Government of Canada proud to support Holodomor National Awareness Tour – Canada News Centre

2015/01/20 Leave a comment

Likely one of the larger grants under the program which has an annual funding envelope of about $8 million:

The Holodomor, otherwise known as the “terror-famine in Ukraine,” resulted in the deaths of millions of people in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1932-1933. The famine was the direct result of a planned repression of the people of Ukraine for massively resisting the Stalinist state’s collectivization.

Canada became the first country to officially recognize the Holodomor genocide in 2008.

The Canada Ukraine Foundation will receive an investment of $1,459,728 from Citizenship and Immigration Canada for the cross-Canada tour. The project will educate Canadians of all ages and backgrounds on this tragic historical event and highlight the importance of our shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The Tour, which is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2015, has also garnered support from organizations such as the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium.

Government of Canada proud to support Holodomor National Awareness Tour – Canada News Centre.

As noted earlier, compares to $50,000 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian flag (Feds to spend $50,000 for flag’s 50th birthday celebration). Perhaps an effort to smooth over some of the Ukrainian Canadian community criticisms over the Canadian Museum of Human Rights (Canadian Museum for Human Rights – More Dissent).

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Sex differences in academia: University challenge | The Economist

2015/01/20 1 Comment

Interesting analysis of the some of the unconscious beliefs and habits that may undermine efforts to increase diversity within STEM disciplines:

All this raises interesting and awkward questions. It may be unpalatable to some, but the idea that males and females have evolved cognitive differences over the course of many millions of years, because of the different interests of the sexes, is plausible. That people of different races have evolved such differences is far less likely, given the youth of Homo sapiens as a species. Prejudice thus seems a more plausible explanation for what Dr Leslie and Dr Cimpian have observed. But prejudice can work in subtle ways.

It could indeed be that recruiters from disciplines which think innate talent important are prejudiced about who they select for their PhD programmes. It could instead, though, be that women and black people themselves, through exposure to a culture that constantly tells them (which research suggests it does) that they do not have an aptitude for things like maths and physics, have come to believe this is true.

If that is the case (and Dr Leslie and Dr Cimpian suspect it is), it suggests that a cultural shift in schools and universities, playing down talent and emphasising hard work, might serve to broaden the intake of currently male-dominated and black-deficient fields, to the benefit of all.

Sex differences in academia: University challenge | The Economist.

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Toronto Police team with other forces to help Somali community

2015/01/19 Leave a comment

Some good community policing initiatives here in addition to the exchange program with Minneapolis:

Toronto Police spent roughly $500,000 to employ six officers of Somali background in 23 Division as part of a Somali Liaison Unit, a renewable two-year project as a way to build trust in the predominantly Somali community and to engage youth, Deputy Chief Peter Sloly said at a policing conference at Woodbine Banquet Hall Saturday.

“The connections between Toronto, Minneapolis, Edmonton and Ft. McMurray … it’s a large issue that involves senior police leaders,” Sloly said. “We’re applying that neighbourhood approach. We’ve employed those police officers on Dixon Rd., right around Woodbine Racetrack, they’re in there for two years and develop trusting long-lasting relationships and a deep knowledge of community conditions.”

Toronto’s Somali liaison unit has been in place since 2013 and will likely be renewed at the end of this year, Sloly said.

“We did a high-risk project in spring of 2013 (Project Traveller) and the three years before then, we had over 20 shooting incidents every year and 10 homicides every year and the two years since we’ve had this unit in place, we’ve only had one shooting and no homicides,” he said. “That’s because of great local leadership.”

Toronto Police are also working with Positive Change Toronto, an advocacy group that formed to bring down gun violence in North Etobicoke, particularly in the Dixon Rd. and Queen’s Plate Dr. areas.

“When we formed in 2012, that was the summer of the gun,” explained PCT spokesman Idil Burale. “There were way too many funerals. Something had to change. In the past two years, we’ve seen people call these police officers directly, rather than call the police. They were coming forward with information more. A lot of young men in our community are interested in becoming police officers.”

Toronto Police team with other forces to help Somali community | Home | Toronto.

