Yakabuski: Four years after the Quebec mosque tragedy, the Bloc Québécois Leader has learned nothing

2021/02/01 Leave a comment

Indeed:

Four years ago this week, a disturbed young man walked into a Quebec City mosque and opened fire, killing six people, wounding another eight and forever shattering the blissful innocence of an otherwise peaceful and tolerant community, province and country.

In the immediate aftermath of the slaughter at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, then-premier Philippe Couillard called on the political class to proceed cautiously in the debate over secularism that many felt had unfairly targeted Quebec’s growing Muslim community.

“Words spoken, words written as well, are not trivial,” Mr. Couillard said. “It is up to us to choose them.”

After all, there is a fine line between defending the secularism of the state – the purported objective of the previous Parti Québécois government’s ill-fated Charter of Quebec Values – and stigmatizing members of a religious minority to win the votes of a nationalist Québécois for whom the protection of their province’s cultural distinctness has been a lifelong preoccupation.

No matter how legitimate the desire of some Quebec politicians to keep religion out of the public sphere – a desire informed by the province’s long struggle to break the stranglehold of the Catholic Church on state institutions – too many of them had succumbed to the temptation of raising the bogeyman of Islamization to win votes among pure laine Quebeckers.

In his infinite smugness, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet continues to demonstrate that he has learned nothing about the dangers of resorting to the kind of demagoguery that Mr. Couillard warned against in the wake of 2017′s fatal events. His refusal this week, of all weeks, to apologize for his smearing of Liberal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is too serious an infringement of the basic rules of Canadian and Quebec politics to ignore.

Mr. Blanchet embarked on this slippery slope two weeks ago by dredging up old innuendo about Mr. Alghabra’s “proximity” to Islamic extremists in a press release following the Mississauga-Centre MP’s appointment to the federal cabinet. Saying he refused “to accuse anyone,” Mr. Blanchet nevertheless went on to point to “questions” about Mr. Alghabra’s association with “the Islamic political movement, of which he was a leader for several years.”

If there were any doubts about Mr. Alghabra’s alleged coddling of extremists, they were dispelled years ago. Before going into politics, he briefly led a mainstream organization, the Canadian Arab Federation, that, under a subsequent president, veered in a radical direction. Any attempt by Mr. Blanchet to associate Mr. Alghabra with positions taken by the CAF after his stint as president amounts to engaging in guilt by association and, frankly, sleazy politics.

Former PQ leader Jean-François Lisée nevertheless leapt to Mr. Blanchet’s defence, arguing, in a column in Le Devoir, that Mr. Alghabra had demonstrated a “leniency toward [Hamas] that warrants clarification.” Mr. Lisée provided no evidence of said leniency. But then again, what do you expect from a former politician who, in 2016, argued for a ban on burkas in public because terrorists in Africa had “been proven” to hide AK-47s under such clothing.

Mr. Blanchet was given an opportunity this week to withdraw his previous comments and apologize to Mr. Alghabra. He chose to dig himself into an even deeper hole. “The question I raised in an absolutely polite and courteous manner was based on articles in Le Journal de Montréal, Le Journal de Québec and the very torontois and not very indépendantiste Globe and Mail,” he told reporters. “Quebeckers have concerns on questions of secularism and security.”

The newspaper columns and article Mr. Blanchet referenced only served to prove the baselessness of the “questions” about Mr. Alghabra he sought to raise. Unfortunately, besides a few curious journalists, he knows most people will not bother to check. And in the online echo chamber, where baseless innuendo is the bitcoin of political debate, Mr. Blanchet’s “questions” about an upstanding MP and Liberal cabinet minister take on a life of their own.

It is no mystery why the Bloc Leader resorted to smearing Mr. Alghabra as his party prepares to defend a slew of narrowly-won ridings in a federal election expected later this year. The Bloc, which remains nominally supportive of Quebec independence, portrays Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and their devotion to multiculturalism as a threat to Quebec’s cultural survival. Raising doubts about Mr. Alghabra’s political views serves to plant the seeds of fear and intolerance among a subset of Quebec voters for whom the details do not matter much.

