Separatists’ not-so-strange bedfellows |
CALGARY—Why are there immigration questions for Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum on separating from Canada? The answer is that immigration is the cornerstone of global far-right movements integrated into the Alberta separatist push. Immigration acts as a cognitive baseline and the connective tissue intended to argue separatism through a specific lens, and that lens is a fascist and racist one.
There are five questions posed on the ballot relating to immigration. They range from asking Albertans whether the provincial government should take control from federal authorities “for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration”; to introducing new legislation that mandates that “only Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and individuals with an Alberta-approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially funded programs”; to charging a fee “to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta.”
It’s very Trumpy, but it’s also the thread that all far-right movements across the western world use. As the University of Alberta’s Parkland Institute explains: “It is an age-old strategy of blaming minorities for the social, political, and economic challenges facing society.” The report also highlights that these questions for the referendum “rely on problematic anti-immigrant tropes advanced by far-right movements globally and leveraged by the separatists here in Alberta.”
Nation-Building Requires Investment in Nonprofit Sector
Beyond diagnosis and treatment: helping young Canadians with rare diseases live, learn and thrive
Alberta separatism is no longer just a Canadian issue; it has become an axiom of the architecture of global white supremacy and fascism, since those two are intricately linked. When speaking of the global far right, I am talking about a........