FBI Reports Show Terror Suspects Coming From Canada While Trump Stares at Mexico – The Daily Beast

2017/02/08 Leave a comment

Expect this story and data to have some legs in the current political context (has in the past, and is always an ongoing challenge with our American neighbours):

Donald Trump keeps talking about the threat from the U.S.-Mexico border. But he may be looking in the wrong direction. FBI reports reviewed by The Daily Beast reveal that far more suspected terrorists try to enter the country from the northern border with Canada than from the south.

Seven FBI Terrorist Screening Center “monthly domestic encounter reports” dating from April 2014 to August 2016 detail the number, type, and location of encounters with known or suspected terrorists across the United States. The encounters are based on information in various watchlist databases. In all seven reports, the numbers of encounters at land border crossings were higher in northern states than southern.

“We are looking the wrong direction,” said a senior DHS official familiar with the data. “Not to say that Mexico isn’t a problem, but the real bad guys aren’t coming from there—at least not yet.”

On Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters he would not disclose evidence behind the President’s claims that jihadis are “pouring” into the country. “I’m not going to get into specific information that the president has,” he said.

The FBI reports obtained by The Daily Beast provide data on known or suspected terrorists attempting to enter the country, or who are already in the United States.

These reports show hundreds of watchlisted passengers encountered on domestic flights—meaning they are already in the country—and a smaller percentage crossing the border over land.

Those encounters are reported back to the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center and used to compile the monthly domestic encounter overview reports, which are classified “Law Enforcement Sensitive.”

Newly installed Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly traveled to Texas last week to survey the border in the Rio Grande Valley with local law enforcement. He is scheduled to testify Tuesday morning at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on threats to the southern border.

But the FBI data shows concerns about terrorists crossing into the U.S. from Canada may be a more immediate concern, or is at least worthy of considerable attention, according to border and congressional officials.

Source: FBI Reports Show Terror Suspects Coming From Canada While Trump Stares at Mexico – The Daily Beast

Filed under Immigration, Radicalization Tagged with , ,

The Data That Turned the World Upside Down – Motherboard

2017/02/08 Leave a comment

While much of this is alarming and disturbing – particularly voter suppression – I would love to see some psychometrics complement conventional polling with respect to immigration issues to test different ways of posing questions:

But to what extent did psychometric methods influence the outcome of the election? When asked, Cambridge Analytica was unwilling to provide any proof of the effectiveness of its campaign. And it is quite possible that the question is impossible to answer.

And yet there are clues: There is the fact of the surprising rise of Ted Cruz during the primaries. Also there was an increased number of voters in rural areas. There was the decline in the number of African-American early votes. The fact that Trump spent so little money may also be explained by the effectiveness of personality-based advertising. As does the fact that he invested far more in digital than TV campaigning compared to Hillary Clinton. Facebook proved to be the ultimate weapon and the best election campaigner, as Nix explained, and as comments by several core Trump campaigners demonstrate.

Many voices have claimed that the statisticians lost the election because their predictions were so off the mark. But what if statisticians in fact helped win the election—but only those who were using the new method? It is an irony of history that Trump, who often grumbled about scientific research, used a highly scientific approach in his campaign.

Another big winner is Cambridge Analytica. Its board member Steve Bannon, former executive chair of the right-wing online newspaper Breitbart News, has been appointed as Donald Trump’s senior counselor and chief strategist. Whilst Cambridge Analytica is not willing to comment on alleged ongoing talks with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Alexander Nix claims that he is building up his client base worldwide, and that he has received inquiries from Switzerland, Germany, and Australia. His company is currently touring European conferences showcasing their success in the United States. This year three core countries of the EU are facing elections with resurgent populist parties: France, Holland and Germany. The electoral successes come at an opportune time, as the company is readying for a push into commercial advertising.

