Not long ago, in 1999, I lived and worked for a few years in the United States with a temporary work permit, under NAFTA. My daughter was in a primary school and, as every year, I went with joy at her Christmas concert. I was really shocked. The whole concert started and continued for one hour or so with songs like “America is importing people / People just like you and just like me“…

I was watching my daughter and I was saying thanks God she’s only 9 and does not really understand what she is forced to sing. I was watching around: some other “imports” like myself were either confused or already accustomed with this sign of “appreciation” from the host country. The few Americans - including a friend of ours - were rather very proud of their “hospitality”. And the teacher, an old lady with very little knowledge of what other countries exist in the world beside US, Canada, Mexico, France and Mogadishu (I’m not kidding) was probably thinking those imports should feel very proud for the attention.

I rarely felt so humiliated and embarrassed. I knew the term “import” is exclusively used for merchandise, for animals, cows, objects. You can import skills, expertise or computer data. And yes, I knew there are companies that use it also for people, like “He is an import from Norway”. But hey, businesses are businesses, you’re not there for charity, but to provide a service, a task. Employers are all money-oriented and we fully understand this.

I never again heard the term “import” used for people in other countries. In Canada it is about “immigration” or “bringing”/”hiring” people from outside, on either a permanent or temporary basis. I looked on different dictionaries and most of them has the definition of “import” associated with only “something”, not somebody, someone. Yes, I see some have recent updates, but still mostly in the business context, as presented before.

When it’s about social services, social status, your daughter’s Christmas concert, you do not expect to be treated as an “import”. How low can still America go? I doubt there is any American who would ever accept to be treated by a nation as “import”. Insulting and shameless.

And talking about imports, the same friend who’s been with us at the concert, when the 2000 recession became more visible, started to complain about the “imports” who “stole” their jobs. And she was not complaining about those people accepted there on a temporary basis, but on the green card residents and immigrants.

“America is importing people… People just like you and just like me…”

Well, we may look alike, but we are “imports“. I suppose we’re not far from having required a stamp on the front, with “Made in China“, “Made in India“, “Made in Russia“. Just like the imported merchandise.

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