York U Accommodation Contrary View – It’s not about sex — it’s about the law – And other commentary

2014/01/18 Leave a comment

The contrary view about York U and the accommodation request to be exempt from working in a mixed gender group. Lawyers (like policy analysts!) can argue anything. Reasonable accommodation requires requests to be considered but not automatically granted. Weaknesses in Albertos Polizogopoulos’ argument include:

  1. No threat to women’s equality rights: Perhaps not materially on an individual level – they can still do the course work – but certainly symbolically.
  2. Impact of the human rights of others: There is an impact in the implicit implication of the request that there would need to be a male-only work group. This impacts on both the women in the course and the men, as it would reduce the pool of men for mixed work groups (75 percent of sociology students are female in Professor Grayson’s course at York), with increased gender segregation as a result.
  3. While an exemption would have less direct impact, apart from the normal questioning why someone appears to be getting off lightly, particularly in the case of the particular student who, if accounts are correct, is enrolled in other in-person courses with both male and female students.
  4. Would Polizogopoulos argue similarly if a student, of either gender, request an accommodation to avoid being in a group with gays? With people of another faith? From another ethnic community?

And stepping beyond accommodation, the broader question of integration, and what it means to live in and participate in an integrated society, where discrimination among and between groups is discouraged (and illegal), remains. Multiculturalism and reasonable accommodation were never about “anything goes”; positions like Polizogopoulos’ undermine the case-by-case approach by forgetting the reasonable element of reasonable accommodation.

It’s not about sex — it’s about the law – New Canadian Media – NCM.

Some further commentary. starting with Maclean’s Thanks to York U’s absurd policy, Canadians know where the line is drawn on human rights:

While it apparently remains official policy at York to indulge every request for special religious treatment regardless of implication or precedent, such blind adherence to patently absurd policy may ultimately prove to be a good thing. The massive publicity given this story—it dominated national news media and online forums and has been reported everywhere from Europe to Japan to Australia—and the universal disapproval of York’s administrative position may serve as a wake-up call for Canadians, highlighting the extent to which the bureaucratic concept of human rights has lost contact with common sense.

Brian Lilley in The Sun, while usefully identifying some examples where accommodation has gone too far, takes it over the top with a colonial reference in Get a backbone, Canada: The country needs to regain its cultural confidence:

Canada, and the western world in general, needs to find its backbone, it needs to regain its cultural confidence that stood for basic rights for all.

In the 1840s, when Sir Charles Napier was governing a large part of India, he is said to have witnessed an attempt to practice suttee, the burning of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre. His response could instruct us today in standing up for our principles.

“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them.

“Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”

We need to find that backbone again before Canada is no longer recognizable.

Lastly, the questionnaire and responses by Professor Grayson’s students on the requested accommodation and approach, where students were divided in their response (bit.ly/1dyPJCj or Organizations and Human Rights):

It is clear from the foregoing analysis that students in Sociology 3480 are divided on the accommodation requested by the male student in the scenario presented. Some see the request as consistent with the student’s religious rights.  While others acknowledge religious rights, they also believe that the exercise of the male’s religious rights conflicts with the rights of females in the class. A number of females in this latter group clearly articulated that were a similar accommodation granted in their class they would be outraged, feel that they were victims of discrimination, and some would take action to rectify the situation.

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

PQ hits rough patch in secularism charter debate: Hébert and other commentary

2014/01/18 Leave a comment

Chantal Hébert on the Charter, and the impact of the brief by the Quebec Bar shredding the bill:

By all indications the PQ’s instinct is to continue to dismiss out of hand warnings that it is leading Quebec into a rights quagmire. But the evidence is that those warnings will not go away. The risk to the government is that as the debate drags on they may reverse the pro-charter momentum.

According to a Léger Marketing poll published by the Gazette this week, even as a majority of francophones support the PQ initiative, 54 per cent of them would like to have its constitutionality tested. And that was before the bar association came out swinging.

