Chris Selley: What Canada can learn from two years of anti-Israel protests

2025/10/17 Leave a comment

Fair points. The citizenship guide does have a reference to imported conflicts: “Some Canadians immigrate from places where they have experienced warfare or conflict. Such experiences do not justify bringing to Canada violent, extreme or hateful prejudices.:

…But we still can lay down some markers about what’s acceptable protest and what isn’t — maybe in the citizenship guide, which is supposed to apply to everyone (not just immigrants). Two principles we could articulate:

Canada is, by design, a land of free expression, including protest, which we treat generously. But at some juncture, having made your point, you have to bugger off from the middle of the road and let people go about their lives. Blocking the road is, after all, illegal. Letting you do it for your cause is a courtesy, not a right. 

If people want to leave homeland conflicts behind, it’s none of your business, even if you share a homeland and think they’re letting the home side down. 

If you target a business for protest because it’s owned by someone who has a different opinion about your homeland, you will be shunned and hooted at unapologetically. 

Meanwhile, Canadian politicians need to take a very long, very hard look at how our police forces conduct their business. Like the Ottawa occupiers before them, the anti-Israel mob has taken outrageous advantage of Canadian police forces’ slavish dedication to de-escalation as the only goal that matters

Source: Chris Selley: What Canada can learn from two years of anti-Israel protests

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Delacourt: Pierre Poilievre says he’d stand up to Donald Trump while taking a page from his playbook

2025/10/17 Leave a comment

Along with the anti-DEI petition:

…On the Friday before the long weekend, Poilievre also endorsed what another Conservative MP, Michelle Rempel Garner, was preaching — an end to birthright citizenship. Or, as Poilievre called it in another post, “birth tourism.”

Again, there’s an echo from one of Trump’s first executive orders on taking office.

“The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift,” the order states, going on to explain that citizenship would not be conferred to any child born in that country to a mother or father not lawfully present in the U.S. or there on a temporary basis.

“Canadian citizenship is a honour and privilege, and it must always be treated as such,” Poilievre said in an Oct. 10 post on X, formerly Twitter.

Neither of these seemingly Trump-inspired initiatives by the Conservatives are scourges in Canada. Fewer than 1,500 of the nearly 400,000 children born in Canada in 2024 were born to mothers whose residence was outside Canada. Railing against diversity, equity and inclusion may get some politicians votes, but it can also play into backlash against immigrants — which the Conservatives always hasten to point out, they’d never do….

Source: Pierre Poilievre says he’d stand up to Donald Trump while taking a page from his playbook

Filed under Birthright Citizenship, Citizenship, DEI, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

2025/10/16 Leave a comment

“Give me your privileged, your rich, / Your huddled elite yearning to breathe free…”,

The Trump administration is considering a radical overhaul of the U.S. refugee system that would slash the program to its bare bones while giving preference to English speakers, white South Africans and Europeans who oppose migration, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

The proposals, some of which already have gone into effect, would transform a decades-old program aimed at helping the world’s most desperate people into one that conforms to Mr. Trump’s vision of immigration — which is to help mostly white people who say they are being persecuted while keeping the vast majority of other people out.

The plans were presented to the White House in April and July by officials in the State and Homeland Security Departments after President Trump directed federal agencies to study whether refugee resettlement was in the interest of the United States. Mr. Trump had suspended refugee admissions on his first day in office and solicited the proposals about how and whether the administration should continue the program.

Trump administration officials have not ruled out any of the ideas, according to people familiar with the planning, although there is no set timetable for approving or rejecting the ideas. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential plans….

