As the Canadian national elections heat up, migration has started to become a debate topic here in Toronto where conservatives have turned the issue of migration as an election issue.

“The election debate brings another dimension to the problems that our kababayans abroad face.

A new party launched by former Conservative leadership contender Maxime Bernier demands a reduction of immigration and greater efforts to ensure immigrants adopt “Canadian values.”

But a majority of Canadians (58 percent) say they don’t believe that immigration levels are too high while 76 percent say the overall impact of immigration on the Canadian economy has been positive. Canada has been a major destination not only for Filipino immigrants but also for temporary workers like caregivers, factory workers and agricultural workers numbering more than 700,000.

The election debate brings another dimension to the problems that our kababayans abroad face. On one hand they leave for foreign lands so they can earn enough for their families’ needs because there are not enough jobs or livelihoods to bring home the bacon.

But, on the other hand, they don’t necessarily face welcoming arms when they arrive. More often than not, they are only accepted for their contributions to the host country. They usually get the more menial and undesirable jobs and don’t have equal rights as the citizens of the host countries. Especially if they are unskilled temporary workers, they are the lowest paid and denied their basic rights. In case of domestic workers, they are no better than slaves in terms of movement (their passports are taken away), food, sleeping quarters and so on.

In the face of a protracted economic crisis and political instability all over the world, the welcomes wear thin and uncertainty creeps in the public’s attitudes regarding migrant workers and immigrants. Hooligans and neo-fascists become more vocal in attacking migrants and xenophobia starts to influence public attitudes.

Inhospitability starts to become more marked. In the face of unemployment they are considered the outsiders who took away their jobs. Their race becomes an issue and multiculturalism takes a backseat. The public becomes less tolerant of cultural and racial differences. They start feeling uneasy and intolerant of such issues as Islamic women wearing hijab. They suddenly find these small practices disturbing to their social harmony and less tolerant and understanding of different cultures.

As the mood of the population shifts, many right-wing political parties running on antimigrant platforms start to become strong contenders or even win seats in parliament in many industrialized countries. At certain junctures they are able to win government power such as in the case of Austria and Italy.

Crisis can also mean that deployment of migrants from the Philippines becomes more uncertain. Currently the “Saudization” policy of replacing migrants with Saudi citizens has forced many migrants, including Filipinos, to return home. This is a big setback for the country’s labor export policy since Saudi Arabia is the biggest market for jobless Filipinos. This may be temporary as the Saudis have become used to the high life and too dependent on migrants. But Saudi Arabia is facing instability and conflicts, its immigration policies cannot be expected to be stable. This is the case of South Korea where waves of mass arrests against undocumented migrant workers happen.

I have traveled to many countries, including developed ones, that tend to have various degrees of racial discrimination. I find Canada and Scandinavian countries to be exceptionally less racist in public attitudes than other countries of Europe and North America or even Asia.

The people of the far north are more hospitable, tolerant and open to multiculturalism.

We call our migrant workers our heroes — these are our countrymen who left for greener pastures and work hard for family and country. But it is about kapit-patalim (grasp the blade of the dagger) — taking the difficult risks and sacrifices to make a living away from uncertainty.

Their sacrifices involve throwing their family and community lives in working away from their country and in working in harsh conditions of intolerance and racism in what they thought were their host countries. They are heroes to their families and loved ones, they are our heroes who contribute to our communities, they are our heroes who contribute to our economy as a whole. They are also heroes who fight for understanding and multiculturalism in their host countries all over the world.