Millions upon millions of people are on the move around the globe. Unfortunately, many are finding closed doors. It is therefore critical that migration concerns be urgently addressed and better managed by our political leaders and policy makers. Since migration is a global phenomenon, the response must also be global—a national or regional effort alone will not suffice.
If migration is a two-sided coin, one side would be a well-defined and transparent migration policy that offers people the opportunity to better their lives by moving to another country. The flip side would be a program of integrating migrants into the very heart of their adopted societies. Without a genuine attempt to integrate the newcomers, the coin is bound to be a failing investment—for both the migrant and the host country.
Naturally, my views on migration and the integration of newcomers have been influenced by my country’s and family’s own experience. In Canada, we spend as much time and effort, if not more, on worrying about settling the migrant once he/she is in the country, as we do on who we wish to attract to Canada in the first place. For example, we encourage cultural and language retention; since 1971, we have embraced an official, national policy of multiculturalism; we have in place a Charter of Rights and Freedoms which equally applies to all citizens and non-citizens alike; we offer relatively easy and quick access to citizenship; and we have established over the years a host of municipal, provincial and federal programs focused on assisting the new residents. These are all investments that we, as a Canadian society, make to integrate and settle our newcomers.
The business and professional world has also made considerable progress in softening or downplaying the racial/ethnic divides. The pursuit of dollars (or euros) as an end-game can often be a great equalizer. And the issues of competence, ability and integrity—as means to that end—are highly sought after and richly compensated.
That’s why when you Google some of the top paid CEOs in America, you come up with names like Irani, Mozilo, Hornanian, and Nardelli—not exactly the kind of names that one would naturally associate with an old boys’ network. Organizations like the “Minority Business Roundtable” or the “National Organization of CEOs of African-Hispanic-Asian American origins” have been established to bring greater focus, clarity and advocacy to this evolving dynamic in business life. The IT revolution has greatly accelerated the integration of ethnicity and race within the boardroom. New ways of doing business have turned the marketplace on its head.
Through the very synergies of the business world, minorities and migrants do get a fair deal over time. A sense of common purpose and vertical mobility are indeed possible: what you do often matters more than who you are. However, as we contemplate the broader international reality, it is painfully obvious that migrants deserve a better, more humane deal. The world community desperately needs to better manage global migration, as a means of providing people with a more peaceful and higher standard of living. A world that is unable or unwilling to do something about this will only face undesirable pressures from people on the move, whose human spirit to find a better life will clash with poor policies, limiting rules and closed doors.
The Hon. Sergio Marchi was born in Argentina of Italian parents and moved to Canada at a young age. He currently serves as a Senior Business Advisor for the Canadian law firm, Lang Michener, in Toronto. Mr. Marchi began his political career as a Toronto City Councillor in 1982. Since then he has served in the House of Commons, the federal Cabinet, as Canadian Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, and as Commissioner on the UN Global Commission on International Migration.
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