'I wish Canada would live up to its reputation': Journalist Samira Mohyeddin shares views on belonging — and betrayal — in Canada

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5 days ago

Yahoo News Canada presents 'My Canada," a series spotlighting Canadians — born-and-raised to brand new — sharing their views on the Canadian dream, national identity, and the triumphs and tribulations that come with life inside and outside these borders.
As Canada Day approaches, Toronto journalist and activist Samira Mohyeddin finds herself reflecting less on the customary pride and more on her painful relationship with the country she has called home since childhood. 'My idea of what Canada means to me as an immigrant has changed throughout the years and being Canadian has always been complicated,' she says. 'It's a love-hate relationship.'
This May marked the 46th anniversary of her family's arrival in Canada after leaving Iran in 1979 at the start of the Iran hostage crisis. It brought to mind her first memory of her new home, which is not one of welcome, but of violence.
She remembers being just five years old when a group of boys tied her, her sister and two cousins to trees in their apartment complex, yelling, 'You took them hostage, so we're taking you hostage.'
'We had just arrived,' Mohyeddin says. 'We were new to the school, and this was our introduction.'
Years later, during the 2010 G20 protests in Toronto, she was among those 'kettled' by police for hours without cause. She joined a class-action lawsuit and won — $9,000, a small sum that could never account for the damage to her sense of belonging.
'That was an awakening,' she says. 'To realize that the so-called liberal democracy I live in can turn on a dime and become a fascist state. We think that we have all these rights and freedoms here, but I realized how quickly they can be taken away.'
It's not surprising, then, why Mohyeddin is quick to reject the myth of the 'grateful immigrant.' She believes Canada is steeped in 'a two-tier form of citizenship' when it comes to who is afforded which rights. She explains, 'I'm very appreciative of Canada opening its doors to my family, but at the same time, I hate this idea that we have to constantly be bowing to the fact that we are allowed here. The West has benefited from the brain drain from our countries, too.'
We think that we have all these rights and freedoms here, but I realized how quickly they can be taken away.
This Canada Day, her disappointment runs especially deep. Mohyeddin has been vocal about her outrage over Canada's muted response to calls of genocide in Gaza, and her feeling that the government has abandoned its commitment to international human rights law.
'Canada has shown that it is quite hypocritical and willing to sacrifice its reputation in the international community,' she says, pointing to the genocide of the Rohingya by the Myanmar military. At that time, Canada 'didn't wait for the gavel to drop' and for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prosecute Myanmar. Instead, it immediately declared it a genocide. Bob Rae, Canada's former Special Envoy to Myanmar, even visited refugee camps.
So, with Prime Minister Mark Carney having stated he's going to wait for the ICJ to make a call on Gaza, Mohyeddin says, 'What we're seeing is the Israeli exception, because if this was any other country, Canada would be leading the charge to stop it.'
As political tensions continue to brew between Canada and the U.S. now, too, Mohyeddin's feelings have only become more complicated. Since U.S. President Donald Trump's election and ensuing travel bans, she's cancelled three trips to America, as she no longer feels comfortable — like so many immigrants — travelling there.
'It's a lot more than just 'elbows up,' it's about locking arms,' she says. 'The U.S. is trying to sow divisions. There are Iranian Canadians, with Canadian passports, being stopped from going into the U.S. right now. It begs the question: what does it mean to be a Canadian? In 2015, Trudeau came out and said, 'a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,' but we haven't seen it actually be put into effect. You can't say one thing and then act another way.'
It's become a little debilitating to watch these institutions that we had pride in fall apart like a house of cards.
Still, she sees glimmers of progress. 'When I was growing up, we weren't taught anything about Indigenous people's plight in this country. We pledged allegiance to the queen. Now, in public schools, kids are learning about residential schools — that's a start.'
But that slow crawl toward justice is not enough. 'Canada needs to apply the same critical Indigenous lens on itself and to other countries,' she says. 'If we don't call [what's happening in Gaza] a genocide, if we don't put an arms embargo on Israel, we will forever tarnish our image in the international community. And for what?'Asked if there's anything she admires about Canada's national character, Mohyeddin doesn't hesitate: "I just wish Canada would live up to its reputation. There is such a deep sense of betrayal in my bones about what it means to be Canadian. People are hurt and it's become a little debilitating to watch these institutions that we had pride in fall apart like a house of cards."
For her, and so many others, Canada Day is not just a national holiday, but a painful reminder of promises made and broken.
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