The pre-election walk in the park that the government hoped for when it launched a winter of charter debate is off to a rocky start.

PQ hits rough patch in secularism charter debate: Hébert | Toronto Star.

Don MacPherson of The Gazette on the PQ strategy:

Some voters might grow impatient with a party that seems preoccupied with a measure that they like, but which is not among their priorities.

They might conclude that the PQ is disconnected from them, and even that it is deliberately trying to distract them from other, more important issues.

No political strategy is risk-free, however, and the ban remains the PQ’s strongest plank for the next election. So the last thing it wants is for the CAQ to do what Drainville said he wants it to do.

www.montrealgazette.com/touch/story.html?id=9400570

Alain Dubuc in La Presse notes the difference between Francophone support for the Charter en principe, and the practical implementation implications (letting go government employees who do not comply with the Charter):

Sans vouloir caricaturer les partisans de cette charte, on a pu noter qu’on y retrouve un grand nombre de Québécois francophones vivant hors des grands centres urbains, encore attachés au catholicisme, qui manifestent une certaine crainte de l’immigration, encore plus quand elle est musulmane. C’est cette clientèle qui transforme ce débat en enjeu électoral. Le Parti québécois a misé, avec succès, sur un trait de caractère de la société québécoise francophone, minoritaire et très sensible à ce qu’elle perçoit comme des menaces à son identité.

Mais dans ce débat, il faut tenir compte d’un autre trait de l’âme canadienne-française: une société conviviale, peu violente, qui privilégie l’harmonie collective et la gentillesse dans les rapports interpersonnels. Il y a ici extrêmement peu de manifestations de racisme violent, pas de Ernst Zundel, pas de Front national, pas de Dieudonné, pas de Tea Party.

Ce trait de caractère, le dernier sondage Léger Marketing le mesure bien en demandant si un employé du public refusant de retirer un symbole religieux devrait perdre son emploi. À peine 35% des Québécois croient que oui et 51% s’y opposent. Chez les francophones, 40% sont faveur du congédiement et 49% sont contre.

L’arme de la gentillesse

Filed under Charte des valeurs québécoise, Interculturalisme, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Inside Stephen Harper’s ‘secret ethnic media’ session: Tim Harper | Toronto Star

2014/01/18 Leave a comment

In the vein of “Shopping for Votes,” this piece on the Conservative strategy with ethnic media is revealing but not terribly surprising. Previous governments also cultivated ethnic media to reach the diverse communities that comprise Canada, but generally did so in conjunction with a more open attitude to the national media.

His reluctance to sit down and talk about issues with the national media may not be puzzling but his view on the role of the ethnic media is troubling.

It is not our role, whether we represent The Toronto Star or Asian Star Weekly, to play a “vital” role in getting the government’s message out.

Both Liberals and Progressive Conservatives once played a variation of this game, giving priority to local reporters on trips outside Ottawa, in the belief they would toss softer questions to their leader.

That blew up when the local reporters decided they didn’t want to play that role and asked tougher questions than the Ottawa gang.

If Harper really thinks the ethnic media are there to help him deliver an unfiltered message, one of them is going to rise up and bite him before anyone poses for any pictures.

Inside Stephen Harper’s ‘secret ethnic media’ session: Tim Harper | Toronto Star.

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Canada has “moral obligation” to support Israel, stop anti-Semitism: Jason Kenney

2014/01/18 Leave a comment

While most observers would disagree with Minister Kenney’s characterization of the Canadian approach to the Mid-East as “balanced,” his interview well worth reading as an overview of the Canadian government’s position on Israel and antisemitism, on the eve of the PM-led delegation to Israel.

Kenney was instrumental in increasing the focus on antisemitism, through participation in a number of international fora, hosting the Ottawa Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition Combatting Antisemitism, joining the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance,withdrawing Canada from the follow-up to the Durban Anti-racism conference,  and shifting general racism and discrimination programming to address specific forms such as antisemitism, among others.

