Kenan Malik | Why Multiculturalism Failed

2015/02/19 Leave a comment

While his understanding of multiculturalism is driven by the diverse European approaches to living with diversity, and unfairly, at least from the Canadian perspective, multiculturalism as reinforcing differences rather than being an instrument to further integration and participation.

But his three concluding points are valid, as is of course the reminder that integration happens at the local and individual levels:

First, Europe should separate diversity as a lived experience from multiculturalism as a political process. The experience of living in a society made diverse by mass immigration should be welcomed. Attempts to institutionalize such diversity through the formal recognition of cultural differences should be resisted.

Second, Europe should distinguish colorblindness from blindness to racism. The assimilationist resolve to treat everyone equally as citizens, rather than as bearers of specific racial or cultural histories, is valuable. But that does not mean that the state should ignore discrimination against particular groups. Citizenship has no meaning if different classes of citizens are treated differently, whether because of multicultural policies or because of racism.

Finally, Europe should differentiate between peoples and values. Multiculturalists argue that societal diversity erodes the possibility of common values. Similarly, assimilationists suggest that such values are possible only within a more culturally—and, for some, ethnically—homogeneous society. Both regard minority communities as homogeneous wholes, attached to a particular set of cultural traits, faiths, beliefs, and values, rather than as constituent parts of a modern democracy.

The real debate should be not between multiculturalism and assimilationism but between two forms of the former and two forms of the latter. An ideal policy would marry multiculturalism’s embrace of actual diversity, rather than its tendency to institutionalize differences, and assimilationism’s resolve to treat everyone as citizens, rather than its tendency to construct a national identity by characterizing certain groups as alien to the nation. In practice, European countries have done the opposite. They have enacted either multicultural policies that place communities in constricting boxes or assimilationist ones that distance minorities from the mainstream.

Moving forward, Europe must rediscover a progressive sense of universal values, something that the continent’s liberals have largely abandoned, albeit in different ways. On the one hand, there is a section of the left that has combined relativism and multiculturalism, arguing that the very notion of universal values is in some sense racist. On the other, there are those, exemplified by such French assimilationists as the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, who insist on upholding traditional Enlightenment values but who do so in a tribal fashion that presumes a clash of civilizations.

There has also been a guiding assumption throughout Europe that immigration and integration must be managed through state policies and institutions. Yet real integration, whether of immigrants or of indigenous groups, is rarely brought about by the actions of the state; it is shaped primarily by civil society, by the individual bonds that people form with one another, and by the organizations they establish to further their shared political and social interests. It is the erosion of such bonds and institutions that has proved so problematic—that links assimilationist policy failures to multicultural ones and that explains why social disengagement is a feature not simply of immigrant communities but of the wider society, too. To repair the damage that disengagement has done, and to revive a progressive universalism, Europe needs not so much new state policies as a renewal of civil society.

Kenan Malik | Why Multiculturalism Failed | Foreign Affairs.

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Richmond launches dialogue about language on signs | Indo-Canadian Voice

2015/02/19 Leave a comment

Follow-on to earlier controversies over Chinese-only signage in Richmond (majority Chinese Canadian population). See earlier post Richmond, B.C., considers banning Chinese-only signs amid uproar over city’s ‘un-Canadian’ advertisements:

Information gathered by the City will be provided to Richmond Council later this spring. The program responds to a referral from Council last year, which directed staff to study the issue of language on signs, undertake public and stakeholder consultation and develop recommendations for possible future regulatory, education or other measures.

Staff were also directed to consult with business owners to encourage more use of English language on signs. In response, City staff have undertaken a comprehensive program to educate Richmond businesses about the importance to community harmony of including English on all signage and advertising material. Multilingual staff are visiting every business in the City Centre on a zone-by-zone basis to inform them about sign bylaw requirements and discuss the issue of language on signs. The intent of the outreach project is to achieve compliance and promote community harmony with education rather than taking a strictly regulatory approach.

The City is also using the annual Business License renewal process to ensure that businesses are aware of the need for proper sign permits and to encourage inclusion of 50 per cent English content on signs. While this message was previously included in business license application forms, a special insert in both English and Chinese has now been produced to ensure that language is not a barrier to the message.  This approach will ensure that all licensed businesses in Richmond will have received a friendly written notice within one year.

New multilingual information packages on starting a small business in Richmond have been developed to help ensure businesses are aware of Sign Bylaw and other regulatory requirements.

Richmond launches dialogue about language on signs | Indo-Canadian Voice.

