They travel from East to West, carrying whatever could not carry them.
It is a desperate hunt for prosperity, recognition and a different lifestyle.
Yet, the monochrome does not seem to go away – Diversity is a journey, not yet a destination.
Immigrants
I’ve observed over the last few decades the strong work ethic exceptionally practiced by new immigrants, and migrants, is demonstrably notable in the produce harvesting sector; it’s one of typically hump-busting work that almost all post second or third generation Canadians won’t tolerate for themselves.
Every time I observe them I feel a bit guilty, since, considering it from purely a human(e) level, I see not why they should have to toil so for minimal pay and not also I?
I can truly imagine such labourers being fifty to a hundred percent more productive than their born-and-reared-here Canadian counterparts.
To be clear, however, I’m not implying that a strong work ethic is a trait racially genetically inherited by one generation from a preceding generation, etcetera. It’s an admirable culturally determined factor, though also in large part motivated by the said culture’s internal and surrounding economic and political conditions.
I’ve also found that ‘Canadian values’ assimilation often means the unfortunate acquisition of a distasteful yet strong sense of entitlement.
Not to be misunderstood, I don’t favour importing very-low-wage labour from abroad while residents here remain unemployed, something I see as an unethical yet government-sanctioned business practise. Still, I too often hear similar complaints that are actually based on thinly veiled bigotry.
As for the temporary foreign workers, I believe that once they’ve resided here for a number of decades, their strong work ethics and higher-than-average productivity, unfortunately, gradually diminishes as these motivated labourers’ descendant generations’ young people become accustomed to the relatively slackened Western way of life.
One can already witness this effect in such youth getting caught up in much of our overall urban/suburban liberal culture—e.g. attire, lingo, nightlife, as well as work.
I’m not equating it to the slavery the above post is revealing/describing, but I’ve observed over the last few decades the very hard work that foreign temporary worker migrants perform here in Canada, notably in the produce harvesting sector.
It’s one of typically hump-busting work that almost all post second or third generation Canadians won’t tolerate for themselves.
Every time I observe them I feel a bit guilty, since, considering it from purely a human(e) level, I see not why they should have to toil so for minimal pay and not also I?
I can truly imagine such labourers being fifty to a hundred percent more productive than their born-and-reared-here Canadian counterparts.
To be clear, however, I’m not implying that a strong work ethic is a trait racially/genetically inherited by one generation from a preceding generation, etcetera. It’s an admirable culturally determined factor, though also in large part motivated by the said culture’s internal and surrounding economic and political conditions.
(Frank Sterle Jr.)
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Thanks for throwing light on the Canadian situation!
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they come
and are hated
but they make
a nation
so xeno
go away
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