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Film on Geography
The Evolution of Migration
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Since the beginning of time, humans have been shifting around, and for many different purposes. At first, homo sapiens were
nomadic. They followed herds of animals and moved around depending on the climate and season. With the development of agriculture,
humans were able to stay in one place, making permanent homes, and creating civilization. Now, with many different cultures,
countries and politics, people are forced to migrate for different reasons than Lucy, the hominid discovered by Donald Johanson
and Tom Gray on the 24th of November 1974. Nowadays, people migrate because of political, economic and environmental push
and pull factors.
People who migrate from a particular country for political reasons are known as refugees. Political refugees are defined
as “people who have fled their home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of their race, religion,
nationality, membership in a social group or political opinion,” (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees). These refugees have nowhere to go until a country opens their doors to them. As a result of the Soviet Union’s
invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, over four million Afghans fled to refugee camps in neighbouring countries. Canada has a
rigorous program in effect to determine who qualifies as a political refugee.
People migrate to where they think jobs are available. Due to economic restructuring, job prospects vary from one area
or region to another. A region that has petroleum may attract miners. A region filled with forests will bring loggers to
its front doors. A country that has either run out or is lacking in resources may turn its attention to the manufacturing
industry, bringing in unskilled, low-paid workers.
Another reason, though not as common, for immigration is because of the geographical nature of their home land/destination.
If a man has a wife and two kids and enjoys his work and lifestyle, and his favoured politician was voted into power, what
would cause him to emigrate? Perhaps he has heard the news of an oncoming hurricane. Perhaps he has just felt the onslaught
of a level 8 earthquake. If he would like to live safely and without danger of losing his house and family, he may move to
a more stable tectonic plate, far away from raging waters and howling winds.
Another reason for migration caused by the environment is if someone would like to move away from an urban area and breathe
the mountain air, he may consider living near Whistler, or by the Alps. People who have asthma or respiratory problems have
moved to Arizona because of the clean, dry, and arid land.
All of the above are examples of voluntary migration. However, many people have been forced to leave their homes. One
exemplar is the forced international migration of millions of African slaves. Europeans who owned large plantations in the
United States called upon Africans to do their dirty work. The slaves were gathered up from their tribes and villages, and
were literally shipped across to the US and were sold like they were trading cards or furniture.
Migration is divided into two categories, and into those, two more. These are internal and international migration, and
voluntary and forced migration. International migration refers to movement from one country to another, while internal migration
refers to settling elsewhere, but still within the same country. Forced migration is when a migrant is compelled to move.
An example of this includes slavery, political unrest, and an unfit environment. However, some of these reasons overlap
with voluntary migration (where a migrant made a choice to move) and include economic, political and emotional reasons, as
mentioned above. Toronto, an extremely diverse city, owes its ethnic mélange to immigration, whether it is political, economical,
forced, or voluntary.
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Brain Drain? More Like Brain Trickle!
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TORONTO - Your newscaster is not telling you the truth: Canada's brainpower is not being sucked south of the border at un
uncontrollable speed. In fact, a recent Statistics Canada report entitled "Brain Drain and Brain Gain" shows four
times as many university graduates entering Canada overall as leaving for the United States.
"Emigrants to the United States are more than twice as likely to hold a university degree than are immigrants to
Canada," the report says. "However, because of the overall greater number of immigrants, there are four times as
many university graduates entering Canada, from the rest of the world, as there are university degree holders of all levels
leaving Canada for the United States."
The report goes on to say that the number of master's and doctoral graduates alone - entering Canada from the rest of
the world - is equal to the number of university graduates at all levels leaving Canada for the United States.
In summary, the report says that emigration isn't new and what we lose is more than made up for by what we gain.
Granted, some professions, such as doctors and nurses, do have higher emigration rates, but the report shows that overall
only about 25,000 Canadian taxpayers leave for the US each year - and only about 1,000 of them have incomes over $100,000.
To be fair, the Globe and Mail's recent headlines did reflect this conclusion: "Brain drain?," it wrote, "StatsCan
calls it a wash." Fair enough.
Try comparing that to the papers of Southam.
The Ottawa Citizen headlined only one side of the debate: "Doctors lead brain drain," it claimed. "About
20 head to US for every one moving from US to Canada, Statistics Canada says," wrote another paper. "Brain drain
to US getting worse," added another.
The National Post also decided to highlight just one side of the debate: "Canada bleeding MDs, Nurses to US,"
it said.
As StatsCan points out, the "Brain Drain" phenomenon is not simple. While the typical Canadian, making about
$30,000 a year, would not be financially better off in the US, the 1,000 estimated emigrants making more than $100,000 a year
probably would be. - (That is, they would pay significantly less in taxes - enough to buy security, a private education and
private health insurance.)
What if one accepted for a moment that a few thousand well-educated Canadians (many of them physicians) do prefer the
US for some combination of reasons - they prefer the US-style health care system or remuneration or tax system, for instance.
Does this mean that we have to modify our country’s health care system just to keep a handful of physicians
in Canada? Do we really need to spend taxes so frivolously? Headlines are only presenting one side of the argument. The
problem isn’t really that serious. Be smart about spending, McGuinty!
goat@se.cx
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