Arriving in Canada 20 years ago, one of the first things I tried to master was placing an order for a \u201cdouble-double\u201d at Tim Hortons. It was an unnerving experience given that most of the folks at the counters were white and I always had trouble saying it right with the appropriate cadence: \u201cMay I please have a medium dark roast, double-double?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, I have the reverse problem. I\u2019m hard-pressed to see a white person at a Tim Hortons counter; everybody is either brown or black. They have accents like I did on arrival, and I try to slow down my delivery above the din in most coffee shops. It\u2019s still unnerving. I watch some staff struggle to understand what exactly customers are asking for, their English skills iffy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In many ways, this transformation captures what has happened in Canada over the last two decades. We have become over-reliant on temporary foreign workers, launching multiple immigration streams at the behest of business, dissuading resident Canadians from taking up low-wage, hard-labour professions even as we brand ourselves a \u201cknowledge economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve allowed international students, who pay atrocious amounts of their parents\u2019 hard-earned money to our universities and colleges so our kids can pay less, to work as cheap labour at coffee shops or drive for Uber or Lyft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the great things about Canada is what I\u2019d call the \u201cdignity of labour.\u201d Unlike in India, the UAE and Qatar \u2013 my previous homes \u2013 our neighbours are drawn from all vocations and occupations. Mine include chauffeurs, tradesmen, roofers, home renovators, call centre specialists, seniors\u2019 caregivers, professors and public servants. That\u2019s the hallmark of an egalitarian society.<\/p>\n
I fear though, that we are becoming a multi-tiered society, creating a permanent underclass mainly of migrant workers who do jobs that Canadians no longer want to do, in conditions that are unworthy of Canadian ideals. Employers complain they don\u2019t find local applicants for jobs that require back-breaking work, such as picking fruit or lifting and packing heavy shipments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I worry we are headed for the same \u201cbanlieues\u201d of Paris that have become perennial hotbeds for discontent and malcontents.\u00a0<\/p>\n