While it is quite legitimate to bemoan the excesses of Liberal multiculturalism – epitomized by Mr. Trudeau’s 2015 inanity about Canada having no core identity – it is quite another to seek to scapegoat religious minorities for political purposes. Mr. Blanchet crossed the line. That he did so on the eve of such a painful anniversary for Quebec’s Muslims says quite a lot about him.

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-four-years-after-the-quebec-mosque-tragedy-the-bloc-quebecois-leader/

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Former co-chair of Alberta’s anti-racism council calls on government to release recommendations

2021/02/01 Leave a comment

Of note, but not surprising. Focus on “dinner and dance:”

A former co-chair of Alberta’s Anti-Racism Advisory Council is calling for the government to publicly release the group’s report and its recommendations to combat racism.

The Alberta government has not committed to releasing the report, which it received earlier this month. Heather Campbell said in a Twitter thread Wednesday the public should press them to.

“The report should be made public. Demand it be so. With racism, silence is merely an act of complicity,” she wrote, also noting that her experience serving on the council has been challenging and difficult.

Source: Former co-chair of Alberta’s anti-racism council calls on government to release recommendations

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‘O Canada’ without the cross – why it’s time to revisit the lyrics of the national anthem

2021/02/01 Leave a comment

Highly unlikely change, given the debates and polarization that would result:

On Jan. 1, Australia – a country whose history and governance have great similarities to our own – revised its national anthem, Advance Australia Fair. The phrase “young and free” was updated to “one and free” to acknowledge the presence of First Nations and the land’s history prior to the arrival of the first European settlers.

Like Australia’s anthem, the English lyrics of O Canada have evolved to reflect contemporary attitudes. When O Canada was adopted by Parliament as the national anthem in 1967, one of the “we stand on guard” phrases in the original 1908 version was replaced with “from far and wide,” to reflect our vast geography and the increasing diversity of our population. In 2018, Parliament enacted a law changing the line in the English version “true patriot love in all thy sons command” to “true patriot love in all of us command,” to render it gender-neutral and therefore inclusive of half of our population.

In my view, the French and bilingual lyrics of O Canada now need revision. The bilingual version uses two lines from the French version. First, “ton histoire est une épopée des plus brillants exploits,” officially translated as “your history is an epic of brilliant deeds.” I embrace this line as an eloquent evocation of the best moments of our history and an aspirational goal for the future.

The second line, however, gives me pause: “car ton bras sait porter l’épée, il sait porter la croix,” translated as “for your [Canada’s] arm knows how to wield the sword, your arm knows how to carry the cross.” These words, of course, reflect the importance of the Catholic church in 19th century Quebec, the context in which O Canada was written. But to me, as a Jew, they now sound non-inclusive and obsolete.

The 2011 census, the most recent to ask about religion, reported that 67 per cent of Canadians identified as Christian, 9 per cent as other religions (Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist, etc.) and 24 per cent gave no religious affiliation. Is it appropriate to include in the national anthem a religious symbol with which a third of our population (and possibly more in the coming 2021 census) does not identify?

Some religious and ethnic groups – Jews, Muslims, First Nations and Black people – have deeply unsettling historical memories of Christians carrying crosses, evoking recollections of their ancestors being victimized through conquest, forced conversion, or pogroms and violence.

Consider Quebec, the province in which O Canada was written and where it was first sung. In 2019, Quebec’s Laicity Act banned the wearing of religious symbols, including the cross, by public servants. Simultaneously with the proclamation of the Laicity Act, the Quebec National Assembly removed the cross that had hung there since 1936. If the Government of Quebec has taken these two dramatic steps to remove this symbol of Christianity from public life, then it would be consistent for it to advocate its removal from the national anthem.

My argument, addressed to all Canadians, but particularly to francophones, is that a reference to a religious symbol with which a substantial minority of Canadians do not identify, and which some in that minority find aversive, is no longer appropriate within a national anthem that we have continually revised to be inclusive for all Canadians.

If “la croix” were to be removed from the French version of O Canada, what would replace it? Here is a simple and inclusive replacement that contains two syllables and rhymes with “exploits.” It is “nos fois,” or “our faiths or beliefs.” The revised phrase of the French version would translate as “your arm knows how to wield the sword, your arm knows how to carry our faiths.” This revision would mean that our country knows how to respect or support the faiths or beliefs of all Canadians. It would apply to the faiths of those who affiliate with organized religions and the beliefs of those who don’t. I invite other readers to come up with alternative inclusive revisions.

