness, the sons of Ham were misinterpreted to be Sub-Saharan or Black
Africans and this text was used as a Biblical fact to justify slavery of
Africans, which was endorsed and condoned by the church. Although there is no
direct link to race or colour in the text, it became the foundation of
anti-Black racism and slavery. The outcome of the oppressor's implications of
this text is important to consider when thinking about current racial tensions
and the concepts of racism. It aids in contextualizing the realities we have
now, to understand that there are roots in the negative ideologies of Blackness
and Black identity and many of these roots were formed here in Canada,
specifically through immigration policies that continuously barred perfectly
eligible West Indian Black people. On the quest toward creating a White liberal
and Anglo-Saxon Canada, the Canadian government spearheaded by the British,
created obscene policies and regulations that would make entrance into Canada
by that of a person other than the White Christian, almost impossible.
Barbadians showed a particular resistance to this pushback as they utilized
education and government led Schemes in order to make their entrance into this
land.
When looking at the history of Canadian immigration, it is
essential to observe the reasoning behind leaving one’s home and emigrating to
a unfamiliar place. In regards to Barbados, the dense population of the British
colonial Island post-slavery led to a lack of opportunity available for the
citizens. Their governments encouraged emigration in order to decrease the
population size. In addition to this, following the rise of the Black
Intellectual era education became an essential component of Barbadian culture
and society. Education was largely government sponsored and funded, people were
encouraged to study and use education as a tool to gain opportunities abroad.
Education became the keys to a better future and a life outside of the Island.
While this was good due to the fact that education provided a valuable service
to its citizens is, as Dr. Taylor puts is, Barbados exported its most valuable
commodity. Those who gained that British education that is so valuable abroad,
were those whom the Island could not afford to lose for its own success.
However, emigration to other British colonies, primarily the United Kingdom and
Canada (also the United States) became the goal.
What followed this emigration was a negative response from
both the British/Canadian governments and their citizens. The author describes
“immigration policies prior to its deracialization as a major vector of state
power through which Jim Crowism (anti-Black and social segregation) was
institutionalized in Canada” (9). Such as the 1906 Immigrations Acts that
excluded Black migrant settlements through invasive and unnecessary medical
examinations.The government went through great lengths to lower the population
of Black settlers and migrants, they did well in such that “between the late
19th century to the mid 20th century, most Black Canadians were native born”
(9). Acts were utilized as a prime way to be overtly racist and have to not
completely explain your position or have them make real sense. When a mass
migration of Barbadians took place in the United Kingdom following WW2-- “an
estimated sixty thousand” (Taylor 75). Eventually, the British government
formed the Commonwealth Immigrants Act
which was an act fuelled by anti-Black racism. As a direct response to the flow
of British colony migrants of colour, this act was created to restrict
movement. Citizens responses also fuelled these Acts, they responded by forming
a series of violent attacks and hate crimes. They formed racist youth cults
such as the ‘Teddy Boys’ who led and formulated many attacks. The government
responded by trying to get rid of the Barbadian and West Indian migrants and
prevent more from entering the country. This a history that is unknown to many
people, one that is barely touched upon in Canadian history classes, this history
is important to Canada as it was meant to be a country that reflected only the
kind of Whiteness that the UK produced and actively worked to maintain it.
In Canada, despite its positive business related, trading
affairs with the West Indies, racism still prevailed. Dr. Taylor quotes
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King saying the following WW2, in regards to
Canadian racist immigration policies:
“I wish to make it quite clear that Canada is perfectly
within her rights in selecting the persons whom we regard as desirable future
citizens. It is not ‘fundamental human right’ of any alien to enter Canada. It
is privilege. It is a matter of domestic policy.”
This to me summarizes the level of racism in Canadian
immigration policies prior to it deracialization in 1962. Whiteness was a keep
part in the Canadian nation building rhetoric and they were willing to go
retouch lengths and enforcing senseless Acts in order to gain this ‘ideal
citizen’--in order to keep non-white people, Black people, out. There were no
politically, economical, or governmental strategic reasoning for excluding
people based on race, yet Canada clearly excluded immigrants based on their
race. They stated that “the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration shall
decide if an immigrant is suitable for Canadian climate, society, education or
that they do not have undesirable habits, customs and or model of life” (Taylor
113). These are texts that can be found in the archives of Canadian history yet
it is not a piece of it which we are exposed to unless we seek it on our own
based on some personal or social connection. Although Canadian immigration
policy is ‘de-racialized’ today, I believe that once you understand and learn
about the history of how it has been racialized in the past, you can find
similar connections in these policies that are in place today.
Overall, I believe that Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor’s book
Flying Fish in the Great White North: The
Autonomous Migration of Black Barbadians book is truly detailed and
informative. It uses both a historical facts and social narrative/analyse in
order to showcase the ways in which both facts and societal analyses complete
the missing gaps in history and root the social order we live in today. Canada
is very dishonest about their past and they are deliberately removing the
contributions of non White people and allow an understanding of whiteness as
the foundation of Canadian identity. When we learn about the realities of the
Canadian past, we start to understand why the racism that exists here is done
in such a way that the victims are conflicted about acknowledging it as such.
There is a very undertone version of racism in Canadian history that exists
behind the mosaic blanket of multiculturalism.
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