Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim confrontation at Komagata Maru sign unveiling a reminder from the local anti-colonial Panjabi movement that colonial violence is not past tense
Category Archive: Immigration
Model Minority is a publication assembled by Gendai, a non-profit visual arts organization that engages the East Asian diasporic community in Canada. This volume is a collection of research in the form of essays, articles, and commissioned artist projects that broach the subject of “model minority” in North America. By combining artists projects with archival material, academic research and recent political activities, the book investigates a territory usually given exclusively to social sciences.
In Vancouver, as in many cities around the world, Mexican nationals gather to show support for those living in their home country, with signs that read “Ya me canse” (I am tired), “Me dueles México” (I hurt for you, Mexico”), and “Quisieron enterrarlos, pero no sabían que eran semilla” (They wanted to bury them, but they didn’t know they were seed).
The notion of a more ‘humane prison’ with more staffing (i.e increased management and control of detainees) and better services detracts from the critical question of why an increased number of migrants are being detained and deported, and does nothing to challenge the federal government’s plans of prison expansion.