Kosinski has observed all of this from his office at Stanford. Following the US election, the university is in turmoil. Kosinski is responding to developments with the sharpest weapon available to a researcher: a scientific analysis. Together with his research colleague Sandra Matz, he has conducted a series of tests, which will soon be published. The initial results are alarming: The study shows the effectiveness of personality targeting by showing that marketers can attract up to 63 percent more clicks and up to 1,400 more conversions in real-life advertising campaigns on Facebook when matching products and marketing messages to consumers’ personality characteristics. They further demonstrate the scalability of personality targeting by showing that the majority of Facebook Pages promoting products or brands are affected by personality and that large numbers of consumers can be accurately targeted based on a single Facebook Page.

In a statement after the German publication of this article, a Cambridge Analytica spokesperson said, “Cambridge Analytica does not use data from Facebook. It has had no dealings with Dr. Michal Kosinski. It does not subcontract research. It does not use the same methodology. Psychographics was hardly used at all. Cambridge Analytica did not engage in efforts to discourage any Americans from casting their vote in the presidential election. Its efforts were solely directed towards increasing the number of voters in the election.”

The world has been turned upside down. Great Britain is leaving the EU, Donald Trump is president of the United States of America. And in Stanford, Kosinski, who wanted to warn against the danger of using psychological targeting in a political setting, is once again receiving accusatory emails. “No,” says Kosinski, quietly and shaking his head. “This is not my fault. I did not build the bomb. I only showed that it exists.”

Source: The Data That Turned the World Upside Down – Motherboard

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Le PQ suggère des mesures pour améliorer l’intégration des immigrants | Politique québécoise

2017/02/08 Leave a comment

The PQ appears to be stepping back from identity politics post Quebec mosque killing and proposing some positive and concrete integration measures:

Dans la foulée de l’attentat au Centre culturel islamique de Québec, le 29 janvier, le chef du Parti québécois (PQ), Jean-François Lisée, a présenté, lundi, une série de mesures destinées à améliorer l’intégration des immigrants et à combattre le racisme et la discrimination au Québec.

«Au cours de la dernière semaine, il y a eu une prise de conscience nationale extrêmement forte des difficultés d’intégration de plusieurs Québécois d’origines diverses – particulièrement, mais pas exclusivement maghrébine -, une prise de conscience très forte qu’il y avait dans notre société des traces de racisme et de discrimination qu’il convient de faire reculer», a affirmé M. Lisée en conférence de presse à Montréal.

Le plan d’action comporte une vingtaine de mesures touchant l’emploi, le logement, l’éducation et la francisation, notamment.

On y retrouve, entre autres, des propositions pour assurer une meilleure reconnaissance des diplômes et des compétences des immigrants, qui sont aux prises avec des taux de chômage beaucoup plus élevés que la moyenne des Québécois. Ces propositions impliquent le déblocage de goulots persistants que l’on retrouve chez certains ordres professionnels et dans les institutions d’enseignement, par exemple.

Certaines mesures visent aussi à contrer la discrimination à l’embauche, notamment en interdisant l’exigence d’une première expérience de travail canadienne, qui crée un cercle vicieux auquel il est impossible d’échapper lorsqu’un candidat nouvellement arrivé se cherche un premier emploi.

Le PQ propose également d’instaurer des amendes salées dans les cas de discrimination pour l’obtention d’un emploi ou d’un logement, parallèlement à des mesures de soutien financier pour l’incitation à l’embauche d’immigrants et à l’offre de stages.

«Il n’existe aucune amende pour quelqu’un qui est pris en flagrant délit de discrimination à l’embauche. Ça n’a pas de sens», a soutenu le chef péquiste.

De plus, il suggère de donner plus de mordant au programme d’embauche des minorités par l’État québécois en insistant sur les objectifs à atteindre, notamment par le biais de la discrimination positive.

Le PQ, qui a déjà fait part de son intention de mettre au rancart le cours d’éthique et culture religieuse, veut remplacer celui-ci par un cours sur la citoyenneté qui toucherait un ensemble de notions sociales, incluant, entre autres, le fait religieux, l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes, la démocratie, la sexualité et autres.

«Ce cours doit avoir comme objectif de promouvoir une culture de l’antiracisme et contre la discrimination», a dit M. Lisée.

