Odds stacked against Roma refugees, researchers find

2015/04/06 Leave a comment

Good statistical analysis highlighting issue:

Researchers from Osgoode Hall Law School and Western University reviewed Immigration and Refugee Board decisions on 11,333 Hungarian refugees — a group highlighted by Ottawa for abuse of the system and as a cause for reforms — between 2008 and 2012, broken down by adjudicators and lawyers representing the claimants.

It found:

  • Roma made up 85 per cent of all Hungarian refugees, the rest from other ethnicities.
  • Only 660, or 18.1 per cent, of the claims were granted, compared with 54,290, or 47.2 per cent, from all countries.
  • Among refugee judges who had handled 20 or more Hungarian cases during the period, acceptance rates ranged from 77.8 per cent to zero.
  • Three Toronto-area lawyers represented 1,139 Hungarian cases, accounting for more than a third of the total cases in the five years.
  • Lawyers who represented 25 or more Hungarian cases had success rates ranging broadly, from 1.1 per cent to 30.6 per cent. The combination of significantly below-average success rates and very high volumes of cases is identified as a concern.

The study cautioned against drawing inferences about the quality of legal representation from asylum success rates, but said, “The combination of significantly below-average success rates and very high volumes of cases does, in our view, raise serious concerns.”

It found three of the six highest-volume lawyers involved in Roma cases are currently facing disciplinary proceedings at the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Lawyer Viktor Hohots had a 1.2 per cent success rate out of 504 cases; Elizabeth Jaszi, 1.1 per cent out of 80 claims; and Joseph Farkas, 6.7 per cent out of 223.

Hohots has admitted to professional misconduct in negligence complaints made by 13 Roma, most of whom were denied asylum and deported, and is awaiting a penalty hearing. According to the study, Jaszi faces accusations of failing to properly prepare documents, while Farkas is alleged to have failed to supervise a non-lawyer who prepared refugee claims in his office. The allegations against Jaszi and Farkas have yet to be proven.

None of the three responded to the Star’s repeated requests for comment.

The study acknowledged that 52.5 per cent of the 7,669 Hungarian claims were either withdrawn or abandoned, compared with 18.3 per cent of cases from all countries.

Odds stacked against Roma refugees, researchers find | Toronto Star.

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s ‘Heretic’ – NYTimes.com

2015/04/06 1 Comment

Good review of Hirsi Ali’s latest book, “Heritic:”

In “Heretic,” Hirsi Ali forgoes autobiography for the most part in favor of an extended argument. But she has trouble making anyone else’s religious history — even that of Muhammad himself, whose life story she recounts — as dramatic as she has made her own. And she loses the reader’s trust with overblown rhetoric. Many Muslim immigrants in the West grapple with conflicted identities, she writes, leaving them longing for one extreme or another in the pursuit of certainty. She wonders: “Must all who question Islam end up leaving the faith, as I did, or embracing violent jihad?” (Probably not.) She tries to warn Americans about their naïveté in the face of encroaching Islamic influences, maintaining that officials and journalists, out of cultural sensitivity, sometimes play down the honor killings that occur in the West. But it is safe to say there is no shortage of horrified fascination in the topic; she even cites a 3,000-word Time magazine article that, in fact, spelled out every tragic detail of one of her examples.

When Hirsi Ali writes, almost wistfully, that “it is unrealistic to expect a mass exodus from Islam,” even secular readers may begin to wonder if she is their best guide to understanding the religion. (A suitable subtitle for “Heretic” might be: “How to Be a Muslim, if You Must.”)

Unquestionably, Hirsi Ali poses challenging questions about whether American liberals should be fighting harder for the rights of Muslim women in countries where they are oppressed, and she is fearless in using shock tactics to jump-start a conversation. Blasphemy is an essential part of any religious reform, she argues, and defends her right to speak bluntly. “I have taken an enormous risk by answering the call for self-reflection,” Hirsi Ali has said, in response to critics who find her tone abrasive. “I have been convinced more than ever that I must say it in my way only and have my criticism.” There is no denying that her words are brave. Whether they are persuasive is another matter.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s ‘Heretic’ – NYTimes.com.