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Contrasting Commentary: Barbara Kay vs Clifford Orwin and Marnie Soupcoff on the Niqab and Citizenship Ceremonies

2015/02/19 2 Comments

Barbara Kay supporting the Government:

But Ms Bakht’s specious parallel has the virtue that it can be turned against its perpetrator. If a woman were to turn up at her citizenship swearing-in ceremony in a bikini, would she be allowed to? I think not. And rightly so. Bikinis on a beach are one thing – in a solemn ceremony quite another. Indecency swings both ways. Face cover is also indecent in certain situations, such as the swearing-in of a woman to citizenship in a democratic country based on, amongst other principles, gender equality. (I consider the niqab indecent in all getting and giving of government services. If the federal government would pass a law requiring the face be uncovered in these areas, as Quebec soon will, Canadians would approve en masse.)

Perhaps Ms Ishaq might give some thought to the reality that thousands upon thousands of Pakistani people wish to become citizens of Canada, but one does not see Canadians flocking to Pakistan to live. There are reasons for that. One of those reasons is that women here are equal to men, and nobody can tell a woman here that she must cover her face. One might think that Ms Ishaq would wish to honour that right, on behalf of her sisters who are forced to wear the niqab, by taking hers off for the five minutes it will take to accept the gift of great value our government wishes to confer on her.

Barbara Kay: Zunera Ishaq does a disservice to women forced to wear the veil

Marnie Soupcoff opposing:

Is the government’s quarrel with the niqab is that it represents a patriarchal practice it believes diminishes women’s autonomy and, ultimately, safety?

That seems to be what Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander was getting at when he said while commenting on the case, “We also are a government, and I think a people, that is concerned about protecting women from violence, protecting women from human smuggling, protecting women from barbaric practices like polygamy, genital mutilation, honour killings.”

Quite apart from the dramatic leap from a legal piece of clothing to the commission of major crimes, which seems to lack some clear thinking on causation vs. correlation, Mr. Alexander is treading on dangerous ground, at least if he plans to be consistent and even-handed.

The ultra-Orthodox Jewish tradition has married women wear wigs or otherwise cover their hair in public, and all women wear long sleeves and skirts below the knees, to maintain their modesty and de-emphasize their sexual attractiveness to anyone but their husbands.

The rules about women’s dress are but one expression of the tradition’s emphasis on female purity and deference, which also includes a wife’s duty to always accept her husband’s sexual advances on his terms.

In Israel, concerns about sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community are significant, and rabbis are accused of participating in cover-ups.

So shouldn’t Mr. Alexander and Mr. Harper also be addressing the offensiveness of the wigs and long skirts being worn by Orthodox women taking their citizenship oaths? And if they’re not, does that mean they’re endorsing the antiquated sexist idea that a woman who shows a stranger man her elbows is engaging in brazen sexual temptation?

Of course the answer is no. No, they shouldn’t, and no, it doesn’t.

Concerns about what cultural, religious and social signals are being sent by an individual’s choice in clothing should have no place in lawmakers’ minds, or at least not in their actions.

The very beauty of Canadian citizenship is that it comes with the freedom to choose your own way and your own life. Does the majority of society have to agree with your choice, whether it be to don a nun’s habit or a Wiccan pentagram necklace?

The obvious answer again is no, so long as you aren’t infringing on anyone else’s freedom with your decision. And apologies to Mr. Harper and Mr. Alexander, but their freedom not to be offended doesn’t count.

Marni Soupcoff: Tories vs. religious freedom

Along with a former prof of mine, Clifford Orwin:

You may ask whether Islam truly requires that a woman wear the niqab. This is none of a liberal state’s business; it is for Muslims to decide for themselves. But they won’t agree, and even if most did, liberal democracy rejects the imposition of religious authority. So this is nobody’s call but Ms. Ishaq’s. Like every citizen, she must be free to practise her religion not as we see fit, but as she does. This isn’t a question of “accommodation” or “diversity” or any such currently fashionable lingo: It’s a requirement of religious freedom, one of the first and most basic of liberal democratic principles.

The worst thing about Mr. Harper’s position is its implication that Ms. Ishaq can’t be a good Canadian unless she discards a practice she regards as incumbent on her as a Muslim and which is entirely harmless to others. I’m not about to claim that the biggest problem facing Canadian society is Islamophobia. (In fact, it has shown itself remarkably free of such attitudes.) The threat of Islamist terror poses a much bigger problem to Canada, as to other liberal democracies. But aggravating the lesser problem in no way helps to solve this greater problem. We shouldn’t hand devout Muslims legitimate (and wholly gratuitous) grievances. Nor (it should go without saying) should we practise demagoguery at their expense.