Le Parti québécois insiste également sur les mesures de francisation et l’intégration d’un plus grand nombre d’immigrants dans les conseils d’administration d’organismes publics et parapublics, parmi les candidats et employés des partis politiques et dans les manifestations culturelles.

Source: Le PQ suggère des mesures pour améliorer l’intégration des immigrants | Pierre Saint-Arnaud | Politique québécoise

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It will take more than a tragedy to recast the accommodation debate: Hébert

2017/02/07 Leave a comment

Good advice from Chantal Hébert on Bill 62:

It will take more than a tragedy to recast the accommodation debate along lines more respectful of minority rights.

Consider, on this score, Quebec’s Bill 62. It is the latest legislative proposal designed to bring closure to the religious accommodation debate. It will do anything but that.

The bill would require anyone offering or receiving public services in the province to uncover his or her face, a disposition that could hardly apply to anyone except to a minority of Muslim women.

Quebec’s opposition parties do not feel that goes far enough. The PQ would impose a secular dress code on members of the police force, judges, prison guards and Crown attorneys. The CAQ would also include teachers and child-care workers. If the Liberal bill passes as is, the opposition parties will campaign on expanding its dispositions in next year’s provincial election.

The national assembly was expected to shortly resume debate on Bill 62. The attack on the Quebec mosque will result in a pause. But sooner rather than later the parties will pick up where they left off before this week’s events.

After a decade, it may be overdue to seek the input of people less inclined to play football with the rights of religious minorities, or at least to bring a referee unto the field.

If premier Couillard decided to refer his bill and the opposition’s proposals to the courts to find out how well if at all they sit with the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights, he would render this debate a much needed service

Source: It will take more than a tragedy to recast the accommodation debate: Hébert | Toronto Star

Filed under Multiculturalism

Don’t be deaf to the threat of dog whistle politics: Collenette

2017/02/07 Leave a comment

Good piece by Penny Collenette, former senior PMO staffer under Jean Chrétien:

So what can we do to stop the spread of this inflammatory and destructive force? How do we halt the powerful right wing of Trump’s America from spilling over our borders with their vicious messages? There are a number of ways.

Canadian politicians who use coded messages of race-baiting or values testing should be “named and shamed” by political opponents. Already this is thankfully happening in the Conservative leadership race.

Strategists and pollsters who practise this type of dangerous communication must think twice before posing questions designed to whip up prejudice. Clients and investors may equally become concerned about provocative behaviour.

Civil society and individuals are watch dogs for truth and fairness. Don’t allow friends or colleagues to discriminate against others or to disseminate hateful information. Whether a message is in a tweet, during a conversation, or on Facebook, point out errors or bias.

Main stream media and social media equally have responsibility to verify facts and to report without bias.

And never forget the power of words. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard noted that “Words can hurt. Words can be knives slashing at people’s consciousness.” But words can also heal and soothe, especially when they are spoken with great sensitivity by a member of the community, which has just been devastated.

“What the Daesch is doing in the name of Islam is an affront to Islam, decency and humanity. What took place in Quebec was criminal and horrible. But the response of Canadians with love and solidarity represents Canada at its best and offers us pride and hope,” said Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan, a former journalist and Order of Canada recipient.

Let’s not let our communities and ourselves down. Let’s support each other with understanding and strength.

And while we are it, let’s throw those dog whistles in the garbage.

Source: Don’t be deaf to the threat of dog whistle politics: Collenette | Toronto Star

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Des musulmans demandent une meilleure intégration sur le marché de l’emploi

2017/02/07 Leave a comment

Multiculturalism - Implementing Diversity and Inclusion - Dec 2016.008.pngQuebec has the poorest economic outcomes for visible minorities:

Plus tôt cette semaine, le vice-président du Centre culturel islamique de Québec, Mohamed Labidi, a évoqué les efforts vains d’une des victimes de l’attentat, Azzaddine Soufiane, à trouver un emploi à son arrivée dans la province. Celui qui a tenté d’arrêter le tireur, au moment de la fusillade, avait donc décidé d’ouvrir un magasin, avait dit M. Labidi aux journalistes.

