Who is calling for wide open borders?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postnationalism#In_Canada
Thankfully our country hasn't devolved to that point yet.
That still doesn't make turning your country into a postnational state a good decision.
I'm still of the opinion that making Canada a post national state would be devolving the country even though I already know what you pointed out.
No, it can't be. Certainly not to the degree that holds for the US and Canada.
Turning Canada into a postnational state would still be a terrible decision despite that fact. I still don't want my country to devolve into that.
I've lived in Canada for a relatively long time, the amount of overt racism and the amount of xenophobia are off the scale. I have a hard time reconciling that with the immigrant background of the average Canadian and think that if it was good enough for your (great) grandparents to displace the natives then it probably should be good enough for you to take a (minor) degree of mental discomfort if it helps refugees and others that have an actual need. And if you feel that that is too much of a step for your society to make then that's sad because it says that your ancestors did not manage to pass on their life's experience to a degree that you can benefit from it.
Less than two generations ago my grandparents were refugees, driven - on foot - with their children from the home they lived in to walk across the frozen country side. They were taken in by farmers who definitely did not have food to spare. But they did it anyway, and at a considerable price to their own well-being and health they helped these complete strangers through the toughest part of World War II for that region (the area around Arnhem, well known for operation Market Garden and shown in some detail in the movie 'A bridge too far'.
Refugees and other displaced people are welcome where I live, I'll be happy to pay more taxes if that's what it takes and I realize that with the housing shortage it means that my kids will likely not have a place to move to when they are of the age that they would normally do so. But my grandparents did manage to pass on the lessons learned from those times.
You keep bringing up arguments I've already said will not sway me. I don't care that my ancestors were colonizers because it wasn't me. I don't care if you call me an invader because, again, it wasn't me.
I'm not interested in giving any land back to anyone or allowing anyone into the country with no checks and balances because of something that happened 100s of years ago. And yes, I'm aware of the residential schools, but no, our government being shitty still doesn't make me desire turning Canada into a postnational state. Because it wasn't me!
My ancestors are not me and I'm not interested in carrying weight on my shoulders for things other people have done.
That's not a problem with the arguments, it's a problem with your worldview. If everything that happened that you directly benefit from 'wasn't you' and you therefore refuse to redress the wrongs done and on top of that refuse those same benefits to others that doesn't - in my opinion - make you a nice or reasonable person. Similar arguments have been put forth by the beneficiaries of crimes in the past and failed. You're obviously entirely welcome to your worldview and your feeling that if it wasn't you that did it that you can ignore the source of your wealth but such individual selfishness can add up to collective selfishness and that's the sort of thing that will sooner or later garner a collective response. And by then no amount of 'it wasn't me' will be of help because it was you, all along. By helping to correct these wrong and by being open to others being helped you serve yourself because you keep the social pressures at a manageable level. Ignoring them for too long leads to them spilling over.
No, it wasn't me. For one, I was born in 1983 so it's literally impossible for it to have been me. I also don't have any wealth that I've benefited from. My family is broke as fuck and I'll inherit literally nothing of any value to anyone when my parents die. I have no living grandparents left.
You're going to have to do better than "your worldview is different from mine therefore it sucks" to convince me that I've oppressed anyone anywhere. Your worldview sucks though and I suggest you get a better one. I can't help you with that because I'm not willing to patronize you so willingly, so good luck.
Of course I also understand that unrestrained migration right now would cause massive problems. The real problem here is not the migration itself, but what's causing it. Most people (apart from some adventurous souls) don't normally want to leave the place they were born and where their family lives, except when driven to leave by circumstances, whether those circumstances are poverty, civil war or climate change.
If we have a problem with migration, we should do more to address the causes of migration. And not create more causes for migration.
In my opinion not even God himself (if he exists) can address the causes of migration unless He changes the natural rules overnight. The idea that you and me or even Elon Musk + Bill Gates can actually do something to address the actual causes of migration sounds very naive, horribly naive, and please don't take it as an offense. Lets say for a moment that there is a miracle and "we" fix the poverty and the climate in the world tomorrow. How long do you think will that last ? 20-30 years until the world population doubles again ? What do you do then when this overpopulation combined with the corresponding consumption and pollution brings us back to the current situation ? Will you invite "us" all again to fix everything back ? How are "we" going to fix this situation ? By working each of us overtime or what ?
I strongly disagree with your defeatism. We have the ability to solve problems, and we have done so in the past. We could do so again. The only thing we lack is the political will.
However, my purpose was initially to point out the possibility. The possibility is there. The next step is what we do with it. If you start out by giving up, you're never going to get anywhere. That's your disconnect.
I agree with you there but probably don't agree with you on who that is.
Good intentions are a start, and are worth a lot more than bad intentions, apathy and defeatism.
'Somebody do something' is much better than 'don't threaten my lifestyle'. Better still is 'I will do something'.