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Quebec Values Charter 2.0: Ban against crosses, hijabs would only apply to new public employees | National Post

2015/01/19 Leave a comment

English coverage of Bernard Drainville’s attempt to resuscitate the values charter (earlier post Charte de la laïcité: «une clause grand-père» prévaudra |Drainville) and a useful comparison between the earlier and current versions:

Comparison of Drainville’s charter proposals

PQ’s original charter

• The ban on ostentatious religious symbols in the workspace was sweeping and applied to the entire public sector including justice, health and education. The bill defined the symbols as “overt and conspicuous,” which meant a tiny crucifix or small ring with the Star of David or earring was fine, but anything big was not.

• The bill provided for a five-year exemption from the ban for CEGEPs, universities, health care and municipalities. In the uproar, many institutions said they would use the exemption.

• Private schools and non-subsidized daycare centres were not covered.

• It would be mandatory to have one’s face uncovered while providing or receiving a state service.

• In the name of religious heritage, the giant crucifix on Mont Royal and other religious symbols in the public space — such as the crucifix over

the speaker’s chair in the blue room of the National Assembly — would remain. Employees would still be allowed office Christmas trees.

• Amend the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms to entrench religious neutrality of the state and the secular nature of institutions.

Drainville charter

• The big change in the proposal is the so-called grandfather clause. That means that while the plan is still to ban conspicuous religious symbols in the whole public sector, existing workers would have acquired rights and not have to respect the rules.

• Implicit in the new package is that no employee thus could be fired for refusing to comply, which emerged as the real stumbling block for the short-lived PQ government.

• The new ban would thus only apply to new hires. As Drainville stated, working for the government carries with it responsibilities and one of them is to not express, or display, one’s personal convictions.

• Respecting their independence, Drainville said the new ban would not apply to CEGEPs, universities and municipalities. They would, however, be required to adopt their own internal religious neutrality policies.

• Added to the charter would be the creation of an observatory on religious fundamentalism and a 1-800 phone line where people could report honour crimes.

• The National Assembly crucifix could be moved elsewhere in the legislature if MNAs vote to do so.

Quebec Values Charter 2.0: Ban against crosses, hijabs would only apply to new public employees | National Post.

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Chérif and Saïd Kouachi’s Path to Paris Attack at Charlie Hebdo – NYTimes.com

2015/01/19 Leave a comment

A good in-depth piece on the radicalization journey of the Paris killers and the challenge for police forces, suggesting that it may be more a matter of resources than expanded powers:

The 10-year evolution from easily spooked amateur to hardened killer is a story of steadily deepening radicalism that occurred virtually under the noses of French authorities, who twice had Chérif in their grasp. After the arrest of Chérif in 2005, when he was no more than a fledgling jihadist, he spent 20 months in prison. There, he met and became an acolyte of Al Qaeda’s top operative in France, Djamel Beghal, who had been dispatched to Paris to set up a cell aimed at attacking United States interests here, French counterterrorism officials said.

He also befriended a convicted robber, Amedy Coulibaly, who would later synchronize his own terrorist attack with the Kouachi brothers, killing a police officer and staging a siege inside a kosher supermarket in the days after the Charlie Hebdo carnage, bringing the death toll to 17.

Much remains unclear about their lives. But thousands of pages of legal documents obtained by The New York Times, including minutes of interrogations, summaries of phone taps, intercepted jailhouse letters and a catalog of images and religious texts found on the laptops of Chérif Kouachi and Mr. Coulibaly, reveal an arc of radicalization that saw them become steadily more professional and more discreet.

They shaved regularly, eschewing the conspicuous beards worn by many Islamists. They dressed in jeans and basketball sneakers, offering no outward hint of their plans or jihadist beliefs.

After at least one of the Kouachis traveled to Yemen in 2011, the United States alerted French authorities. But three years of tailing the brothers yielded nothing, and an oversight commission ruled that the surveillance was no longer productive, said Louis Caprioli, the deputy head of France’s domestic antiterrorism unit from 1998 to 2004.

The brothers appeared so nonthreatening that surveillance was dropped in the middle of last year, he said, as hundreds of young Muslims cycled back and forth to Syria for jihad and French authorities shifted priorities.

“The system is overwhelmed,” said Jean-Charles Brisard, a terrorism expert who is a former counsel to France’s chief antiterrorism prosecutor.