« Allez aux présentoirs de chauffeurs de taxi et vous verrez des post-doctorants et des personnes détenant des maîtrises puisque nous ne trouvons pas d’emplois ici », avait-il lancé.

Un programmeur informatique de formation qui est arrivé d’Algérie en 2011, Bachreir Ikhlef, était au départ « plein d’énergie » quand il est arrivé dans sa province d’accueil, a raconté le chauffeur de taxi de 37 ans alors qu’il attendait son prochain passager à quelques kilomètres de la Place d’Youville.

Un conseiller en orientation lui avait suggéré d’obtenir un diplôme au Québec afin d’agrémenter son curriculum vitae.

« Nous étions 25 à avoir commencé le programme, a dit celui qui avait alors opté pour un certificat en programmation. Et à la fin, seulement 12 d’entre nous l’ont fini. »

« Ni moi ni un type venant de la Tunisie n’avons pu obtenir un stage. Aucun d’entre nous n’a trouvé un travail dans notre domaine », a ajouté M. Ikhlef.

Selon l’Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS) — un groupe de réflexion connu pour ses positions plutôt portées à gauche du spectre politique —, 43 % des immigrants étaient surqualifiés, en 2016, pour l’emploi qu’ils occupaient.

« Mêmes démons »

Jeudi, lors de la cérémonie funéraire qui se tenait à Montréal, le premier ministre Philippe Couillard a souligné que la société québécoise « a les mêmes démons auxquels d’autres font face », mentionnant notamment la xénophobie, l’exclusion et le racisme.

Il a appelé les employeurs à engager des personnes en se basant sur leurs compétences et non leur nom de famille, demandant tout haut pourquoi le taux de chômage était plus élevé parmi les immigrants.

Le chauffeur de taxi Taoufik Essekkouri — arrivé du Maroc en 2010 — espère de son côté que ces mots mèneront à des actions concrètes, faisant valoir en entrevue que la surqualification des nouveaux arrivants par rapport à leur emploi est un problème connu depuis longtemps, mais qui tarde à être résolu.

Source: Des musulmans demandent une meilleure intégration sur le marché de l’emploi | Le Devoir

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Lady Gaga’s Super Gay Super Bowl Halftime Show Came When We Needed It Most – The Daily Beast

2017/02/07 Leave a comment

While the overall view appears to be that Lady Gaga played it safe, her goals were less so:

It was actually rather inspiring to listen to Lady Gaga talk about the goals she had for the performance at a press conference last week.

“Music is one of the most powerful things the world has to offer. No matter what race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or gender that you are, it has the power to unite us, so this performance is for everyone. I want to, more than anything, create a moment that everybody who’s watching will never forget—not for me, but for themselves,” she said.

This whole political statement debate? “The only statements I’ll be making during the halftime show are the ones that I have been consistently making throughout my career,” she said. “I believe in a passion for inclusion, I believe in the spirit of equality, and [I believe] the spirit of this country is one of love and compassion and kindness, so my performance will uphold those philosophies.”

It’s one thing to hear that, and another to watch it unfold over the course of 13 minutes on TV, fatigued from another week of horrifying headlines and cultural frustration that’s long passed its boiling point. Who knew how much we’d need Lady Gaga right now?

“Essentially, that kid that couldn’t get a seat at the cool kids table and that kid who was kicked out of the house because his mom and dad didn’t accept him for who he was? That kid is going to have the stage for 13 minutes,” she said. “And I’m excited to give it to them.”

And we needed to receive it.

Source: Lady Gaga’s Super Gay Super Bowl Halftime Show Came When We Needed It Most – The Daily Beast

CBC did a nice round-up of the messages of the ads, largely explicitly or subtly in favour of diversity and inclusion:

It’s rare that you want to watch the commercials. Normally you want to change channels, go get a snack or fast forward through them — except during the Super Bowl.

For Americans, commercials have long been part of the attraction. And this year — finally — Canadians got to take part in the fun, thanks to a CRTC decision.

Every year, more than 30 advertisers spend roughly $5 million US and aim to create the most memorable 30 to 90 seconds by stuffing commercials with celebrities, slapstick humour, cute animals or children.