Source: Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism, Trump administration Tagged with ,

CPC Petition: DEI spending and government waste needs to DIE

2025/10/16 Leave a comment

Virtue signalling for their base and fundraising as a party petition, not one to be tabled in the House of Commons:

Whereas the Liberals are wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on bloated Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs;

Whereas the Liberal government has wasted $1.049 billion on DEI bureaucracy while Canadians struggle to make ends meet;

Whereas research funding must reward the best ideas – not identity checkboxes;

Whereas by tying research funding to identity politics, the Liberals are undermining academic freedom, silencing dissenting voices, and eroding trust in Canadian institutions;

Whereas this Liberal government is out of touch, wasting billions on bureaucracy and ideological projects while Canadians face the highest cost of living in decades.

Therefore, we the undersigned support the Conservative plan to restore fiscal discipline, end the billion-dollar DEI bureaucracies, and put taxpayer dollars into services Canadians actually need.

    Source: DEI spending and government waste needs to DIE, Star article Diversity, equity and inclusion are coming under scrutiny — and Pierre Poilievre is ready to push the conversation

    Filed under DEI, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

    ICYMI – Chan: Religious literacy can help Quebec balance identity and inclusion

    2025/10/15 Leave a comment

    Of course, this works both ways, the religiously devote also need secular literacy to engage meaningfully in a a pluralistic society:

    …In a world where religious and ideological polarization is growing, with three in 10 countries experiencing high levels of restrictions or social hostilities involving religion, religious literacy is not an academic luxury; it is a necessity. Over 84 per cent of the global population identifies with a religion, and, even in Quebec where laïcitéis cherished, religion continues to shape values and policies. As the Bouchard-Taylor Commission warned, “Ignorance of religious traditions fosters misunderstanding and social tension.”

    Religious literacy enables devout Quebecers to deepen their faith, helps the religious understand their cultural heritage and equips the secular with tools to engage meaningfully in a pluralistic society.

    Religious literacy addresses Quebec’s challenges with integration and polarization. As the province welcomes newcomers from diverse backgrounds – Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and others – understanding their worldviews is critical for social harmony and cohesion. It helps deconstruct stereotypes surrounding religious and cultural practices and encourages constructive dialogue around accommodations. Through mutual understanding of the ABCs of belief systems, Quebecers can bridge divides, whether in cosmopolitan Montreal or rural regions with deep Catholic roots.

    To promote religious literacy, Quebec and Canada should integrate it into educational curricula and public awareness initiatives, empowering youth and adults to navigate diversity with empathy and awareness.

    W.Y. Alice Chan, PhD, is the executive director and co-founder of the Centre for Civic Religious Literacy, a non-religious, non-profit organization. She holds a master’s degree in teaching from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and a doctorate in education from McGill University.

    Source: Religious literacy can help Quebec balance identity and inclusion

    Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with

    Ahmad: Zohran Mamdani and How to Be a ‘Good’ Muslim in America

    2025/10/14 2 Comments

    Good long read on Mamdani and being Muslim in America:

    …But Muslims have been made to grin and bear it in America for more than two decades. Watching Mr. Mamdani stand unwaveringly in the face of a stream of anti-Muslim abuse is to witness the distillation of that dynamic in a single person. I’d be lying if I said I think his fate in this particular matter will improve over time. It is a certainty that Mr. Mamdani, if he wins the mayoralty, will have to contend with even more Islamophobic slurs, on a national scale.

    In the face of this, it’s easy to become cynical, even as his popularity marks a moment of triumph for Muslims. Mr. Mamdani sees it differently.

    “I used to be quite consumed by forever being a minority — of being an Indian in Uganda, Muslim in India, all of these things in New York City,” he said to me. It’s a sentiment he’s had to express often over the course of his campaign. It’s at once well rehearsed and heartfelt. “I remember my father telling me that to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place, to see promise and to see the contradictions of it.”

    Mr. Mamdani finds hope in that tension.

    “I was always left with a cleareyed sense of the world that I was in,” he said, “and how to ensure that the contradiction of that world didn’t leave you with a sense of bitterness.”

    Meher Ahmad is an editor in the Opinion section.

    Source: Zohran Mamdani and How to Be a ‘Good’ Muslim in America

    Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with ,

    Trudeau set a high bar on diversity in appointments. Will Carney match it?