 Stephen Harper’s veiled attack on religious freedom 

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Space for faith: Accomodating religion on campus

2015/02/19 Leave a comment

Overview of the different approaches taken by universities to provide prayer space to students. From an integration perspective, multiculturalism-faith centres are preferable to single-faith centres:

The University of Toronto’s approach to religion on campus lies somewhere between McGill’s and Western’s. While U of T has a multi-faith centre, a building with several rooms in which weekly discussions on faith and religious diversity take place, U of T does not provide designated space for any religious group. There are several multi-purpose spaces around campus that student groups, including religious ones, are responsible for booking. “We don’t expect students to park their faith at the edge of campus,” says Richard Chambers, director of the university’s multi-faith centre. “But we don’t privilege any particular group . . . that wouldn’t fly here.” Chambers has yet to receive a request from a single religious group asking for more space.

Space for faith: Accomodating religion on campus.

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CIC turns to corporate Canada to help promote citizenship

2015/02/19 2 Comments

Expanded considerably since my time when there was concern about having Tim Hortons provide free coffee and Timbits at citizenship ceremonies. A fine line between sponsorship, to strengthen citizenship ceremonies (which these appear to do) and diminishing the civic role and symbolism:

It’s all part of an ongoing effort by CIC to partner with corporate Canada to promote Canadian citizenship. In 2012, CIC’s communications branch began to look at private-sector partnerships as a way of promoting “two-way integration” between newcomers and the Canadian public, while also reducing the costs associated with hosting citizenship ceremonies and promoting Canadian values.

That same year, the department received an unsolicited “promotional opportunity” from retailer Canadian Tire to “leverage CIC messaging around Citizenship Week 2012 and throughout the NHL hockey season,” according to a briefing note from then-deputy minister Neil Yeates to Jason Kenney, and obtained by Embassy through an access-to-information request.

“Canadian Tire is willing to make some of its marketing channels available to us,” the briefing, sent to Mr. Kenney in August 2012, states. “CIC will explore with [Canadian Tire] the promotion and distribution of relevant CIC information products using appropriate communication channels.”

Later that year, Canadian Tire sponsored an enhanced citizenship ceremony for 50 new Canadians at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

“In August, you approved moving forward with Canadian Tire on this pilot project,” a subsequent memo from Mr. Yeates to Mr. Kenney states. “CIC will be fully responsible for all aspects of the citizenship ceremony at the [Hockey Hall of Fame]. Canadian Tire will be formally thanked for its sponsorship of the ceremony, and will host the post-ceremony reception. Canadian Tire signage could be displayed in the reception area.”

The undated memo, sent to Mr. Kenney in the weeks before Citizenship Week celebrations in October 2012, also highlights an agreement by Canadian Tire to help the department distribute government-produced promotional materials at its stores across the country.

“The collateral material will encourage patrons to visit the Discover Canada guide on CIC’s website. Collateral material will include both CIC and Canadian Tire logos and will be centred on the concept of hockey as part of Canadians’ shared heritage,” Mr. Yeates told Mr. Kenney at the time. “The collateral material will link to a landing page that CIC will create on its website, highlighting the Discover Canada guide, hockey and a link to Canadian Tire Hockey School website.”

… NDP MP Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, her party’s critic for citizenship and immigration, called the corporate sponsoring of citizenship ceremonies “unbelievable,” especially in light of the government’s decision to increase the citizenship application fee from $300 to $530 at the beginning of this year.

“Citizenship should not be used as a marketing tool or to connect individuals to private companies,” Ms. Blanchette-Lamothe said. “The Conservatives [nearly] doubled the fees needed to obtain citizenship. I think they should be able to offer proper services with no other interests than new citizens’ interests and the promotion of Canadian citizenship.”

CIC turns to corporate Canada to help promote citizenship | Embassy – Canada’s Foreign Policy Newspaper.

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Changing the rules on immigration changes Canada’s narrative – Omidvar

2015/02/18 Leave a comment

Good commentary by Ratna Omidvar on some of the likely longer-term implications of Express Entry to the Canadian integration and citizenship model, and noting how the selection by employers of immigrants will reflect the same biases as Canadian recruiters:

Enter the Canadian employer who has a job at hand and has permission from the federal government to troll through this pool for a candidate because there is no one else in Canada who can fit the particular bill. The employer picks this one candidate from a pool of many, based on an assessment of the candidate’s profile which includes education, competencies, experience etc. A bit like a blind date, but not quite, because the employer knows where the applicant went to school, where he graduated and where he worked. And so the employer lands on Nigel, because Nigel appears to fit the bill. Whether the employer acknowledges this or not, the fact that Nigel happens to be from a jurisdiction similar to Canada’s, the fact that his mother tongue is likely English, plays a role in the selection. And so apparently does his name.