This year’s crop of ads filled all the categories, but several nodded to the political climate since Donald Trump became president.

The messages

Shortly before kickoff, Coca-Cola’s replayed an ad originally from 2014, which featured America the Beautiful sung in eight different languages. The commercial seems to be a reaction to increased racial tensions in the U.S. New or not, this commercial struck a nice tone.

The most obviously political ad was from 84 Lumber, which had an earlier version rejected for being too controversial. The commercial features the journey of a woman and her daughter travelling through Mexico. The ad directs viewers online to see the conclusion.

At the end of the six-minute piece, you see the characters arrive at a towering wall and appearing defeated until they discover a gate in the wall. The ad ends with the words, “The will to succeed is always welcome here.”

The commercial is clearly in opposition to Trump’s plan to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

 The hits, misses and messages of the Super Bowl commercials

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Dix ans après Bouchard-Taylor, tant reste à faire

2017/02/06 Leave a comment

Good summary by journalists Stéphane Baillargeon, Robert Dutrisac
and Lisa-Marie Gervais:

Québec annonçait il y a dix ans la formation de la commission Bouchard-Taylor. Les deux présidents livrent leur bilan et Le Devoir constate les retards et les échecs dans l’application de plusieurs recommandations centrales.

La « réalité alternative » a la cote par les nouveaux temps trumpiens qui courent, mais les faits sont têtus. Les faits disent, par exemple, que l’organisme Ensemble pour le respect de la diversité, qui fait la promotion du respect des différences, ne reçoit à peu près plus rien de l’État québécois.

Deux ministères (Éducation et Affaires autochtones) fournissent maintenant 4 % des quelque 630 000 $ du budget annuel de fonctionnement. Le ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion du Québec (le MIDI) fournit par contre 30 000 $ par année pour deux ans pour un projet de lutte contre la radicalisation.

Nous sommes contents d’avoir du soutien pour les petits projets, mais notre mission n’est pas appuyée

« Nous avons subi une baisse énorme », résume Marie-Ève Paiement, qui assume l’intérim à la direction de l’organisme montréalais, qui, en 20 ans, a donné plus de 10 000 ateliers, visité 965 écoles, rencontré près de 340 000 jeunes du Québec et du Canada. « La recommandation qui nous concerne dans le rapport de la commission Bouchard-Taylor n’a malheureusement pas été appliquée, dit-elle. Nous sommes contents d’avoir du soutien pour les petits projets, mais notre mission n’est pas appuyée. »

En 2004, la Fondation pour la tolérance (l’ancien nom d’Ensemble pour la diversité) tirait le tiers de ses revenus des subventions au fonctionnement. C’était avant la commission Bouchard-Taylor et avant que son rapport de 2008 recommande précisément d’augmenter le soutien financier à ce genre d’organisme et à la Fondation en particulier.

Un autre exemple ? La commission recommandait aussi « d’accorder une attention particulière à la Capitale-Nationale de façon à en faire un deuxième pôle métropolitain d’accueil des nouveaux venus ». Vérification faite, le MIDI a annulé le fonds d’aide à la régionalisation des immigrants il y a trois ans.

« Le Québec est la seule province au Canada où la population immigrante s’installe presque exclusivement dans sa métropole, dit Jean-Luc Gélinas, du Service d’orientation et d’intégration des immigrants au travail (SOIT) de Québec. Les professionnels immigrés ne vont pas là où sont les emplois : ils se dirigent presque tous vers Montréal, où ils ne sont pas assurés de trouver du travail en fonction de leurs compétences et de leur formation. »

Le document déposé en 2008 listait 37 recommandations. Dès novembre 2009, un an après le dépôt du rapport, des porte-parole gouvernementaux affirmaient que 80 % des recommandations avaient fait l’objet d’un suivi.

Jusqu’au départ du premier ministre Jean Charest en 2012, le directeur général de la Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI), Stephan Reichhold, produisait un « Bulletin de performance » pour suivre l’application des recommandations. Il évaluait en 2010 que 6 % des stratégies proposées étaient concrétisées. « Je ne penserais pas que ç’a ait beaucoup changé », dit-il au Devoir.

