The Boat People

The Boat People by Sharon Bala
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what an emotional, impactful, culturally-relevant book. This is a heart-wrenching look at the atrocities of war and radical racism around the world, specifically during the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the process and rationale by which nations and their people choose whom they will and will not save from the punishment that awaits refugees who are returned to their country of persecution. It was eye opening to see how far countries will go in the name of "protection" - detaining refugees indefinitely, separating father from son. But really, who are the ones in need of protection? No one willingly leaves behind their whole lives, their families, all of their possessions, unless their lives are truly at stake.

And as Grace's mom, Kumi, repeatedly tells her, such racial stereotyping and persecution has happened before, and it's happening again now: "In another time and place, we were those people." The internment of people of Japanese decent in both Canada and the US during World War II, along with the theft of their property, their dignity, and their lives, was a travesty. The scale of it was shocking and confounding even to those involved. Kumi says, "How could it happen? ...Certain people felt too rooted, too comfortable. They took it for granted that they deserved to be here more than us. Entitlement closed their hearts."

Grace's perspective has a lot of unique aspects to it: she's a 3rd generation child of Japanese immigrants, but raised to be a Canadian, and only recently is starting to hear the horror stories of her mom and grandparents' past. Her opinions and rulings are shaped largely by her fear of what might happen were she to let someone dangerous in. Of course, the person fueling those fears is her mentor, a right wing government official who placed her in the role of adjudicator, likely so he could assert more influence over the refugee board. Much of the time, I wanted to shake Grace for not having more compassion or sympathy for those in front of her, but I do understand the pressure such a position would cause, and how murky the situation might seem with little to no absolute evidence.

Priya is also in a unique situation: she is Tamil, like the refugees, and as a law student gets roped into working as one of their lawyers, but initially, it seems like she has very little in common with her clients. It's only over time, as she gets to know both them and the secrets of her own family, that Priya realizes how much they have in common. Their story could have been her story. In her conversations with Charlie, and with her uncle, Priya comes to realize that the line between terrorist and coerced prisoner isn't clear at all. What wouldn't you do to protect your family, your child, your own life? In her author's note, Bala says, "How is personal morality maintained in the face of certain death? ...Mahindan is a fictional character, of course, but sometimes I think he is me, or the person I might have become if fate had been different."

That leads us to Mahindan. A man who has had an unfathomably difficult life, and who has definitely done questionable things in the name of survival. My heart breaks for him and his son Sellian, for all they lost: the rest of their family, their home, their livelihood, their morals, their safety, their freedom, their choice. It was a fight for survival, and as far as the last page of the book goes, the jury is still out. As for me, I would personally sit on the side of compassion and forgiveness. This book definitely has some difficult parts to read: graphic descriptions of bodies blown apart after a bombing; a mother describing her daughter being taken from their tent in the detention camp to be gang raped; a refugee hanging himself rather than be deported; and much more. These things are hard to read, but they aren't gratuitous. They are necessary so we can understand that these people didn't merely WANT to leave their homes and travel to a new country, they NEEDED to.

The issue of immigration and refugees has been in the forefront of American (and I'm assuming Canadian) politics and policy debate, especially the last year under our current administration. This is book is extremely relevant reading in this day and age, and really opens ones eyes to not only the atrocities that are being perpetrated around the world, but on what we can do to help people in their most desperate times of need. While Grace worries about protecting the Canadian people, and asks, "Don't you ever worry about letting the wrong person in?", her fellow adjudicator worries more about protecting the refugees: "I worry about sending the wrong person back." As said by former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and repeated by the author, "Canada is not in the business of turning refugees away. If we err, let it be on the side of compassion."

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