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Statscan explains why private school students perform better

2015/04/02 Leave a comment

Not terribly surprising that socio-economic status and education-levels account for most of better performance of private schools but substantiated by the data:

The Statscan report, released Tuesday, says the reason for the higher performance of private school students is their socio-economic status, which includes a higher family income and higher-educated parents.

The study followed more than 7,142 students starting at the age of 15, looking at their scores on standardized tests and their completed educational qualifications by the age of 23.

“No differences in outcomes were attributable to school resources and practices,” the report concludes.

Marc Frenette, one of the two researchers who conducted the study, said the school resources analyzed include student-to-teacher ratio, computer resources available, teacher qualifications and number of teachers available to tutor students.

The study did not look at classroom-based factors, including teaching style, classroom lessons or extracurricular activities offered to students, Mr. Frenette said. It also did not consider the curriculum the schools teach.

Schools from Atlantic Canada were excluded because of a low number of private high schools in those provinces, Mr. Frenette said.

The higher socio-economic status of private school students and their peers accounts for half of the difference in the average score of standardized tests between private and public school students and “two-thirds of the difference in university graduation rates” between the two groups of students, according to the report.

Jim Power, principal of Upper Canada College, an all-boys private school in Toronto, said the selection process that private schools undertake means that their students are more motivated.

“Private schools, by definition, are selective. We’re fortunate. We take one out of three students who apply,” Mr. Power said.

Statscan explains why private school students perform better – The Globe and Mail.

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Catholic public health board nominee dumped

2015/04/02 Leave a comment

Interesting debate in Toronto over what views are acceptable in the Board of Health:

But her voting record as a long-standing trustee did not sit well with several councillors. Kennedy, a registered nurse for 45 years, has voted against gay-straight clubs in schools, HPV vaccinations for young girls and is opposed to abortion.

“Thankfully, council did the right thing,” said Councillor Joe Mihevc, chair of the Toronto Board of Health who introduced the motion to replace Kennedy with Chris Glover, a public school board trustee from Etobicoke.

Mihevc said Kennedy’s “consistent” opposition to gay-straight alliances makes her unsuitable to sit as a board member, he said.

“Would we allow that as a society if it was black-white alliances? That’s what human rights are about and those perspectives in a public health context just won’t work.”

Mayor John Tory supported Kennedy’s appointment, though he said he disagrees “completely” with her views on HPV vaccinations, gay/straight alliances in schools and a woman’s right to choose.

“If we started applying every test based on whether we disagree with somebody’s views on people we appoint to things . . . it’s sure going to change the nature of this place.”

Councillors Paula Fletcher, Gord Perks  and Joe Cressy  did not support Kennedy’s appointment. “These are actually human rights issues, the right for gays and lesbians to lead an equal life in the city of Toronto,” Fletcher said.

Kennedy is the wrong fit because the board of health has an obligation to deliver programs that meet health standards set out in legislation, such as programs to encourage safer sex, Perks said.

“This isn’t about whether you’re trying to get people on the board of health who vote the way you feel,” he said. “It is whether or not we are prepared to appoint people who support the legal mandate of the entity they are being appointed to.”

Catholic public health board nominee dumped | Toronto Star.

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Canada’s foreign policy invites retaliation: Lawrence Martin

2015/04/01 Leave a comment

Lawrence Martin puts the Charles Taylor comments in broader perspective:

Charles Taylor issued a warning on the weekend, cautioning that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s anti-niqab rhetoric helps terrorist recruiters.

Mr. Taylor, the well-known philosopher who headed up a Quebec commission on cultural and religious minorities, suggested that the federal Conservatives are surfing on Islamophobic sentiment, which makes alienated Muslim Canadians easier targets for recruitment by radical Islamist terrorists.

Mr. Taylor is no slouch. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has called him “one of the world’s greatest living philosophers,” although the minister might well be revising that appraisal now.

But the Montreal professor makes a valid point, and one that should be seen in a broader context. It’s not just anti-Muslim rhetoric that puts Canada high on the radar list of enemies, or the upping of the ante by extending the Islamic State mission to Syria. It’s also how Ottawa has resorted to provocative rhetoric and incendiary statecraft elsewhere: With Russia by way of unsubstantiated accusations, the latest being that they confronted us in the Black Sea. With Iran in shutting down our embassy in Tehran. With the Arab world through unconditional support for Israel.

