reading

Monument for East Vancouver is a sculpture by artist Ken Lum. It marks the route into East Vancouver from the downtown core. unsplash.com

I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in a working-class neighborhood on the city’s east side, where my friends and their families were from all over the world. There was Shalesh, whose parents had come from Fiji. There was Nadia, whose grandparents had left Italy after World War II. There was Nadine, whose family were members of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) First Nation. There were the Tran brothers, who came from Vietnam after living in a refugee camp in Hong Kong. And then there was me, Jen. My grandfather arrived in Canada from China in 1913, at the age of 17.

Our diverse neighborhood was the direct result of immigration, which is when people move permanently to a country that is not the one they were born in. By the time I was in elementary school, I knew that everyone’s family was different and that their stories—how they came to live in East Vancouver, what they liked to eat, what they believed about religion—were even more diverse. When I visited a friend’s house after school, their parents might be cooking stuffed peppers or curried goat or noodle soup, but, just like my parents, they also supervised homework, tried to get their kids to eat fruits and vegetables, and looked through stacks of bills with worried expressions on their faces. I learned, by watching my friends and their parents, that all of our families were the same at our core. We all wanted to live in a decent house, eat good food and go to good schools, and each parent wanted their children’s lives to be happier and safer than their own.

Immigration has always influenced the way in which I observe, learn and make conclusions with an open mind. When you grow up in a diverse community, everyone’s home seems different because it’s not like your own. In my family’s dining room stood a row of porcelain Buddha figures that my mother kept for good luck. The one I remember best sat on an elaborate green chair, holding two peaches in his hands—symbols for a long life. In my friend Lina’s house, a portrait of Mary, mother of Jesus, hung above the television, a rosary (a beaded Catholic prayer necklace) draped around the top right-hand corner of the picture. And in Mrs. Fox’s house up the street there was a framed hockey jersey on the wall, from her son’s career playing in the National Hockey League. These objects came from different cultures, but they were all important to the families I knew. They were symbols of happiness, security and good health.

Migration Facts

In 2018 Canada welcomed more than 28,000 resettled refugees, the highest number of any country in the world. The United States was second, with just under 23,000, and Australia was third, with 12,700. Significant numbers of resettled refugees were also accepted in the United Kingdom (5,800) and France (5,600).

A migrant caravan walks into Mexico after crossing the Guatemalan border in 2018. John Moore/Getty Images

In this book you’ll read about people who leave one country and go to another. Their reasons for leaving may have to do with jobs or school or family. These people are known as immigrants. Sometimes people are forced to move away from their homes because of war, persecution or crime. These people are called refugees. If you live in a country such as Canada, the United States or Australia, all of which have large communities of immigrants and refugees from all over the world, living with people whose cultures are different from yours isn’t anything new. Maybe you have friends whose family were immigrants. Maybe you know someone from Syria or the Republic of South Sudan or Guatemala, countries where politics, war and lack of jobs have forced many families to flee their homes and seek safety elsewhere. In chapter 2, you will learn more about how people become immigrants or refugees and what drives them to move to other countries.

A Palestinian child waits his turn to fill water bottles at the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. katib/Getty Images

You might have heard or read news stories about government policies that are designed to keep people from certain countries from entering others. There are the children from Central America who have been detained (held in custody) in the United States, away from their parents, who are called migrants. The word migrant is used for anyone who moves from one country to another but is most commonly used for people who are seeking asylum or who have been living in poverty and are moving to another country where there are better opportunities for education and work. There are the generations of Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip, a long and narrow area of land that borders Israel on one side and Egypt on another. These refugees, whose numbers are growing in an already densely populated place, are often caught up in the tensions between the State of Palestine, which governs Gaza, and Israel, which controls many aspects of life in Gaza, including trade, water, electricity and border crossings. And there are politicians in other parts of the world who are trying to stop refugees and immigrants from entering their countries altogether, claiming that people who are not born within their borders are threats to security, safety and jobs.

It can be difficult to know, when you read these news stories, whether immigration is a good thing or not. In this book I’ll introduce you to people who are or have been immigrants or refugees, whose journeys from their countries of birth to the countries they now call home have been challenging or joyful or long. I’ll explain how human migration can happen and the circumstances that lead to the decision to migrate. And I’ll talk about how immigrants shape their communities, what they contribute and how they live. By the end of this book, I hope you can come to your own conclusions about immigrants and refugees. This is a topic that is complicated and sometimes difficult to understand but is also important to our views on the world and the places we live. Because 1 in every 35 people worldwide is a migrant, it’s a topic in the news, and one that affects every country, city, neighborhood and school. After all, what would your community look like without human migration? I’m guessing very, very different.

Migration Facts

In 2018, 173,800 children who were unaccompanied by or separated from their families applied for asylum or refugee status. Children under 18 years of age make up 52 percent of the refugee population.

