A man who grew up in the Middle East is worried about anti-immigrant response to Friday’s devastating attacks in Paris.
Amin Makki emigrated from Iran to Canada four years ago, and on Monday he visited a timely meeting of an anti-discrimination working group in Prince Albert.
As the only recent immigrant at the meeting, he provided a unique look at the world’s response to the events in Paris. Makki is an addictions worker with the Metis Addictions Council.
Makki says now, he sees a heightened divide between many Canadians and refugees or immigrants, but what scares him the most is people reacting with anger, and not compassion.
“It brings to our minds war, not peace. It brings to our mind fear, hostility, separation, discrimination,” he said.
He says people who are scared of refugees don’t realize that these newcomers are scared too.
“They are coming here, they don’t know anything about the Canadian culture. We are accepting them in the middle of a crisis so we are afraid, oh my God, one of those (attackers in Paris) had a Syrian passport. What is going to happen if we have one of those here?” Makki said.
The federal government has pledged to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of December.
But he says we should trust the screening processes in place. As Syrians and other refugees start coming in to Canada, he said he hopes people welcome them to their communities.
When it comes to discrimination, refugees are at the greatest risk because the Muslim dress common on the areas they come from makes them highly visible, Makki said.
“They are very clear by their appearance, most of them, they are coming from war zones.”
Years ago, he was take in for questioning by the intelligence and anti-terrorism unit of revolutionary guards, just for speaking Russian to his wife. Makki was cleared after any accusations of spying against him were proved false. As an immigrant, it’s hurtful to be labelled so easily when people move to Canada to be safe, he said.
As someone who’s experienced discrimination, Makki said he knows those who move to Canada already feel like their every move is being watched.