I struggled for days to write this. Every time I’d start, the tears would flow. I can’t seem to stop them.
And while our daughter is now 17, all I want to do is hug her — hard. Memories of her as a baby, a small child, a young teen have consumed me for days as I imagine the mothers who have had their children taken from them, forcibly, by U.S. border police. Families torn apart. Children caged.
Children. Caged.
The parents are powerless. Powerless and I imagine in profound distress, desperate and vulnerable and fearing this could be the last time they get to see, protect, hold, nurture, and hug their children. Imagine it.
We all need to imagine it because we desperately need for humanity to win here. How many times does the world have to say never again before it will be true?
For Canada, the state-sanctioned taking of Indigenous children from their parents and the resulting horrors should be enough of a reminder of why we must speak out.
Have we learned nothing? Reconciliation remains unrealized, but it shouldn’t stop us from speaking out against the monstrous actions happening daily south of the border. Indeed it should propel us to do so, while we call out the ongoing injustices and indignities that Indigenous people continue to face in our country. This is what good people do.
My social media feed is overflowing with good people who are just as outraged, angry, and heartbroken by the soul-destroying actions of the United States government against families seeking asylum.
This is one of those moments, when silence is simply not an option.
The Trump government’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies have resulted in more than 2,000 babies and children being taken forcibly from their parents at the Mexico-U.S. border in the last few weeks. Babies as young as three months old. My heart is in tatters thinking about it. And for those who argue they are breaking the law, consider that some laws are indefensible. Slavery was legal. Child labour was once legal. Hitler passed hundreds of laws and regulations against Jewish people.
Nursing babies taken from their mothers and fathers, transported to facilities 2,000 kilometres away. Children, including those with disabilities, being placed in cages as they are detained, not knowing if they will ever see their parents again. It is an atrocity. It is state-sanctioned child abuse. Amnesty International has called it torture and inhumane.
And it must be called out. This is one of those moments, when silence is simply not an option.
Many Holocaust survivors have spoken of the world’s silence during the time of Nazi Germany and how it emboldened the oppressor, the abuser, the tormentor.
Trump’s detention camps and the justification of these acts by his administration and supporters are the latest in a long list of racist, horrific policies. Just when you think this administration can sink no further, a new low is reached.
There are millions of Americans who are as outraged as we are. And it must be those citizens, those good people, who must act to save the soul of their country.
For Canada, we too need to think about our soul as a nation. We must not allow our humanity to be further scarred by silence or inaction. Not again.
Since images from the caged detention camps have flooded newscasts, there have been renewed calls for Canada to end its “safe third country” agreement with the United States as it has clearly demonstrated that it is not a safe haven for asylum seekers. This is important and so are the individual actions of Canadians, including those who have decided to cancel vacations to the U.S., or strategically boycott American goods.
Martin Luther King Jr said the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by bad people, but the silence over that by good people. This is one of those times when good people need to respond. The world needs to respond. Our prime minister needs to respond with something stronger than it is wrong.
There is no doubt that we are managing a very tricky economic problem with the U.S. government. But let’s reflect on this for one second. Do we really think that being silent here is going to stop Trump from his destructive trade policies? This man sides with despots over democratically elected leaders and allies. He lies on a daily and routine basis. He cozies up with White Supremacists. He uses his office to further his personal wealth and economic interests. He breaks bread with dictators and then praises them. He puts children in cages. He is without morals, without integrity, without honour. His policies are monstrous.
A sensible relationship with him is impossible, so let’s stop kidding ourselves into thinking we can persuade him into a trade agreement by being nice.
We must speak. We must act. Or forever be judged by our silence.
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, dear Newfoundland and Labrador members of Parliament, consider this my letter to you.
Lana Payne is the Atlantic director for Unifor. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. Twitter: @lanampayne Her column returns in two weeks.
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