Chérif and Saïd Kouachi’s Path to Paris Attack at Charlie Hebdo – NYTimes.com.

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It’s time to confront ‘the cancer of extremism’ – Khan and Dueck

2015/01/19 Leave a comment

Good conversation between Sheema Khan and Lorna Dueck on extremism. Quote below from Sheema Khan:

In conclusion, we should start to look to ways of breaking the vicious cycle anytime a terrorist incident occurs. There is shock, anger, followed by condemnation of these acts, and then the backlash against Muslim communities, thus further creating divisions, which in turn alienate Muslim youth who become susceptible to the message of extremists (i.e. the West is at war with Islam, they reject you because you are Muslim, etc).

For Muslim communities, we really have to start looking in the mirror, and ask in view of atrocities occurring in the name of Islam at a higher frequency, “what is happening to the moral core”? During the days of terror in France, almost 2,000 women, children and the elderly were massacred by Boko Haram, which has also resorted to child suicide bombers. Almost 40 Muslims were killed in Yemen by a Muslim extremist. And the killing of Muslims, by Muslim extremists continues in Syria and Iraq. All of this on the heels of the horrific murders of schoolchildren and teachers in Peshawar by the Taliban. We need to take a deep look and acknowledge that the cancer of extremism is growing, and come up with strategies on how to deal with it.

It’s time to confront ‘the cancer of extremism’ – The Globe and Mail.

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Feds to spend $50,000 for flag’s 50th birthday celebration

2015/01/17 1 Comment

The historic scars of the debate over the Canadian flag still haunt the Conservatives, apparently (under Minister Kenney, the historic flags of Canada were often displayed along with the current flag).

And in contrast to the $1.5 million to commemorate the Holodomor, displaying yet again the political clout of the Ukrainian Canadian community:

The federal government has allotted $50,000 for celebrations for the upcoming 50th birthday of the iconic Maple Leaf flag.

As Maple Leaf approaches 50, some wonder: Where’s the party?

That’s compared to almost $4 million for a campaign marking the 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth, and $5.2 million spent on the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Canadian Heritage said Thursday that the $50,000 includes funds for promotional material, a photo exhibit during Ottawa’s upcoming Winterlude festivities and various “outreach products.”

In an email, a spokesman also said the department has provided more than $200,000 to organizations, including provincial lieutenant-governors, for their 50th birthday projects.

By way of contrast, the government announced earlier this week it will spend $1.5 million on a cross-country project to raise awareness about the Holodomor, a state-sponsored famine in Ukraine in 1932-33 in which millions starved while resisting Soviet collectivist policies.

Feds to spend $50,000 for flag’s 50th birthday celebration – Politics – CBC News.

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In Israel, debate over whether French Jews should come — or stay home

2015/01/17 Leave a comment

Interesting debate in Israel – key question highlighted:

“To all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place in whose direction you pray; the state of Israel is your home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address.

If a new wave of French Jews move to Israel, they will join what was a record 7,000 compatriots who made the journey last year. But that movement is already rekindling debate among Jews, who ask: Is it better for French Jews to come to Israel or stay home and insist that French society, including the country’s swelling Muslim population, accommodate them?

The debate comes with a contemporary twist: If Jews abandon France in large numbers, are they not doing just what Islamist extremists want — ridding France of its Jews?

“I think what we are seeing now is the old Zionism, the idea that the only place to be is Israel,” said Smadar Bar-Akiva, executive director of JCC Global, an umbrella group of more than 1,000 Jewish community centers worldwide.

Immigrants from France make up a sizable portion of all Europeans migrating to Israel. In 2013, about 12,000 Europeans migrated to Israel, at least 3,000 of them French. In the first nine months of 2014, 5,000 French people migrated to Israel.

“Aliyah is wonderful. We would love to have more Jews in Israel,” Bar-Akiva said, using the Hebrew term for immigration, or “ascending,” to Israel. “But I’d also like to have strong Jews all around the world. I think that it is self-defeating for us to tell them to pack their bags and leave France.”

In Israel, debate over whether French Jews should come — or stay home – The Washington Post.