… Mr. Alexander has had experience as a diplomat – in Afghanistan, no less. But you’d never know it. Last week, he listed the hijab as a face covering that has no place in the citizenship ceremony. The problem? It’s a head scarf, not normally used to cover the face. “Hey, before you send a race-baiting e-mail,” tweeted Liberal strategist Gerald Butts, “at least know the difference between a hijab and a niqab.”

 Canada’s foreign policy invites retaliation 

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PM Harper’s ‘dangerous’ comments on Muslims show lack of understanding on culture, says Taylor

2015/04/01 Leave a comment

Hard to disagree with Charles Taylor’s assessment:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s comments on the niqab are “very dangerous” and could lead to stigmatization and even radicalization, one of Canada’s most renowned political thinkers said Saturday.

Speaking to a packed room at the Broadbent Institute’s Progress Summit in Ottawa Saturday morning, McGill University philosopher Charles Taylor said the prime minister’s comments on the niqab as coming from an anti-feminist culture conflates Muslim dress with the threat of terrorism and jihadism, which stigmatizes the entire Muslim population and creates a rupture in Canadian society.

“This kind of stigmatization is exactly what we have to avoid,” Prof. Taylor told reporters following his address.

The Prime Minister has been “tone deaf” in his comments about Muslims, he said, which demonstrates a lack of understanding of the culture he’s discussing, though he also said electoral considerations likely figure in the approach.

“Ask yourself what are the recruiters of Islamic State saying? They’re saying, ‘Look, they despise you. They think that you’re foreign, you’re dangerous, you’re not accepted here so why don’t you come to them?’” he told reporters.

“The more you make it sound like that, the more you’re helping them. It’s strange that people don’t see that.”

PM Harper’s ‘dangerous’ comments on Muslims show lack of understanding on culture, says Taylor | hilltimes.com.

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Contemporary Directions in Canadian Citizenship and Multiculturalism – Toronto Event

2015/03/31 Leave a comment

Will be in Toronto today talking about the general political/public service issues as well as citizenship.

York U Event

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How complexity imperils faith in our public institutions – Hugh Segal

2015/03/31 Leave a comment

Thoughtful comments. Money quote:

One must also be clear that certain aspects of the public sector have an interest in the salutary obfuscation of complexity. National security agencies, finance departments, central banks, some immigration and social service regimes find complexity and conflicting goals and applications helpful in maintaining their unchallenged jurisdiction and broad discretion. Their intent may be constructive but constructing through rules, regulations, contradictory and time-sensitive criteria and related machinations a cloud of uncertainty raises complexity and its construction to an act of sheer artistry.

The challenge for governments and those who care about democracy is not of doing away with complexity – which in a multifaceted, multi-racial and economically diverse society is unavoidable. The challenge is in finding ways to reduce it, simplify it and manage it so that the complexity itself does not destroy the efficacy of public institutions but even the public desire for those institutions to exist and be of service in the first place.

How complexity imperils faith in our public institutions – The Globe and Mail.

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Stephen Hume: Canada’s bigots grant themselves permission to vent

2015/03/31 Leave a comment

Good piece by Stephen Hume on how government messaging has encouraged bigotry to come out of the closet:

Canada’s vitality derives from constant change; it has never been frozen in amber. Once upon a time, the Cree controlled an area from northern Quebec to the Rockies. Cree was the lingua franca of North America’s biggest business. Economies evolve; times change. Get over it.

Canada has absorbed waves of French, English, Chinese, Japanese, Americans, Scots, Irish, Ukrainians, Germans, Russians, Finns, Belgians, Greeks, Swedes, Italians, Hungarians, Lebanese, Tamils, Punjabis, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Doukhobors, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus. All changed and were changed by the country to which they came.

Chest-beating for the good old days when the British in British Columbia meant membership in an elitist white colonial old boys club is silly yearning for a time that existed only briefly — and good riddance to it.

Bigotry has a long and beef-witted pedigree here in “a white man’s country” where the “Yellow Peril” once commanded headlines and the Ku Klux Klan had a headquarters in Shaughnessy Heights. Ah, those good old days when bigots could strut their stuff.

