Immigrants facing more hostility, says Calgary's Centre for Newcomers

This story is part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC News series about immigration told through the eyes of the people who have experienced it.

Amid a charged political debate around immigration in both Canada and the United States, one Calgary organization supporting newcomers says it is seeing a rise in anti-immigrant hate — both online and in person.

Kelly Ernst, chief of programs for the Centre for Newcomers, said his team has to monitor social media accounts more closely now to delete a surge of hateful comments and messages targeting immigrants.

"We've been noticing an uptick of these kinds of messages over the course of the past year, and it's been getting worse and worse and worse," said Ernst.

The Centre for Newcomers is a non-profit organization that offers immigration settlement services and language training for newcomers in Calgary.

Last month, the organization posted to Facebook promoting a program supporting vulnerable newcomer women. It received more than 200 comments "that were all hateful and pretty vile," said Ernst. The centre has since deleted the post.

The hostility isn't happening only online. Ernst said the staff is also seeing it in person, at the organization's offices in northeast Calgary, where they welcome hundreds of newcomers each day.

"We've had people come into the centre and yell at people here," said Ernst. "Those kinds of things we're very afraid of at the moment."

Ernst said the anti-immigration rhetoric is affecting the way the centre promotes its programming. He worries that, long term, it could deter people from seeking the organization's services, and in the short term, he's worried for the safety of his colleagues and their clients.

The centre is launching a volunteer security program to try to prevent any unsafe scenarios and to ensure police are called quickly if any situations escalate.

The Calgary Police Service said its hate crime outreach co-ordinator is working with the centre. A spokesperson said CPS isn't seeing a spike in hate crimes or incidents targeting newcomers or racialized people. The spokesperson acknowledged those incidents often go unreported.

According to a poll conducted for CBC News, 54 per cent of newcomers from across the country reported experiencing some level of discrimination and prejudice because of their ethno-cultural or religious backgrounds.

The survey, conducted by market research firm Pollara in November using an online panel, is made up of 1,507 people who arrived in Canada in the past 10 years. A national survey of that size would normally have a margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent.

The role of politicians

Immigration has become a hot-button issue among Canadians and newcomers alike.

With a population now nearing five million people, Alberta is leading the country in population growth — with the bulk coming from abroad — and that's put strain on housing and jobs.

People have also raised concerns about how employers and others are abusing the immigration system, prompting changes at the federal level to prevent temporary foreign workers from paying thousands of dollars in illegal fees for jobs.

That's among a slew of other recently announced changes to the immigration system, including a major cut to its immigration plan for permanent and temporary residents.

South of the border, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has made international headlines with his promise of mass deportations of migrants and an end to birthright citizenship.

Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams speculates that political rhetoric around these issues is heightening tensions around immigration.

"There's a politics of anger and grievance that's on the ascendant right now. People are frustrated, they're struggling financially," said Williams.

Williams said it's time for political leaders to step in and get the anti-immigration rhetoric under control.

"Part of the initiative has to be about correcting the information, making it clear that housing is a problem not because of this last wave of people newly coming to Alberta or even to Canada, but rather is the result of longstanding problems and inaction." 

Back at the Centre for Newcomers, Ernst said he believes this hateful sentiment actually has nothing to do with immigrants themselves.

"Until our policymakers start truly addressing some of the really core issues like affordability, about rent increasing so dramatically, mortgages increasing dramatically — until all those things get under control and stabilized … people are going to look for scapegoats.

"And unfortunately, we as a society historically have looked for scapegoats outside of ourselves, so we look toward minorities."

'It makes you feel a little bit unsafe'

As someone who moved to Calgary from Kenya two years ago, Hussein Mohamed said it feels like it's becoming more common for newcomers like himself to be blamed for economic issues.

"It gets in the way of you integrating. It gets in the way of you actually making an impact in the economy because you feel like you're not welcome or you're not contributing as you should," said Mohamed.

Concerns about anti-immigration sentiment in Canada are also being heard across the globe, said Mohamed, whose friends in Nairobi have been checking up on him to make sure he's safe here.

While the majority of Canadians have been kind, he said he isn't surprised to hear about what's been happening at the Centre for Newcomers. It reflects what his newcomer friends have been experiencing, too.

"Even if it isn't directly targeted toward you, you feel like it is because you're a part of that community," said Mohamed.

"It's very OK to criticize immigration reform and immigration policies. But when it comes to actual people, we need to take a different approach."