And a good history of French antisemitism by Andreas Whittam Smith along with a sobering conclusion:

If the Jews cannot live in France any longer, it would be an incredible disaster. The French Republic would have spectacularly fallen short of its ideals. Fortunately Francois Hollande, and Manuel Valls, well understand this and are taking significant actions to buttress the self-confidence of Jewish citizens. Valls also said: “If 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.” Exactly right.

Anti-Semitism in France: A prejudice that hardened in 1789 and which has come in waves ever since – Comment – Voices – The Independent.

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Australia: Victoria still embracing multiculturalism but numbers sliding

2015/01/17 Leave a comment

Not surprising to see a certain hardening of attitudes in the Australian state of Victoria given concerns over radicalization:

Deakin University researcher Professor Yin Paradies told Neos Kosmos whilst the figures were overall positive, comparatively research conducted in 2006 showed acceptance levels were in decline.

“We’re finding a worsening across a number of outcomes in terms of people’s attitude towards certain ethnic and racial groups in society and a slight reduction in acceptance of cultural diversity in Australia as a beneficial thing to the nation,” he said.

It is believed deteriorating global security issues, asylum seekers and financial conservatism following the global financial crisis have led to increased prejudices against ethnic groups.

“We’re seeing an intensification of nationalism around the world, which does relate to the fears of terrorism security around the world, and also financial problems. People hunker down in a way when you have these difficulties on a global scale and we get this sense of ‘us and them’ that develops more strongly and a sense of ‘we don’t want our way of life to be eroded’, and some of the findings in our survey find that people are concerned about migrants impacting on Australia’s way of life and taking jobs.”

“About 50 per cent say migrants need to be more like Australians no matter who they are and they need to leave some of their baggage, so to speak.”

Professor Paradies said Muslims were most susceptible to criticisms that they don’t complement Australian society.

“You get the sense that these things can get better over time but there is the potential for them to get worse.

“It’s difficult for individuals to say ‘I’m not racist’ – all of us have a racist thought or inclination at some point in our life. For colonial histories like Australia’s it’s unavoidable there’s historical weight and baggage to our nation and the way it was created that leaves those racist undertones and it’s a lot of work to overcome. It’s a matter of tracking that over time and to try to make it better, and in recent years we haven’t seen a lot of that.”

Media-led campaigns pushing greater integration may serve as the key to combating stereotypes and prejudices, he said.

Victoria still embracing multiculturalism but numbers sliding | Neos Kosmos.

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Tolérance ou laïcité | Rioux

2015/01/17 2 Comments

Christian Rioux of Le Devoir continues his critique of the more open attitudes of Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor, and Rioux reiterates his support for a strict form of laïcité:

Au lieu d’instaurer un espace public qui ignore les croyances et proclame non seulement la liberté religieuse, mais de conscience, dans ce type de régime — que l’on pourrait appeler « de tolérance » —, les religions ont progressivement appris à cohabiter. Cette tradition a toujours été dominante au Canada depuis l’Acte de Québec (1774) qui a supprimé l’obligation faite aux catholiques d’abjurer pour obtenir un emploi de l’État. Ici, ce n’est pas le peuple souverain qui instaure un espace laïque où les citoyens sont égaux, mais les religions qui négocient la paix sociale avec le prince. C’est dans cette tradition que s’inscrivent les organisations musulmanes et antiracistes qui réclament aujourd’hui l’interdiction de blasphémer.

Implicitement, c’est aussi dans cette tradition, et non dans celle de la laïcité, que se placent des intellectuels comme Gérard Bouchard et Charles Taylor, pour qui la laïcité se négocie en partie à la pièce. En érigeant en dogme le régime des « accommodements », ils prolongeaient la vieille tradition des « moyenneurs », comme on disait au XVIe siècle, qui pour rétablir la concorde acceptaient de négocier la place des religions minoritaires dans l’espace public. Outre le fait que ce régime exclut évidemment les athées, il accorde aux religions un statut particulier, d’ailleurs reflété par la Constitution canadienne. Contrairement aux autres formes d’idéologies, les religions sont en effet les seules autorisées à négocier de tels aménagements. On n’imagine pas les marxistes réclamer le droit de ne pas insulter Marx.

Tolérance ou laïcité | Le Devoir.

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