10 MAR 2010: For those still basking in the Olympic afterglow, you really should read the wonderful open letter to Canada that was written by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of NBC’s Nightly News. This beautiful, occasionally tongue-in-cheek, thank-you note to a “thoroughly polite country” ends with an expression of gratitude to Canadians for, “welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.”
This comment set me to thinking about how different countries go about the business of “welcoming” visitors and, being the literal soul that I am, particularly how first impressions can play out at ports of entry.
In my experience, Canada Customs ranks pretty highly in how it treats international visitors on arrival – I would score their general demeanor as “relatively inoffensive.”
Dating back to Ellis Island, the immigration process on entering the US, can often be more than a little intimidating. On bad days it can get to the point of being (pun intended) “borderline offensive”. Like the last time I arrived internationally at JFK and was officiously asked, “And where were you born?”
Such a question can only be designed to draw a response of, “Well stupid - surprisingly enough, in the place it states right there on the passport you have in front of you.” In the interests of full body cavity search avoidance however, no sensible person would do anything other than smile politely and give the requested information.
The US immigration officer’s role surely wasn’t helped by the numbskull in The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection Agency (try saying that ten times quickly) who recently rebranded the stamp-wielding role as “Immigration and Customs Enforcement” – the acronym for which is ICE.
It’s like a Miss Moneypenny line from an early James Bond movie, “And upon arrival in America double 0-7, you will be met by the man from ICE.”
In some places you don’t even have to get as far as the immigration agent to be offended.
In the British Virgin Islands, residents are designated as “Belongers”. This sounds fine, in fact almost quaintly Dickensian, until you see the sign over the immigration desk reserved for visitors, which is emblazoned with the words “Non-Belongers”.
I wonder if anyone in the BVI Department of Tourism has ever considered mentioning it to one of their immigration buddies that confronting visitors with a sign that effectively declares, “You don’t belong here”, hardly constitutes a welcoming embrace.
Similarly, despite Sting’s crooning about being an “Englishman In New York”, who in their right mind could feel comfortable in their adopted country with the handle “Legal Alien”?
Thankfully this Mork and Mindy-like designation has been replaced by the more comforting term “Permanent Resident”.
In Canada too, Permanent Resident has taken over from the old oddly named status of “Landed Immigrant”. Rather like the term “Green Card” in the US however, Landed Immigrant is such a deeply embedded part of the immigration vernacular that it will likely be around for a long time to come.
Perhaps I am overly sensitive, but for reasons I can’t explain the word “foreign” has always troubled me. It smacks of, “waiter there’s a foreign object in my soup”, and around the world’s airports, it shows up in various offensive manifestations like “Foreign Passport Holders” and “Foreign Diplomats”.
The Duty Free Store at Heathrow once sported a sign that said, “No Foreign Currency Accepted”. I think this was intended to say “Only Sterling Accepted”.
The German and Japanese, “ausländer” and “gaijin” both loosely translate to “outside people” which is far friendlier than their “foreigner” equivalent in English.
So, a big thank you is due to Mister Williams for his very kind words about the welcome he was accorded in Canada, and especially for his closing sentiment, “Thank you for reminding some of us that we used to be a more civil society.”
Okay CUT!
That’s it, the party’s over. The foreigners and the journalists have all retreated to their less civil societies.
If someone would sound the “all-clear”, we can all get back to being rude to each other again.
