Human migration and the right to seek asylum from harm have been constants throughout the history of human existence. But only recently has Canada been forced to confront a global displacement crisis that much of the rest of the planet has long been dealing with.
Seeking Asylum is a plea for empathy. A way of rethinking and reframing the conversation to emphasize both our common humanity and our moral and legal obligations to one another.
The author of the bestselling essay, We, the Others: Allophones, Immigrants, and Belonging in Canada (LLP 2022), Toula Drimonis traces the history of sanctuary, examines myths about refugees and migrants, and interviews with migration experts, immigration lawyers, refugees, and people working on the ground to provide a nuanced look at the asylum process. One that centres people.

Toula Drimonis is a Montreal-based opinion columnist, writer and news producer. A former news director for TC Media, she has reported and written on politics, social justice, and women's issues for national and international publications. She has worked in television, radio, and print in all three of her languages, and has appeared on TV as both panelist and contributor to English and French-language current-affairs and cultural news shows. We, the Others is her first book.

Toula Drimonis' profile page

"As the daughter and granddaughter of refugees, as an immigrant myself, I welcome Toula Drimonis's book. Seeking Asylum demystifies the many false beliefs surrounding refugees in Quebec, in Canada and around the world. As climate change will make large areas of our Earth less and less hospitable to human life, we must expect a great wave of migration towards those countries that will still enjoy a more temperate climate. This will be a matter of life and death for millions of people. It is imperative we find ways to share resources, welcome the stranger among us, and hold onto our common humanity.? —Pepita G. Capriolo, immigrant and retired judge "Toula Drimonis has created a quilt of compassion for all of humanity, stitching it together with facts and research, compelling stories, and pleas for empathy. Untying the knots of disinformation and prejudice, she sews a blanket with threads of hope and goodwill, that we may together, as humans, see ourselves in one another and offer support through shared resilient bonds." —Janet McFetridge, Plattsburgh Cares, and Mayor, Village of Champlain

?Based on extensive research, Seeking Asylum dismantles the myths about refugees and asylum seekers put forward by a cynical cabal of conservative politicians. Author Toula Drimonis takes a difficult, complex topic and presents it clearly and concisely in absolutely engaging writing that's a delight to read, An urgent and timely antidote to the fear and hysteria of so many discussions of this topic.? —Chris Oliveros, Are You Willing to Die tor The Cause?