Dans un article publié en 2014 dans le livre L’interculturel au Québec (PUL), le sociologue François Rocher, de l’Université d’Ottawa, estimait pour sa part qu’environ le tiers (37 %) des recommandations avaient été mises en oeuvre. La note positive n’était accordée qu’à 7 des 24 plans jugés prioritaires.

Bref, les bilans ne semblent pas très favorables, et les deux présidents eux-mêmes trouvent aussi, dans les entrevues accordées au Devoir, que les choses traînent.

Le professeur Gérard Bouchard fait directement référence à ce bilan très mitigé. Charles Taylor souligne que deux secteurs concrets font particulièrement défaut, celui de la reconnaissance des compétences et des diplômes et celui de l’intégration comme telle.

Les vérifications effectuées par Le Devoir au sujet d’une dizaine de recommandations décrites comme prioritaires il y a dix ans pointent aussi vers du laxisme, des lacunes, voire des régressions.

Interculturalisme et laïcité. La commission demandait que le modèle de l’interculturalisme soit inscrit dans une loi. Ce modèle diffère du multiculturalisme en ce sens qu’il met l’accent sur la diversité, mais autour d’un noyau francophone. Les commissaires proposaient également l’adoption d’un livre blanc afin de lancer une vaste consultation sur la laïcité dite ouverte.

Dix ans plus tard, il n’y a pas de loi sur l’interculturalisme, pas plus que de livre blanc. Nous en sommes à la quatrième mouture de projets de loi qui ont voulu circonscrire la laïcité — les libéraux préfèrent la notion plus canadian de neutralité religieuse de l’État — et les accommodements religieux. Toutes ces tentatives furent vaines sauf, évidemment, le projet de loi 62, dont on a retardé l’étude en commission parlementaire en raison du climat actuel teinté par l’attentat.

Intégration des immigrants. Le souhait était d’intensifier « la reconnaissance des compétences et des diplômes acquis à l’étranger ». Yann Hairaud, directeur général de la Clef pour l’intégration au travail des immigrants de Montréal (CITIM), juge qu’« il n’y a pas eu de suite à cette recommandation » malgré quelques efforts notables, dont la mise en place d’un mécanisme de traitement des plaintes des décisions prises par les ordres professionnels. Ce problème concerne environ un immigrant au Québec sur dix, soit plus ou moins 4500 personnes par année.

Le Québec compte 46 ordres qui réglementent la profession de plus de 385 000 membres. Une dizaine d’entre elles (dont les médecins, les ingénieurs ou les infirmières) totalisent 80 % des demandes de reconnaissance, avec des taux d’acceptation très variables. Les obstacles viennent par exemple des coûts imposés pour les examens, de la difficulté de trouver des formations d’appoint ou des stages.

Inégalités et discriminations. Les commissaires ont conclu que l’État devrait porter une attention particulière à la lutte contre les crimes haineux et a exigé plus de ressources et de moyens pour les organismes de lutte contre la discrimination, notamment à la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. Or, si le budget annuel est resté stable (environ 15 millions de dollars), 33 postes ont été abolis, passant de 161 à 128 (équivalents à temps complet) au cours des dix dernières années. Un service-conseil en matière d’accommodements raisonnables a été mis en place en 2008 pour aider les décideurs.

Pratiques d’harmonisation. Une attention particulière devait être portée à la déjudiciarisation du traitement des demandes d’accommodement ou de la formation des enseignants. Ces formations, qui datent d’avant la commission, sont toujours aussi nombreuses

« Peut-être que, dans les commissions scolaires en région, où l’immigration est plus récente, il y a plus de besoins », dit Marie McAndrew, professeure à la Faculté des sciences de l’éducation à l’Université de Montréal et spécialiste des questions de multiethnicité. « Mais dans les grosses commissions scolaires, à Montréal, […] c’est clair que l’expertise est là. »

Source: Dix ans après Bouchard-Taylor, tant reste à faire | Le Devoir

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CCDI Study shows law firm senior leadership still largely white and male

2017/02/06 Leave a comment

Interesting study by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.

