Foreigners Aren’t Stealing Jobs

No one is coming to Canada, walking into your employer’s office, pointing at the job menu and saying, “I’ll take that one,” only for you to be magically let go and replaced. That’s not how any of this works.

This idea—that foreigners are somehow the gatekeepers of your employment—is a fantasy. It’s a distraction. And it speaks volumes about just how effectively the owner class has twisted our perception of power.

The truth is simple: it’s not the worker who hires or fires. It’s the employer. It’s the company. It’s the owner class. Yet the moment a foreigner enters the picture, people seem to forget this basic fact. That amnesia isn’t accidental. It’s manufactured.

Blaming foreign workers is part of a carefully curated narrative, pushed by the owner class to ensure our anger is misdirected—focused on the desperate worker trying to survive, rather than the comfortable executive giving away our livelihoods to maximize profits.

There’s a quote from The X-Files episode Blood that I think about often:

“Fear. It’s the oldest tool of power. If you’re distracted by the fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those above.” That’s what this is. A distraction. A fear campaign. If you’re angry at the foreigner for taking your job, you’re not angry at the person who gave it away.

We need to change how we see this. We need to understand that we have more in common with the foreigner trying to build a life than we ever will with the owners hoarding the profits of our labour.

Workers are workers, regardless of birthplace. Solidarity must extend across borders. Our true strength lies in recognizing our shared struggle—not in scapegoating the people beside us on the factory floor, in the office, or behind the counter.

People coming to Canada to work, to seek opportunity, to escape hardship—they are not the enemy.

The enemy is the owner class: those who hoard wealth, exploit desperation, and treat human lives as interchangeable parts. The enemy is the one who would gladly underpay a brown worker to squeeze a few more dollars from the bottom line.

Foreigners aren’t stealing your job. Capitalism gave it away.