While political parties always take into account the political advantage of positions (“shopping for votes”), this is more driven by beliefs, rather than electoral calculations (Stephen Harper’s deceased father a key influence in PM’s support for Israel).

Canada has “moral obligation” to support Israel, stop anti-Semitism: Jason Kenney.

Filed under Antisemitism, Holocaust, Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with , , , ,

York professor at centre of religious rights furor: Rights Code is the issue – The Globe and Mail

2014/01/17 Leave a comment

Professor Grayson’s op-ed in The Globe. Well argued but goes a bit too far in wanting a “pure” secular model, with no accommodation whatsoever for religious reasons. My own thoughts on accommodation in general are here but I have no objection, for example, to sex segregated swimming hours, as a means to encourage participation of girls and women, but do object  to sex-segregated academic instruction. As to his call for a provincial inquiry, the most recent example was the Bouchard-Taylor Commission of 2007, which played a useful role in debunking some of the more sensational media coverage and providing a sound intellectual framework for looking at reasonable accommodation issues.

Unlikely that Ontario will want to go down that route (don’t see advantages for any of the three political parties) but a useful starting point would be to see if York and other universities, as well as school boards, track accommodation requests, to assess the scope of the problem. Again, I am more in the world that is the lack of judgement rather than the lack of rules as per Coyne’s piece (York accommodation and Quebec values charter aren’t opposites, in fact they are the same):

It is also clear from reading these e-mail accounts that the moral confusion that characterized the York administration’s position is not confined to universities. Many pointed to the fact that in Ontario’s publicly funded primary and secondary schools, examples can be found of situations in which code-sanctioned prayer meetings segregate boys from girls. In other instances, parents can request that their children not be required to sit beside or work with members of the opposite sex. In some publicly funded swimming pools, boys are separated from girls for religious reasons.

Such accommodations are likely to engender feelings of inferiority in girls. Conversely, boys might mistakenly assume they are superior to girls. Such accommodations also likely provide a bad example for other students. Seeing or hearing of gendered segregation in his school, an impressionable 12-year-old boy may come to believe that separation between the sexes is acceptable. If some of his friends regard the girls in the prayer room as unworthy, he may come to view them the same way. Given these conditions, it would not be surprising to discover that once they got to university, some of these students would think it legitimate to request accommodations to avoid working with their female peers. Their previous education had taught them that if you asked for a religious accommodation, you got it.

There is evidence from my e-mails that in Ontario the rights of female students are suffering from religious compromise at all levels of education. Unfortunately, we do not know the full dimensions of this compromise, or its long-term effects on female students, on their male peers and, ultimately, on the value structure of our society.

For these reasons, we need an impartial provincial inquiry into these matters. On the basis of its findings, it might be possible to get the Human Rights Code back on track and more relevant to Ontarians of all faiths concerned with their daughters’ educations and futures.

York professor at centre of religious rights furor: Rights Code is the issue – The Globe and Mail.

Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with , ,

Is the Conservatives’ Canada 150 roadmap out of step with the public? – Politics – CBC News

2014/01/17 Leave a comment

Not terribly surprising, as I have not seen focus group or polling results that indicate otherwise (if any of my readers have, please share):

According to TNS Canadian Facts, which conducted the research, when asked what “characteristics” should be front and centre in the design, the key adjectives put forward were celebration, pride, party, multiculturalism and immigration, diversity, history, youth and unity.

“From the words that people chose to describe this event, it is clear that the communications should focus on the celebration of Canada’s diversity and multiculturalism as a country, as well as appeal to the younger generation as much as possible” the report concluded.

The thematic mismatch may go deeper than logos or keywords, however. …

The Canada 150 website encourages Canadians to “celebrate and reflect on Canadian patriotism, sacrifice and commitment to service, the value of personal responsibility, hard work and family, national stability, the rights and duties of citizenship, and fairness and inclusiveness.”