    2025/10/06 Leave a comment

    I started collecting this data in early 2016 as I was curious to see how the “because its 2015” cabinet gender parity and the “government’s commitment to transparent, merit-based appointments, to help ensure gender parity and that Indigenous Canadians and minority groups are better reflected in positions of leadership” in ministerial mandate letters would translate in practice. This analysis demonstrates that this is one area where the Trudeau government delivered:

    The Trump administration’s assault on diversity in government appointments is undoing years of progress in the United States toward more equitable representation in key positions of power. It stands in sharp contrast to the trend established by the Trudeau government over the last 10 years, which saw diversity in Senate, judicial, governor-in-council and heads-of-mission appointments increase dramatically.

    Given this tension, it is fair to wonder what approach Prime Minister Mark Carney will adopt when it comes to diversity in government appointments. What is clear, as we explore below, is that the Trudeau government has given Carney an impressive challenge to match. But will he?

    Trudeau delivered on diversity

    Nearly a decade after the Trudeau government came to office promising gender parity in cabinet and a commitment to diversity, the data clearly shows that this was a promise largely kept.

    Diversity as currently defined and measured by the Government of Canada includes women, Indigenous, visible minorities and persons with disabilities. They also increasingly report on LGBTQ+. Here’s an overview of the Trudeau government’s key contributions to improving diversity in government appointments:

    • Women formed the majority of Trudeau Senate, judicial, and governor-in-council (GIC) appointments.
    • Visible minority representation quintupled among judicial appointments and more than doubled among GIC appointments, tripling for deputy ministers.
    • Senate visible minority appointments only increased slightly compared to the Harper government.
    • Indigenous representation more than quintupled among Senate appointments, more than doubled among judicial appointments and tripled among deputy ministers.

    Where readily available, this analysis also shows dramatic increases for LGBTQ+ and moderate increases for persons with disability.

    The general benchmark comparisons are the overall percentages of the population: 50.9 per cent women, 26.5 per cent visible minorities, and five per cent Indigenous Peoples. For appointments requiring Canadian citizenship (Senate, judges, the majority of governor-in-council, heads of mission), the benchmark for visible minorities who are citizens is 19.5 per cent.

    The following series of tables contrast the 2016 baseline with 2024 data….

    Source: Trudeau set a high bar on diversity in appointments. Will Carney match it?

    Filed under Aboriginal, gender, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

    ‘Allah will burn them’: What pro-Palestinian students and allies say when they think no one is watching

    2025/09/12 Leave a comment

    Deplorable posts and comments. But discussion of university response interesting and the administrators try to navigate an extremely divisive issue and student behaviour:

    …Before bringing their trove of information to the Post, the Jewish students tried to go through university channels to address the concerning rhetoric shared in the group chats.

    On Aug. 9, 2024, one of their lawyers, Jonathan Rosenthal, filed on their behalf a 17-page complaint to the university, distilling the nature of the comments on the group chat.

    Yet there was never a formal investigation because the Jewish students were unwilling to identify themselves as complainants.

    Western’s associate vice president of human resources, Jane O’Brien, confirmed receipt of the complaint. In a response several days days later she requested Rosenthal “identify the students involved” and outline any incident alleged to be “a breach of the Code of Student Conduct,” according to an email thread shared with the Post.

    O’Brien also informed Rosenthal that concerns about the Palestinian student club’s campus status should be directed to the student union, the University Students’ Council.

    “I will NOT be disclosing the names of the complainants,” Rosenthal replied Sept. 3, citing “safety concerns.” The lawyer said providing their names “is simply irrelevant” and requested the university investigate the matter promptly. Rosenthal emailed O’Brien the following week, but didn’t hear back until Sept. 13.

    “Though your email indicates that the complaint provides student names and phone numbers, no such information appears to be included. Furthermore, the supporting documentation is comprised solely of what appears to be copied text, the origins of which are not demonstrated,” Foster continued.

