When we moved to Canada for my husband\u2019s academic job in 2009, we had work permits. Mine stated I couldn\u2019t work with children or do farmwork. I\u2019d previously been a teacher, but, with this work permit, I only taught adults. I volunteered at friends\u2019 farms, but these skills couldn\u2019t offer income. I did a few Jewish community events, leading family services, for instance, but I didn\u2019t want to jeopardize my status.<\/p>\n
I felt all the upheaval was worthwhile. We lived in a college town in Kentucky before moving to Canada. We drove 121 kilometres each way to attend a congregation with a rabbi. The town we lived in had about 20 Jewish families and a lay-led small Reform congregation. While my husband\u2019s professor job was good, I\u2019d lacked job prospects there. It was lonely without much of a Jewish community. When my husband was offered a Canada Research Chair in Manitoba, moving north made sense.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re law-abiding folk. We followed all the visa requirements. However, when trying to get Canadian permanent residency, the process required a chest X-ray. Pregnant with twins in 2011, I had to wait until after I gave birth. This stalled things. Meanwhile, we never thought committing a crime was a good choice while in Canada on a visa or a residency permit. (Or now, as citizens.)<\/p>\n
Canadian permanent residents have all the rights of citizenship except voting and running for public office. If you\u2019re convicted of a crime, permanent residency can be revoked. At each stage, whether work permit, permanent residency or citizenship, it\u2019s important to obey the laws of the place you\u2019re living in.<\/p>\n
Later, as a permanent resident, I pitched book ideas to publishers at a Winnipeg library event. The publisher asked if I was a citizen. If not, they said they couldn\u2019t read my manuscript. Their government funding was \u201conly for citizens.\u201d Afterwards, I researched it and emailed the publisher \u2013 Canadian presses can publish eligible permanent residents\u2019 work using the same government funding. I received no reply.<\/p>\n
By then, I realized my non-citizen experiences were normal and considered acceptable. Citizenship means something. Those born in Canada often don\u2019t understand their privileges. Newcomers will mention their credentials and the hard effort it took to enter Canada. Canada loves successful, educated immigrants. Yet, upon arrival, those credentials often aren\u2019t recognized, meaning we\u2019re not eligible to do the same work here. It might take years to requalify the \u201cCanadian\u201d way.<\/p>\n
I recalled all this when the US government began to detain foreign university students before deporting them. The outcry has been fast and furious. How dare immigration take Mahmoud Khalil away from his pregnant wife? Yet, as a parent, I thought, \u201cWhy would anyone on a visa or residency permit risk illegal behaviour? They might be forced to abandon their family!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps protesting international students never reviewed their visa terms. In the United States, green card holders aren\u2019t allowed to try to change the government by illegal means. Those who trespassed on or vandalized university campuses, threatening resistance in support of groups deemed terrorists by both the United States and Canada, took big risks.<\/p>\n Some US international students knew they\u2019d violated their visa regulations. Some students \u201cself-deported.\u201d A Cornell graduate student, Momodu Taal, left the United States on his own.<\/p>\n Cornell University emphasizes that actions have consequences and that, with privilege, comes responsibility. I heard this repeatedly during my undergraduate years at Cornell. However, when a Columbia University grad student, Ranjani Srinivasan, left the United States for Canada, CBC\u2019s headline read, \u201cGrad student who fled US says claims about her alleged support of Hamas are \u2018absurd.\u2019\u201d Why did Srinivasan flee if the allegations were absurd and didn\u2019t violate the law?<\/p>\n Long ago, my husband attended graduate school in Britain. As an American, he had to register his identity and contact information at the local police department. Though he didn\u2019t break any laws, the trek to the station and the US passport stamped \u201cALIEN\u201d were a sobering reminder of status.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It isn\u2019t popular to take responsibility for one\u2019s actions. Even expecting law enforcement to enforce the laws against some illegal activity isn\u2019t common. Hate crimes against Jewish Canadians soared out of control in 2024. According to a recent B\u2019nai Brith Canada audit, few cases are prosecuted. According to 2023 statistics, 72% of these types of hate crimes went unsolved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps those fleeing the United States have seen this statistic. It\u2019s now common in North America to protest on city streets, waving Hezbollah or Hamas flags. Protesters use words like \u201cintifada\u201d and \u201cresistance\u201d while claiming this is a right to free speech. These words and the actions that followed resulted in the deaths of thousands whose identities differed from the Islamist groups who\u00a0<\/span>\u201cresisted.\u201d Sometimes, Jews in Israel (or Canada) are the targets. Targets include Israeli Druze, Christians or Bedouin, too. In neighbouring Syria, minority groups targeted by Islamists are slaughtered, but without Canadian news coverage comparable to the Israel\/Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n As but one example of many incidents across the country, it\u2019s apparently legal to protest and yell \u201cbaby killers,\u201d an antisemitic trope, outside of the Winnipeg Jewish community centre. That same building complex contains a daycare, school and programming for the elderly. In April 2025, protesters claimed they did this because two Israeli soldiers came to speak about their experiences on Oct. 7, 2023, and their military service in Gaza.<\/p>\n But, wait a moment, Canadian soldiers who speak about their military service in Afghanistan don\u2019t face protesters. Do protesters stand near mosques when a relevant guest speaks, to protest violent upheavals in Syria, Nigeria or Sudan? No, it\u2019s only about Israel, where half the world\u2019s Jewish population lives. Protesters openly spout hatred against Canadian Jewish citizens, about 1% of the Canadian population, but not other minorities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Immigrants, like foreign students, don\u2019t get all the rights of citizenship. Citizenship is a \u201cmembership\u201d and has its privileges. Freedom of expression isn\u2019t absolute in either the United States or Canada. In both countries, discrimination, hate speech, incitement to violence and defamation are illegal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Canadians must remember the responsibilities that accompany the privileges. Let\u2019s enforce Canada\u2019s laws against hate. Behaving properly towards one another and treating all Canadians as worthy of respect are Canadian values. Hate speech, and valorizing terrorist groups and their flags, aren\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joanne Seiff <\/b>h<\/em>as written regularly for the <\/i>Winnipeg Free Press and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/i>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we moved to Canada for my husband\u2019s academic job in 2009, we had work permits. 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