Is the Conservatives’ Canada 150 roadmap out of step with the public? – Politics – CBC News.

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Opposing sides in Quebec’s charter debate dig in on second day of hearings – The Globe and Mail

2014/01/17 Leave a comment

An overview of day 2 of the hearings.

Opposing sides in Quebec’s charter debate dig in on second day of hearings – The Globe and Mail.

On the difficulties of applying the Charter in education:

La Charte «inapplicable» dans le réseau scolaire

And the broader legal issues:

Le barreau taille en pièces le projet de charte

Filed under Multiculturalism

York U: Professor Grayson’s Chronology and Paper on

2014/01/16 Leave a comment

A long and detailed chronology on the York U accommodation request by Professor Grayson. He was conscientious in considering the request for accommodation, and made the right call in declining the request. He applied common sense and judgement. Worth reading for those interested, and well worth reflecting upon how we maintain the reasonable in reasonable accommodation, without having to go down the unproductive route of trying to codify everything (i.e., not follow the Quebec model):

York University: Prof Grayson Paper on Erosion of Female Rights

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Let’s talk about the so-called ‘Quebec values charter’ – Blog Central, Canada, Martin Patriquin – Macleans.ca

2014/01/16 Leave a comment

Now that the hearings have started, more reporting and commentary on the Charter. From Martin Patriquin of Macleans, a good overview of testimony with a good closing assessment:

Yet for all of Drainville’s obstinacy, the PQ is a minority government, and would therefore be ripe for a Liberal filibuster, if there isn’t an election call beforehand. Should that happen, and there is a strong chance it will, the PQ has made no attempt to hide its desire to use the charter as its warhorse of choice. The charter came to the National Assembly today, but it won’t be limited to its walls anytime soon.

Let’s talk about the so-called ‘Quebec values charter’ – Blog Central, Canada, Martin Patriquin – Macleans.ca.

Robert Dutrisac of Le Devoir states the obvious in commenting on Minister Drainville’s threat to make the Charter central to the next election, as if that was not the strategy all along:

La charte pourrait être un enjeu électoral

Lysiane Gagnon in The Globe picks up on Andrew Coyne’s argument:

Actually, there was no need for a secular charter to deal with reasonable accommodations. The Commission des droits de la personne du Québec,the province’s own human-rights commission, which strongly condemned the ban on religious symbols, considers that the charter’s provision about accommodation to be totally unnecessary, since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms already guarantees full protection against gender discrimination.

Despite a handful of spectacular cases that were disproportionally inflated by some populist media, Quebec’s health services and school boards report practically no problems at the ground level. Just 3 per cent of the complaints received by the rights commission over a period of six years are related to religious accommodation. (Of those, the majority came from Jehovah’s Witnesses.)

English Canada certainly doesn’t need a secular charter. All it needs is administrators able to say no to unreasonable requests.

 Secular charter? Just say ‘no,’ English Canada

 

Filed under Multiculturalism

Op-Ed: We can do more to prevent honour killings

2014/01/16 Leave a comment

Op-ed by Imam Zijad Delic challenges facing Canadian Muslims in combatting family violence and integrating within Canadian society (Imam Delic was subject of controversy a number of years back when the Government, at the political level, essentially stopped his existing work with government departments and agencies given his past association with the Canadian Islamic Conferenc (here:). His message of living in Canada in accordance with Canadian norms has been consistent over the years:

Canadian Muslim leaders must set standards for more and better social justice education, restorative justice, family counselling and community development. Canadian imams particularly must come to the forefront as engaged mentors, advisers, role models and facilitators — not just as judges and critics of youth. An imam’s job is to educate and remind Canadian Muslims that leniency, mercy, forgiveness and acceptance are the true hallmarks of our faith’s prophetic tradition, not violence and abuse.

Op-Ed: We can do more to prevent honour killings.

Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with ,

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