In general, I find a three-year time series too short to show much change given the nature of promotion and equivalent processes (a minimum of five years is better, ten is more reliable).

However, it is nevertheless informative in terms of its breakdown by seniority  and a good initiative:

Despite much talk over the last decade around boosting diversity and inclusion in law firms, women and racialized lawyers continue to be under-represented in the Canadian legal profession with Caucasian men continuing to far outnumber those two groups in senior leadership roles, according to a study from the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.

Level Chan says a lack of women and racialized lawyers at the top of law firms is a matter of retention and advancement. He says there continues to be “over-representation” at the associate and entry-level areas of the firms but they don’t tend to stay.

In fact, the study shows Caucasian men who responded to the survey have the greatest odds of being an equity partner, and they are seven times more likely than racialized women to be an equity partner.

The study, “Diversity by the Numbers: The Legal Profession,” conducted by the CCDI in partnership with the Canadian Bar Association, shows the representation of minority groups in the legal profession has not changed substantially over the last three years that the CCDI has been collecting data. In 2014 and 2015, 73.99 per cent and 76.88 per cent of senior leader respondents were men. In 2016, 75.34 per cent of senior leader respondents to the survey were men and 90.78 per cent of senior leaders were Caucasian.

In 2014 and 2015, 89.28 per cent and 88.91 per cent of senior leader respondents were Caucasian respondents, respectively. Another statistic of note is that 81.9 per cent of senior leaders are equity partners.

“Results from 2014, 2015 and 2016 do not show a shift towards a more diverse and inclusive workforce, particularly in partner and leadership roles,” the report states.

The study, sponsored by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Dentons Canada LLP, McCarthy Tétrault LLP and Miller Thomson LLP, shows women and racialized respondents are under-represented in equity partner and senior leader roles and over-represented as associates and articling or summer students.

Authors of the report say factors contributing to the perpetuation of these numbers include “inflexible working conditions, rigid firm culture, high client expectations and overall economics of the profession.”

While some might point to a tough economy since 2008, Deanna Matzanke, director, measurement and analytics at the CCDI, says the economy is a “significant red herring” and what the report shows is “a compelling validation” that the current law firm model makes it difficult for women and minorities to rise to equity partner positions.

“ . . . the process of billable hours, the emphasis placed on client relationships, and the hierarchal ‘Old Boys Club’ network in law firms do not support or foster a diverse and inclusive environment.”

The report goes on to say that women find themselves in a difficult position when faced with trying to balance family needs with law firm demands. Also, “ . . . lawyers from minority groups do not have the same social and cultural capital to network and find mentors who relate to them, because the pool is very small.”

That means many leave the law firm culture for more flexible and accommodating environments elsewhere, such as in-house roles or solo practice.

Matzanke, a lawyer herself, says the results of the study are disappointing and show that diversity and inclusion are not being successfully implemented in the legal profession, despite the fact the pool of potential lawyers in law school has increased in diversity and at the associate level at law firms shows fairly high diversity.

The majority of racialized respondents in the legal profession are Asian, while all other groups show very small representation.

A total of 11 firms from nine provinces and one territory participated in the 2016 survey. Firms were invited to participate directly by CCDI via the Law Firm Diversity and Inclusion Network, and the Canadian Bar Association sent a letter to all members.

“There’s nothing surprising here really,” says Level Chan, a partner with Stewart McKelvey LLP in Halifax and the CBA’s representative on the CCDI’s advisory committee.

“As to why we’re not moving the needle much, I think it’s a matter of retention and advancement, and as you see particularly with women, there continues to be over-representation at the associate and entry level areas of the firms, but we’re not keeping them. I think that in turn is translating to having fewer people available for senior roles and as equity partners. That is the ongoing issue we’ve had in the legal profession.”