    Foster underscored that the university prioritizes the safety of complainants and “until such time as you provide the requested information, Western will not be able to proceed with your complaint.”

    Rosenthal tried to meet Foster in the middle.

    He shared a dossier with a trove of time-stamped data — WhatsApp messages, pictures, videos, phone numbers, screenshots and names — from the group chat but reaffirmed his clients would not publicly identify themselves.

    “The chats speak for themselves,” Rosenthal answered Foster on Sept. 17.

    Despite trading emails with the university for more than a month, Western wouldn’t budge.

    The university defended its handling of the situation in a written statement to the Post. Western spokesman Stephen Ledgley said the complaint, “lacked sufficient information to proceed with an  investigation, such as identifying any student connected to the alleged conduct.”

    He added that the “complaint and supporting documentation submitted were reviewed in detail to determine if an investigation could be pursued based on the information provided alone,” however, “there was insufficient information to proceed.”

    Rosenthal’s dealings with the University Students’ Council, the student union, followed a similar pattern. His unwillingness to name the complainants remained the key sticking point. In his email exchanges with both groups, each pointed him to the other, rather than deal with the substance of the complaint.

    He eventually shared the same dossier of information with Shari Bumpus, the union manager overseeing the student community, outlining several specific alleged violations of union policy dealing with fostering “an inclusive and welcoming environment” and anti-discrimination, but did not hear back.

    It’s a response the union defends.

    “The USC and Western University are two distinct entities with distinct jurisdictions,” spokeswoman Rebecca Rebeiro wrote the Post in a statement. “The USC was made aware of the anonymous complaint and conducted an investigation to determine if it fell within its jurisdiction. When it was determined this complaint was outside its scope, the USC referred the complaint over to Western University’s Student Code of Conduct Office.”

    It’s an approach one Jewish advocacy group says is unconscionable.

    “The content of the chats was shown to us. Based on what we’ve seen, we believe that the content is dangerous,” Richard Marceau, general counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), wrote to the Post.

    “The individuals involved shared violent threats, antisemitic slurs, and grotesque conspiracy theories, all while joking about how to evade university accountability using disappearing messages,” he added, imploring Western to investigate the matter.

    Source: ‘Allah will burn them’: What pro-Palestinian students and allies say when they think no one is watching

    Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

    Employers And Immigrants May Fear Immigration Service’s New Powers

    2025/09/12 Leave a comment

    Valid concerns:

    Employers and immigrants may soon fear the expanded law enforcement authorities claimed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The new rule and the announcement that USCIS officers can carry firearms are the most recent steps to transform the agency into a different entity, away from one founded to adjudicate benefit applications and provide services to the public. In a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing, new USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said, “USCIS must be an immigration enforcement agency.”

    Rule Grants Immigration Service New Law Enforcement Authorities

    On September 5, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security amended its regulations to “codify certain law enforcement authorities delegated” by the DHS secretary to the USCIS director and “subsequently redelegated to particular officers or employees of USCIS.” According to the rule, “These authorities allow particular USCIS personnel to investigate and enforce civil and criminal violations of the immigration laws within the jurisdiction of USCIS. These authorities include, but are not limited to, the issuance and execution of warrants, the arrest of individuals, and carrying of firearms.”

    Immigration attorneys are alarmed at USCIS giving itself these new authorities under the DHS rule. “The recent changes at USCIS make the immigration process more intimidating,” said Dan Berger of Green & Spiegel in an interview. “Employers offer green card sponsorship as a recruitment and retention tool for key talent. That sponsorship increasingly involves an in-person interview, with the possibility of interacting with armed USCIS agents. This comes after months of images of masked ICE agents on television.”

    Chris Thomas of Holland & Hart said USCIS officers will now have the authority to execute warrants, make arrests and investigate civil and criminal violations of immigration law. He said in an interview that by operating more like Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement it opens “a new universe of potential exposure for employers and their lawyers.”

