Alok Mukherjee, The Way I See It

Guest Blog by Arun Mukherjee

(Arun Mukherjee is a retired professor of English from York University, Toronto. She is an author, translator and critic.) 

Too many of my friends and relatives have been denied a visitor’s visa to travel to Canada to spend some time with their friends and family.   And the reason given? Canada Immigration thinks that they may not return to India when their visa expires.  The most recent rejectee friend had submitted all the usual documents demanded from racialized visitors: they had provided proof that they own two flats, have a pension, and have savings in the bank. On top of that, they had provided letters of invitation from their son and daughter in law, both employed successfully and owning a home.

I don’t feel at home in Canada because I have seen this movie too many times.  Why are my friends and relatives denied a visitor’s visa simply on the assumption that they would violate the terms and conditions of their visa? Wouldn’t it be more rational to arrest and deport them if they did violate those terms?  Why does Canada assume them to be guilty before they have committed a crime?

I want to unpack the assumptions about South Asians that are buried in this decision.  Since my friends have a son here in Canada, Canada immigration perhaps assumes that my friends want to stay with him forever.  The stereotype of a South Asian family in Canada is that it is a multi-generation family in which members live together.  So, it is not only my friends who have unlawful intentions, but their son and daughter-in-law also.  It seems that we South Asians are habitual cheaters.  Back in the 1970s, when waiting in India for my permanent resident visa to come through, a Canada Immigration officer rejected my affidavit declaring that I did not have a birth certificate as a child of refugees from Pakistan, and that my date of birth recorded on my high school certificate be accepted in lieu.  When I went to see the immigration officer to ask why a legal affidavit had been rejected, he told me that Indian affidavits were not trusted by Canada as Indians lied all the time.  It was only through my husband’s appeal to his Member of Parliament that my application to join him in Canada was finally approved.

While all South Asians, excepting the super rich, are guilty in the eyes of Canada Immigration, single South Asian women are the guiltiest of all.  A single woman academic friend of mine was denied a visa because she might be coming to Canada to get married.  After all, we South Asians are into arranged marriages, aren’t we?

Why would people like my friends who have comfortable lives in India on account of owning their home, having a pension and considerable savings want to stay on in Canada as undocumented hangers on? Their son and daughter-in-law’s house would not provide them the same amount of space that they have in their own home. If they got sick, they wouldn’t even be able to afford treatment.  Last but perhaps most important, they would lose their network of friends and family in India that can hardly be substituted in Canada.            

Racialized immigrants know that such denials of visas are not the experience of first world visitors, many of whom don’t even need a visa. They can come and go as they please.  We, and our loved ones, are under constant suspicion.  I know that Canadian institutions treat me differently and that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  I know how to sing the national anthem, but the words, “our home,” don’t ring true to me.