Source: Study shows law firm senior leadership still largely white and male

Link to the study:Diversity by the Numbers: The Legal Profession

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

We need to understand what ‘Islamophobia’ really means : Glavin

2017/02/04 Leave a comment

Good piece by Terry Glavin:

Getting it wrong can do great harm, because the slipperiness of language occurs in tandem with the slovenliness of ideas. The Southern Poverty Law Center, for instance, recently sustained a nasty self-inflicted wound to its reputation in this way. Long a turn-to organization for research on political extremism, the SPLC published a list of what it described as 15 “anti-Muslim extremists ” that included the unambiguously bigoted American hothead Pamela Geller and the notorious paranoid Frank Gaffney along with the impeccably credentialed Maajid Nawaz, a high-profile reformist Muslim. Nawaz works with the Quilliam Foundation, a British anti-extremism think tank named after the founder of Britain’s first mosque.

The imprecision of the term Islamophobia is almost invariably bound up in dead-end arguments that allow both “counter-jihad” activists and jihadists alike to conflate Islam, the religion as it is practiced by the overwhelming majority of Muslims, with Islamism, the totalitarian ideology that has produced several virulent strains, including the ghastly fanaticism of Daesh, otherwise known as Islamic State.

…The conflation of Islam with Islamism allows anti-Muslim bigotry to flourish. Bigots and lunatics routinely conflate passages from the Quran with the faith of innocently devout Muslims. It’s easy work to find all sorts of bloodcurdling passages in the Quran that can be lifted and rigged to slander Muslims of all kinds. Like these: “When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks. . . Oh believers, take not Jews and Christians as friends. . . Oh believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and let them find in you a harshness.”

Taking that to mean that Muslims are just waiting for the chance to embark upon rampages of neck-smiting and wickedness is to surrender to racism and dementia. Even more unpleasant, this one’s about Jews: “I shall give you my sincere advice: First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. . . Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed.”

That one’s from a lurid 16th Century tract composed by the prophet of Protestantism, Martin Luther. Shall we all start freaking out about Lutherans now?

The “left” has happily entertained its own hysterical conspiracy theories: the United Nations reconstruction of Afghanistan was really an American imperialist war for oil (Afghanistan, alas, is rich mainly in sand) is one. “Al Qaeda was created by the CIA” is another. Sometimes, the idiocies of the “left” and “the” right are indistinguishable or interchangeable, even in the arguments about President’s Trump’s vulgar excesses.

Who said this? “If they want to build a wall that’s up to them. If they want to throw out illegal immigrants or keep out Muslims that’s up to them. It’s their business.” It could have been the execrable Trump-admiring Brexit rabblerouser Nigel Farage. But it was the disgraced British MP and “anti-war” loudmouth George Galloway, who not long ago was a frequent celebrity guest on fashionable CBC chat shows and a darling of Toronto Star columnists.

During Tuesday’s emergency House of Commons debates on how Canada should respond to Trump’s anti-Muslim executive order, the wisest counsel came not from NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who did a splendid job attempting to wrest something useful from the government benches, nor from rookie Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen, who had nothing to offer in response.

It came from Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel, who is not what you would call a popular person at the Conservative Party’s fringe, where shouting about Muslims is the loudest.

“It is facile for us to believe that there are not others on this planet who disagree with our way of life. There are those who hold views so extreme that they kill in the name of their God. They rape in the name of their God. They subjugate and bring terror in the name of their God. No religion and no nation is immune to this,” Rempel told the House.

“Yet there are those who seek to bring light and beauty to the world. They seek to bring peace, prosperity, and tolerance. Every religion and every nation has these people. They are Muslim and they are Christian. They are Sikh and they are Hindu.”

By closing our arms around the grieving widows and the children and the loved ones of those six martyrs in Sainte-Foy this week, we Canadians might just have allowed some light and beauty to emerge from this horrible thing. Yet there remains an unspeakable hatred of Muslims, and hysteria about Muslims, abroad in the land.

We need to get this right. We owe it to the dead, and we owe it to the living, to face this scourge with decency, with compassion and with honesty, to muster what is right and good about Canada to the cause of seeing to it that those six men did not die in vain.

Source: We need to understand what ‘Islamophobia’ really means – Macleans.ca

Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with ,

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