Opinion: Alberta once welcomed immigrants now under microscope by government's panel
It's been several weeks since Stampede ended, and Calgary's Ismaili community held its annual Stampede breakfast. As always, the event attracts several thousand attendees and stands as a microcosm of what defines Calgary today, and who has helped to shape it.
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There is no mistaking the immigrant impact on this city and province.
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In attendance at the breakfast, there are always representatives of current and past generations – many sporting myriad versions of the ubiquitous Smithbilt hat rooted in the immigrant story of the Schumiatcher family, who came to Calgary in 1910 and created the iconic white hat in 1946.
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From teachers to entrepreneurs, business, arts and community leaders – we are a richer community because of all who have chosen to make Alberta home. And that includes my parents.
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Which is why the Alberta Next panel – which kicked off just after Stampede Week and is seeking feedback from Albertans on the province's place in Confederation through the summer – is troubling for me. More specifically, it's the question focused on immigrants – targeting those who don't meet certain criteria and could be denied access to social services supports if they come to Alberta.
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I was in Poland when the panel was announced. It's where my parents were born and raised before the Second World War – and it was my first visit to the country, which had the largest Jewish population in Europe until war broke out.
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I am a first-generation Canadian. My parents came to Canada, and to Alberta, in 1951. They survived the horrors of the Second World War, with my dad Moshe losing his entire family and my mother Tova and her parents being the only surviving members of her immediate family. My brother and I grew up in the shadow of loss, which hung over our house every day.
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Canada was a place of refuge, where my parents could rebuild their lives, and Edmonton was where they settled.
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You see, the war interrupted my mother's education. When she left Poland, she had a high school diploma. And no English skills. She spoke many other languages, but not English. My dad had a Master's degree in history, but lacked a teaching certificate or other qualifications. He also didn't speak English.
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Odds are, they wouldn't have qualified for social services support under the current construct of the question being put before Albertans and the panel.
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Yet, as so many immigrants do, they figured it out. My dad did become a teacher, and my mother went back to school. She graduated with a PhD in history from the University of Alberta in 1968 and retired as professor emerita in 1996.
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