    A Department of Justice memo issued to all employees on February 5, 2025, directed federal prosecutors to prioritize and accept all immigration-related referrals or explain in “Urgent Reports” to headquarters why the cases were not pursued. Companies could face criminal charges in cases that the DOJ may not have pursued in the past.

    “Will the goal be to bring wild cases against companies and employers to chill benefits-related immigration, or will only the obvious and egregious cases be pursued? Only time will tell,” said Thomas.

    Thomas expects an increase in employee arrests, an expansion of onsite visits by USCIS Fraud Detection & National Security officers, including at the home office of employees working remotely, and an expansion of criminal liability and reputational exposure for employers. He recommends that employers review their policies, inform staff and prepare for site visits. He said one area USCIS could focus on is work performed at customer sites by individuals in H-1B status. In Donald Trump’s first term, USCIS officials issued memos and took unsuccessful regulatory action against such work.

    Source: Employers And Immigrants May Fear Immigration Service’s New Powers

    Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

    Multiculturalism has lost its meaning: Michael Bonner for Inside Policy

    2025/09/10 2 Comments

    Sort of a repeat of the criticisms of the 1990s. I think he underplays the importance of groups like Ukrainian Canadians who didn’t see recognition of their role in settling the West in the English/French narratives and that the original thinking in the Bi&Bi report, reflected in the policy and the 1988 Act, reflected a largely white, Christian Canada.

    Most of the accommodation issues pertain to religion which were largely undiscussed at that time. Since then, of course, immigration has resulted in much greater religious diversity.

    I think Bonner understates the integrative role of multiculturalism. Objectives like “full and equitable participation,” “equal treatment and equal protection,” “interaction between individuals and communities,” and “strengthening the status and use of the official languages” are fundamentally about integration.  

    So yes, back to its roots would be helpful as would correction of the excesses of the Trudeau government (which the expected cutbacks will likely impact).

    But citing first millennial Britain as an example, where mobility, communications and transportation were limited, not to mention no internet or social media, is odd to say the least:

    …We might conclude that multicultural policy has been pushed to an illogical extreme, or that an originally good and well-intentioned policy has been perverted. There is, however, a sense in which any official policy of multiculturalism is inherently superfluous and bound to fail. It is superfluous because all societies everywhere are multicultural in one sense or another. There is no country without local and regional diversity in culture, food, language, accent, dialect, and so on; and these differences tend to be robust over time. It is bound to fail because, in the long run, the general culture of a place will tend to become more and more homogenous.

    Those two observations are not contradictory. A demonstrative example is Great Britain: a place repeatedly invaded and settled by various peoples over the first millennium AD, which nevertheless developed a common British identity as well as multiple, subsidiary national and regional cultures long before 20th century mass immigration. Given enough time, a place like Canada would surely turn out much the same: rich in cultural and linguistic diversity, with a blended population of many Indigenous peoples and others distantly descended from immigrants, all united by a common Canadian identity centuries in the making: John Ralston Saul’s “Métis nation” at last. Many would applaud this outcome, but it would hardly resemble the contemporary ideal of multiculturalism.

    So it seems that, if we no longer understand the original meaning and purpose of multiculturalism – and if most Canadians object to the outcome of diversity for its own sake – then the concept itself is no longer useful. At the very least, the meaning and purpose of it should be redefined. If multiculturalism is to be of any further use it must be able to tell us both where we came from and where we are now; both who we are in particular and who we are in general. And if multiculturalism cannot do that, then it will not survive.

    Dr. Michael Bonner is a former Government of Ontario policy director, a historian of ancient Iran, and author of In Defense of Civilization: How Our Past Can Renew Our Present. He is a contributor for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

    Source: Multiculturalism has lost its meaning: Michael Bonner for Inside Policy

    Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with

    ← Older posts

    Newer posts →