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I find it very disturbing that genuine concern for the plight of Syrian refugees has degenerated to so much fearmongering and racism. As a First Nations person I am no stranger to both.

Canada is a settler nation that was built on First Nations’ land. Treaties were signed and agreements were made. We believed that we would share our land with the newcomers. The newcomers, however, felt that they had “dominion” over the land and its resources. They also wanted to keep it an Anglo-Saxon nation, free of non-whites and others including Eastern Europeans, Jews and people that weren’t from Mother England.

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The policy was bound to fail as the huge land opened up for settlement, and immigrants moved in from Britain, Europe and the United States. The First Nations were pushed aside, and Canada remained largely a European nation until after the Second World War.

The postwar years saw the biggest change in our demographics, with people displaced by war and immigrants from South Asia and the Far East seeking refuge in Canada. What’s now Pearson International Airport became known as Haven’s Gate, and a Canadian passport was seen by pickpockets as the most valuable in the world.