Yesterday, Canada and the U.S. entered into a trade war.
I wanted to write this piece for many reasons, a) because my Oma is from Austria and grew up during WWII, and b) because of some of the things that have recently happened in the Central Alberta area.
In my opinion, MAGA is the new version of Hitler's Nazis.
When Hitler ran, his goals were territorial expansion, consolidation of a racially pure state, and elimination of the European Jews and other perceived enemies of Germany.
Now, let's look at what President Trump has done since taking power:
- Said he wanted to make Canada the 51st State and take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal (territorial expansion)
- Has banned transgender recruits from enlisting, Trump has also declared the U.S. will only recognize two unchangeable sexes, male and female (Hitler not only considered the Jews to be enemies but also LGBTQ people)
- Trump signed an executive order to deny birthright citizenship to migrants who are in the U.S. illegally or are on temporary visas (this one is getting backlash from the federal appeals court)
- Trump suspended the U.S. refugee resettlement program
- Trump ordered that a migrant detention facility in Guantanamo Bay be expanded to hold some 30,000 people, which he said would double the U.S.'s capacity to hold undocumented migrants (not all undocumented migrants are criminals and when Hitler first took power, he didn't start with his final solution, first he tried to send Jewish people and others who were deemed enemies away)
What I mentioned above is also only a small list of what he has done. Honestly, growing up in a family with an Oma who lived during WWII, my Mom, who is my Oma's daughter, and my Oma are frightened. After all, my Oma sees the resemblance.
In WWII, on the morning of March 12, the German army invaded Austria, and no one stopped it. Three days later, he gave a speech in Vienna and declared Austria to be part of the German Empire.
This event is known as the Anschluss.
In Austria, people agreed to the Anschluss because there was a portion of the Austrian population that supported the Nazi party, the country was in economic hardship, intimidation and propaganda were used by the Nazi party, and the Austrian Chancellor at the time was unable to effectively resist Nazi pressure.
Another reason I wanted to write an opinion column is because hatred and racism towards immigrants doesn't just exist in the U.S. but it also exists here.
In fact, the other day in Red Deer, there were a group of people holding racist signs and white supremacist imagery.
Like many others in this country, my Oma came from another.
Now, I am going to say this, my Oma is white, she has lived in this country since the 1950s, but she is not a Canadian citizen. My Oma is a person with documented alien status, meaning she has legal permission to live in Canada as a permanent resident.
My Oma, when she first came to Canada, didn't become a Canadian citizen because, at the time, that meant getting rid of her Austrian citizenship, which wasn't something she wanted to do.
People who hold these sorts of statuses aren't just people of colour, white people also come from away.
Canada is a proud multicultural country born from immigrants and seeing people so anti-immigration and racist is horrendous.
Honestly, if you agree more with the new MAGA sentiment in the U.S., there is nothing stopping anyone from going there.
Right now, though, as we enter this trade war with the U.S., it is important now more than ever to stand up for the values of Canada, purchase Canadian products, support fellow Canadians, and stand together united against this threat to our sovereignty and our nation.
