After Pradeep Ananth, his wife, Monali, and their young son, Kabir, arrived in Toronto from India, they did what Canada tells skilled newcomers to do: they put down roots. They paid taxes, opened bank accounts, signed leases, enrolled their son in school and community-centre programs, made friends and built a Canadian life. Kabir learned to love his teachers, the library, swimming, piano, basketball and a well-rounded childhood “We pictured him growing up Canadian,” Ananth writes in a memoir for Maclean’s. But when when anxiety over housing and affordability soured public opinion on immigration, Ottawa slashed its intake targets. For Pradeep, the dream of permanent residency fell out of reach. “The country where we were putting down roots didn’t have room for us after all,” he writes. “And we had to leave.” macleans.ca/longforms/almo…