We know this from research on Australia’s express entry system on which Canada’s model is based. Two researchers, one in Melbourne and one in Waterloo, Ont., found that Australia screened in more immigrants who were strong English speakers. The researchers concluded that the reason express entry immigrants perform better in Australia appears to be because they are Anglophone and because the Australian work force, like Canada’s, is structured to favour the language proficient. Other research from Phil Oreopoulos and Diane Dechief of the University of Toronto, a study titled “Why do some employers prefer to interview Matthew, but not Samir?”, found that English-speaking employers in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are about 40 per cent more likely to choose to interview a job applicant with an English-sounding name than someone with an ethnic name, even if both candidates have identical education, skills and work histories.

Let’s get back to Nigel. We know from the evidence that someone like Nigel will hit the ground running and will contribute more quickly to our economy, his own independence and the needs of his employer. But after some time, let’s say six years, Nigel begins to consider whether he really wants to stay. After all, in his own country (likely the U.S., U.K., Australia or New Zealand), he has access to a relatively similar basket of public goods: good schools for his future children, relative peace, security, law and order, and public health care. He is now a citizen of both Canada and country X and so has the freedom of making a choice. Maybe he decides for Canada, and maybe not. If he decides for Canada, bully for us. But that option of returning for him and for his children is always there for him to exercise.

Now let’s get back to our young candidate from Bangladesh and let’s assume he is allowed to stay in Canada because of his Canadian education. He has a more difficult time finding the first job and struggles to get accepted. But over time, and primarily because he does have a Canadian degree, he finds a job and starts to settle in. When he becomes a Canadian citizen roughly five years later, there is not an attractive “return ticket.” The standard of living in Canada is far and away higher. He commits himself to this country fully. He marries, and has children, and if we are to follow trends from the past, his children go on to become successful students at university and join the professional world.

The question is: who serves our needs better, Nigel or Sarmad?

With one we get immediate success and the least amount of pain. With the other, we get long term attachment. The narrative of Canada’s success and exceptionalism in immigration has always been the narrative of success over time. While immigrants struggle in the short term, be it when they came from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s to settle the West or more recently from countries like India, China and Philippines to work in a variety of jobs, it is the long term that is their friend. They become citizens, buy homes, their children go on to become successful and in time many of these children find partners from other ethnicities and races to create a whole new Canada. To a large extent, the hardships they endured in the early years makes their ultimate success as Canadians that much sweeter. They acknowledge in many different ways that it is Canada that has made them successful. And so a new middle class is born in one of many, as Doug Saunders called them, “arrival cities” in Canada.

Changing the rules on immigration changes Canada’s narrative – The Globe and Mail.

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Ontario may collect race-based data on kids in care

2015/02/18 Leave a comment

Always controversial to collect race-based data but without data, hard to know what is happening and what measures could be taken to address problem areas:

The probe revealed for the first time that 41 per cent of children and youth in the care of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto are black, though only 8.2 per cent of the city’s under-18 population is black.

MacCharles, who became Minister of Children and Youth Services last summer, is so concerned by those numbers she’s considering a province-wide count of black kids in care to determine the extent of the challenge. Few of Ontario’s 46 children’s aid societies track such data, and those that do keep the statistics secret.

Black community leaders have complained for years that their children are taken into care at rates far higher than white children. They say it is hard to get government to pay attention without hard statistics.

“I think there’s a lot more receptivity to looking at (race-based data) in this sector and beyond,” MacCharles said of the government’s current attitude. “We’re also looking at this notion of disaggregated data, which includes black children and youth in care, in schools, and in our youth justice system,” she added.

Without committing to making such data public, MacCharles told the Star: “My bottom line is, any data that helps improve the security and safety of children, I’m willing to have a hard look at.”

Ontario may collect race-based data on kids in care | Toronto Star.

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Zunera Ishaq on why she fought to wear a niqab during citizenship ceremony: ‘A personal attack on me and Muslim women’

2015/02/18 Leave a comment

Hard to understand but clearly confident in expressing her views:

There are a few things Zunera Ishaq wants to set straight about the veil she wears in public.

Nobody is forcing her to cover up, she says. It is a “personal choice” and a way to assert her identity and show her devotion to her Muslim faith.

There is nothing oppressive, either, about wearing a niqab. If anything, it is a “symbol of empowerment.”

This conviction emboldened the former high school teacher from Pakistan to postpone attending her citizenship ceremony last year and go toe-to-toe with the Harper government over its policy forbidding the wearing of facial coverings during the swearing-in part of the ceremony.

