The Sanctuary Movement emerged amid a restrictive US asylum process and as the Reagan administration refused to acknowledge the extent of human rights violations in the region.
- Associate Professor of History, Carleton University
Refugee protections, including the right to seek asylum, exist today precisely because states failed refugees and migrants previously, especially Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.
Canada and the U.S. have effectively decided to crack down on migrants crossing unofficial border points into Canada. Here’s why this approach misses the bigger picture.
Rather than demonize migrants, legislators everywhere should address the issues that force them to migrate.
People don’t give up their right to be mobile or their right to make decisions about their lives simply because they are forced to flee untenable circumstances.
‘Freedom convoy’ protesters are turning the language of freedom against their own governments. The implications and repercussions of this are enormous.
To remove the burden of responsibility, everyone must take over some of the work that diverse communities have been doing to combat prejudice and fear for decades.
Canada has closed its borders to asylum-seekers and non-citizens because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar emergency measures over the years should teach us that now is not the time for nationalism.
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