The Handmaid’s Tale: Would Canada really consider sending anyone back to Gilead?

Canada has become an integral part of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3. It looks like it’s considering sending people back to Gilead, but would it do that?

Let me start by saying that there are spoilers in this post for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3, Episode 7. If you’re not caught up then I’d suggest watching first and then reading.

I’ll also mention first that I love The Handmaid’s Tale writers are finally bringing Canada into the story more. It makes sense considering Emily and Moira are in the country. There’s little they can do to help their friends but, at the same time, there’s so much information they have to share about what’s really going on in Gilead.

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And that information is what really makes me question everything that Canada is currently contemplating. Granted, we heard that Canada didn’t have the resources to go to war with Gilead, but what about if Canada joined with what was left of the United States? What if it joined with other countries?

Would Canada really send people back to a country that has made women second-class (and sometimes even worse) citizens? Would it really send women back to be raped by men and send a child back who is sure to grow up unable to read or write, certain to be raped if she ends up becoming a handmaid herself?

It seems crazy to think that a country would even consider this. But this is where Moira, Emily, and so many other refugees come in. They need to share what’s really going on in the country. They need to make it clear that people, in general, are at risk of death.

We should probably look at Gilead like East Germany during the Cold War. The truth never came out but West Germany knew that things couldn’t be good. After all, wasn’t it fishy that people were prevented from leaving? Assuming that the world’s history is the same in The Handmaid’s Tale up to the point of the threat of civilization dying out, Canada would know that just because politicians make the situation look good doesn’t mean that the situation is good for all.

Knowing this history, Canadian officials would be ridiculous for even considering sending people back to Gilead. However, looking like they’re thinking about this could be a good move. By looking like they’re considering it, they bide some time for themselves. It’s possible to get NATO support (providing NATO or something similar exists). They could get other countries to join them in a war against Gilead, helping the Americans get their country back.

The Handmaid’s Tale tends to go in a different direction to the one it looks like. When June was at the abandoned house to meet Hannah, it looked like there was a chance for her to escape but she went into labor. When she was given the chance to get out, she gave Holly/Nichole to Emily and went back for Hannah.

Thinking right back to the beginning of the series, it looked like the show was going to focus on how taking race out of the equation was a group of men actually considering all their problems. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, anyone who wasn’t white was sent to labor camps. While the majority of commanders are white, there are some people of color — and there are plenty of handmaids who are of color.

Instead of actually giving some sort of explanation for this change, the show brushed what could have been a bigger storyline under the carpet. Maybe that’s a good thing, but misogyny and racism do tend to go hand-in-hand.

When Eden’s storyline was brought in, I thought she was going to be someone spying on June. Instead, we went down the adulterer route with her. It’s clear that the writers want you to think one thing but will go a different direction, and that certainly could be the case with Canada.

All I’m happy about is that it keeps Emily and Moira in the picture more. Moira felt like an island on her own in the second season. I feared that we’d lose any sense of real storyline for Emily once she was in Canada. Seeing the two find a bond over shared trauma and actions made me smile in a bittersweet way, but it also means that, hopefully, we’ll see more of them and Canada’s involvement in taking down Gilead.

Do you think Canada will send anyone back to Gilead? What do you think the involvement will be moving forward? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 continues Wednesdays on Hulu.