“I gathered the courage and decided to speak out,” said the 29-year-old Mississauga, Ont., resident in an extended conversation with the National Post this weekend. “I decided to raise my voice so that I can challenge this policy, which was a personal attack on me and Muslim women like me.”

Of course, someone claiming the right, male or female, to appear naked in a citizenship ceremony, given their religious beliefs, would be the mirror image of the right to be fully covered up.

Zunera Ishaq on why she fought to wear a niqab during citizenship ceremony: ‘A personal attack on me and Muslim women’ | National Post.

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Must-see QP: Jason Kenney takes on a death cult

2015/02/18 Leave a comment

While there may be an element of calculation in his use of a Christian prayer in his comments on the killing of Copts in Libya, it also likely reflects his strong faith.

Kenney has been consistent throughout his Ministerial career in his concern over the fate of Christians in the Mid-East:

Jason Kenney, the new defence minister with a knack for candid speech, cribbed largely from the prime minister’s rhetoric as he responded to the Coptic slaughter during question period. Kenney also referred to Islamic State as a “death cult,” a moniker he first applied last October as he made the case for airstrikes in Iraq—and which others in the House have since repeated. This afternoon, in question period, he applied his go-to measured tone, eschewed any opposition shaming, reinforced his government’s belief in ongoing airstrikes, and sat down to light applause. Fiery jingoism, it was not.

But yesterday was different. Kenney’s tweeted reaction to the beheadings was far less conventional. He recalled that the victims were killed because of their standing as “followers of the Cross,” and then, out of respect for the faith of the dead, typed out a prayer retweeted 128 times: “Eternal rest grant unto them, let light perpetual shine upon them.”

#ISIL death cult has beheaded 21 Copts for being “followers of the Cross.” Eternal rest grant unto them, let light perpetual shine upon them

— Jason Kenney ن (@jkenney) February 15, 2015

A typical observer might not think much of Kenney’s tweet. But imagine the reaction of an extremist who’s hell-bent on killing anyone who disagrees with his view of the world. The Canadian minister responsible for war responded to the intentional slaying of Christians with a Christian prayer. Kenney is no fool; he knows how inflammatory that sounds to the people who are, it’s worth remembering, also on the receiving end of Canadian airstrikes.

Must-see QP: Jason Kenney takes on a death cult.

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Did losing the long-form census weaken Canada’s jobs data?

2015/02/18 Leave a comment

toronto-census-nhs-756x1024More on the Census and National Household Survey, and Kevin Milligan’s analysis of how the shift has degraded the quality of the Labour Force Survey:

I say ‘presumably’ because the most recent complete methodology document I can find is from 2008. In that 2008 methodology document, it is very clear that the Census plays a very important role in the methodology of the Labour Force Survey. In fact, a quick ‘control F’ search of the document reveals the word ‘census’ to appear 127 times. Looking through these instances, you can see the Long-Form Census was used in a variety of ways. Sometimes, it was to cross-check an assumption or a decision they made in designing the Labour Force Survey. In other places, it is clear they used the Long-Form Census explicitly to pick which households get surveyed. To give one precise example, page 19 of the methodology document explicitly references income taken from the 2001 Census—and income is not available on the Short-Form Census.

In short, I think Mr. Smith’s ‘myth’ is a miss.

I have complete confidence in Mr. Smith’s claim that the 2015 Labour Force Survey methodology now uses only the Short-Form Census for selecting and weighting households. However, it is equally clear that until now the Labour Force Survey relied on the Long-Form Census. This change raises several important questions: Why make a change? Why was the National Household Survey discarded? Is the Labour Force Survey improved by ignoring the National Household Survey? Why and how?

I have a pretty good guess why Statistics Canada discarded its own expensive National Household Survey for designing the Labour Force Survey. The reason: the response rate from the National Household Survey is low, and varies strongly within regions. As one example, above is a map made by Dwight Follick that compares the response rate at the ‘dissemination area’ level for Toronto from the 2006 Long-Form Census and the 2011 National Household Survey. Similar maps are available from Mr. Follick for Montreal, Ottawa, London, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. The pictures aren’t pretty—the response rate fell dramatically, rendering the results of the National Household Survey much less reliable.

Mr. Smith might be correct that the Labour Force Survey methodology changes aren’t large enough to make much difference. But we will never actually know, since we can’t compare the new results to the previous methodology because the 2011 Long-Form Census doesn’t exist so we can’t check.

I will continue to use and trust the Labour Force Survey, myself. However, the switch to the National Household Survey has degraded some of the tools that Statistics Canada has used until now to make the Labour Force Survey—and other Statistics Canada products—reliable.

Did losing the long-form census weaken Canada’s jobs data? – Macleans.ca.

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