The time has come for another revision to O Canada that eliminates the exclusivity of a reference to one religion’s symbol and replaces it with a more inclusive reference to religiosity or personal belief.

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-o-canada-without-the-cross-why-its-time-to-revisit-the-lyrics-of-the/

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Australia: Minister has no timeline for return of foreign students

2021/02/01 Leave a comment

Of note. Will see when and how Australia ramps up post-COVID:

Australia’s universities have no idea when foreign students and their millions of dollars in tuition fees will start returning to their campuses and the federal government can’t help them. 

Vice-chancellors are in the dark, unable to prepare their campuses, while thousands of lecturers anxiously wait to learn if they will have a job this year – or not.

The federal government has no timeline for when international students can return to Australia so the vice-chancellors “must take it week by week at this stage”, as one commented, with universities preparing for the start of the new academic year in early March.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge says that until a rollout of a COVID vaccine is available domestically, international student numbers will not return to their pre-pandemic levels.

In a radio interview, Tudge said he was open to alternative plans from the states and territories for safely bringing foreign students to Australia.

“It’s very difficult to predict. Ordinarily, we have about 185,000 students who would cross the borders and come into Australia to start at the beginning of the academic year, and about the same number again in the middle of the year,” he said.

“When we can get back to those types of numbers I don’t know. We’re really taking it week by week and month by month.”

Tudge said a big factor was the role of the coronavirus vaccine and how effective it would be: “Should it be effective, that would make a big difference and universities could begin enrolling thousands of foreign students again.”

Insufficient quarantining arrangements

If the states and territories had plans for safely bringing students to Australia, the federal government would consider them, he said.

“We’re open to looking at all options, but we’re asking the education providers to work with the state governments, come up with their plans, get the tick-off by their state chief medical officers, and then present them to us. 

“That’s the process. Now, the state governments are working through those things, along with the higher education providers, but we’re not at that stage yet where we’re in the position to be able to have significant quarantining arrangements for those international students.

“I would say, though, that what gives me a bit of hope is that if the vaccine is effective and even it’s rolled out only partially in some of the major source countries, and if those students have been vaccinated, then there’s the potential for them to come into Australia without having to quarantine.”

The government would have to be sure that the vaccines worked, that the students had been vaccinated with a proper vaccine, and that they were safe to come into the country, Tudge said.

As the minister pointed out, foreign students and the fees they paid had become an AU$40 billion (US$30.6 billion) a year industry for Australian universities. It was the nation’s fourth-biggest export industry and it supported 250,000 jobs. 

“If I can be slightly optimistic, we still have a lot of enrolments into our universities of students who are offshore, but now studying online. And we’ve made a lot of changes to facilitate that, as have the universities and higher education providers themselves.”

Foreign enrolments falling

Tudge said foreign student enrolments at the end of last year were only down about 5% in the public universities, whereas the more significant decline had occurred among the private higher education providers. 

“They’ve had about a 30% to 40% enrolment decline. And they’re the ones that are probably hurting the most at the moment, along with some of the English language providers. 

“The public universities and some of the colleges are down, but not too much. We are obviously keeping a very close eye on what the enrolments look like in this academic year.”

Universities were all looking at how to recover and do things differently in the absence of the same level of international students of the past few years, he said. 

“We’re assisting with that process as well. We put an extra billion dollars in research dollars last year as well as 30,000 more places for Australian students this year, which helps their revenue as well.”

Increased domestic enrolment

Tudge said the universities now had more domestic students enrolling because of the measures the government had put in place and he was hopeful that international student numbers would remain as they were.

“I hope they do come back because they have been very good for Australia, for our economy, for our society. We want to get those numbers back and I’m going to be working with the sector to do so. 

“But we’ve got to take it very carefully, guided by the health advice. Obviously, overseas Australians are keen to come back as well and they get priority over the existing quarantine arrangements. But I’m still hopeful that at some stage, we will be able to get more significant numbers of foreign students,” he said.

Source: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post-nl.php?story=20210129105559871

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