The murderous clowns in pointy white hats attracted 500 enthusiasts to their founding meeting in Vancouver in 1925. Two years later, they claimed a provincial membership of 13,000, including five members of the legislative assembly.

Before them, we had the Asiatic Exclusion League, fomenters of race riots who in 1923 lobbied successfully for the unjust laws to bar Chinese immigrants and for which the federal government has formally apologized.

Echoes of those poisonous attitudes suffuse the nasty, outraged, inflammatory commentary — often delivered with no sense of irony from behind the veil of web anonymity — suggesting that a few Muslim women’s veils are part of some fascist fifth-column assault on Canada.

Well, they aren’t. And more of us should be saying so — and helping stuff this ugly genie of bigotry back into the bottle before it starts granting wishes we come to deeply regret.

Stephen Hume: Canada’s bigots grant themselves permission to vent.

Lorne Gunter focuses on the niqab at citizenship ceremonies:

But where is the security or fraud concern with the wearing of a niqab at a citizenship ceremony? The ceremony is formality, a celebration of already having won approval for Canadian citizenship. The ceremony itself does not itself confer citizenship on the participants without them first clearing all the legal hurdles and passing the new, more rigorous citizenship test.

A sneaky woman cannot pass herself off as someone else by wearing a niqab, take the oath, then suddenly tear off her veil and declare, “Ah-ha! I have tricked you. Now give me my citizenship.” The citizenship card would still only be issued to the proper woman.

I am all for niqabs being dropped at airport security for as long as it takes a security screener – male or female – to feel confident a passenger is who she claims to be. No special accommodations such as a separate screened-off area or female-only checkers.

But the only threat in wearing a niqab at a citizenship ceremony is potentially the threat to our cultural norms. And I am always reluctant to allow governments to force free citizens to behave in any particular way absent a real, immediate and significant danger to other citizens.

The niqab truth about face coverings | GUNTER

Lastly, Farzana Hassan, takes the opposite view:

However, the most refreshing new angles on this debate are being provided by Munir Pervaiz, president of the secular Muslim Canadian Congress.

Pervaiz repudiates special privileges for niqabi women.

For example, he asks why a niqabi woman should wait for women police officers to process traffic infractions, in case she is stopped on a street.

Why must law enforcement wait till a woman police officer is found?

Would the niqabi woman be willing to wait in a police cruiser or cell till such arrangements are made?

Should she resist if she is taken into temporary custody and charged for interfering with the process?

Pervaiz also states that, “Courts have strict rules of attire. And the government … can make regulations to govern conduct in a court.”

Courts require people wear attire that shows respect for formality and tradition.

For example, the wearing of hats is discouraged in a courtroom, and no one would rationally complain that this restricts individual freedoms.

Why must niqabi women insist on the niqab at all times, in the face of established norms of attire?

Niqab is about our values, not race | Hassan | Columnists | Opinion | Toronto Su.:

 

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More people died in these three provinces than were born last year

2015/03/31 Leave a comment

Good article on the demographic challenges in the Maritimes:

… Statistics Canada reported this month that more people died than were born in New Brunswick last year for the first time since it began tracking such figures in 1972.

Two other provinces — Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador being the others — have also recorded more deaths than births in recent years.

For years, academics and politicians have warned about Canada’s aging population and what it will mean for the country’s social services and its rural communities. Nowhere is that impact more acutely felt than in Atlantic Canada.

“The overall trend is grim,” said Fazley Siddiq, dean of business at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John.

Siddiq said governments at all levels need to make bold moves to address the region’s declining population. …

He also suggests the introduction of a baby bonus, a measure that Newfoundland and Labrador implemented in 2008. Parents in that province are offered $1,000 for each child born or adopted and $100 per month for the first year of the child’s life.

The number of births in the province rose slightly after the baby bonus was brought in, but they have since fallen back below 2008 levels, according to Statistics Canada.

Other incentives that should be considered are tax breaks and improved services for immigrants, Siddiq said.

Andre Lebel, a demographer at Statistics Canada, said across North America only Florida has an older population than Atlantic Canada.

Part of what’s driving that is the number of young couples who continue to move westward for work and their families often grow once they do, Lebel said.

“These people are having babies outside of the Atlantic provinces, so it’s increasing the rapidness of aging,” he said.

More people died in these three provinces than were born last year | Toronto Star.

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