Glossary

asylum seekers—people who have fled their home country and are waiting to be evaluated and resettled by another country or organization that will offer them protection

child soldier—a child under the age of 18 who has been forced to join a militia or rebel group and participate in acts related to war or terrorism

colonization—when one group of people forces its way into another group’s community and takes control of its government, population and resources

decolonization—when a government hands over control to one of its colonies, allowing that colony to achieve governmental and financial independence; the term can also refer to the long process of undoing some of the harm a government or system has caused to people who have historically been discriminated against and whose country was once colonized by another

forcibly displaced people—people who, because of violence and war or religious and political persecution, are no longer safe in their homes and have to flee in order to keep themselves and their families safe

human migration—the movement of people away from their homes to establish new ones in other places; the term is often used in describing how humans established themselves around the world

human trafficking—moving people who are vulnerable to other countries, via criminal networks, and forcing them to work for little or no pay at jobs that break labor and human-rights laws, such as sex work

illegal migrants—people who cross a border and enter a country by violating the immigration rules of that country

immigrants—people who move permanently to a country they were not born in or haven’t lived in previously

immigration––the movement of people into communities with the intention of settling as residents or citizens

indentured laborers—people who have been trafficked, or who have paid traffickers to help them reach a country of safety, and have been promised payment and/or freedom once they have worked for a certain amount of time to pay off their debt to the traffickers

internally displaced persons—people who are seeking safety within their own country

marginalization—when a group of people is denied its rights by a majority group with power, either through official policies or through social and cultural oppression

migrants—people who move from one country to another; the term is most often applied to people who are seeking asylum or trying to move to a country with better opportunities in education, work and healthcare

push and pull factors—reasons people decide to move permanently to a new country; a pull factor is something that attracts a person, such as better opportunities for work, schooling or personal goals, while a push factor is something that compels them to leave, such as war, persecution and lack of jobs

refugee camp—a community that develops when large numbers of asylum seekers flee to a specific location; it is governed by a refugee-aid organization, and refugee claims are often assessed there

refugees—people who are forced to move away from their homes because of war, persecution or crime

resettlement—the process of moving refugees to a different home and helping them learn its systems, language and culture

slavery—the practice of forcing people into unpaid labor, usually with poor living and working conditions, by a group of people who trade, buy and sell humans for this purpose

stateless persons—people who are not citizens of any country, which can be the result of rapid change in that country due to war or persecution

undocumented—a person who moves to another country and remains there without legal documentation; they could be an asylum seeker or a person looking to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families

United Nations Refugee Agency—an agency, also known as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), that organizes and approves refugee claims worldwide and advocates for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and other displaced persons

Resources

This book features writing from 10 girls who attend the Morneau Shepell Secondary School for Girls at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Through letters, stories and photographs, these young women show what life in the world’s largest refugee camp is really like.

A graphic novel by child soldier survivor and refugee Michel Chikwanine, this book tells his story, from the moment he was kidnapped from a school soccer game in the Democratic Republic of Congo to his years forced to fight with a rebel militia to his escape and resettlement in Canada.

A memoir from the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai, this book is about her activism on behalf of girls in Pakistan, the attack meant to silence her and her recovery.

This graphic memoir chronicles Lorina Mapa’s childhood in the Philippines, her family’s involvement in the 1986 People Power Revolution, and the music that comforted her through political instability, immigration to the United States and her father’s death.

This award-winning young-adult novel weaves the stories of three generations of teens in one Indian American family. From a grandmother worried about the loss of their culture to a daughter who falls in love with an American boy to a granddaughter who returns to India as an activist, this novel explores all the ways immigrant identity can exist in one family.

Online

In their own words, over 400 children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador share their stories of fleeing their homes and seeking safety.

Follow the paths of the earliest human migrants as they spread across the globe.

Read stories and view photographs of children and their families worldwide who face challenges because of conflict, lack of resources and political instability.

Explore the museum’s virtual exhibitions about newcomers, their histories and their legacies.

The history of American immigration, produced by The Statue of Liberty—Ellis Island Foundation

Video

Watch five documentaries from the NFB archives that explore all the ways immigrants live, work and love in Canada.

This Academy Award–nominated documentary follows the lives of unaccompanied children who are traveling to the United States, hoping for better lives.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), this film follows 15-year-old Inocente, an undocumented immigrant living in San Diego, California, who dreams of becoming a famous artist.

This feature documentary spotlights a team of high-school students from Phoenix, Arizona, all of whom are children of undocumented Mexican immigrants, who invented a prize-winning underwater robot that went on to defeat a team from MIT.

Links to external resources are for personal and/or educational use only and are provided in good faith without any express or implied warranty. There is no guarantee given as to the accuracy or currency of any individual item. The author and publisher provide links as a service to readers. This does not imply any endorsement by the author or publisher of any of the content accessed through these links.

Acknowledgments

To Sarah Harvey, who challenged me to write the inclusive book I had always dreamed of.

To the team at Orca Books—Andrew Wooldridge, Ruth Linka, Jen Cameron and everyone else—for giving me the opportunity to reach the best readers in the world.

Introduction

Glossary

Resources

Print

Online

Video

Acknowledgments