Spring Equinox: Happy New Year to my Iranian Friends and Readers
2014/03/20 Leave a comment
« Un vote pour le PLQ, c’est un vote contre la charte », soutient Drainville
2014/03/20 Leave a comment
PQ trying to get back on track for its campaign strategy after PKP reminded people of sovereignty:
Le projet de loi 60, dont M. Drainville était responsable dans le gouvernement Marois, a polarisé l’opinion publique au cours des 18 derniers mois. Il est toutefois passé sous le radar depuis l’entrée en scène de Pierre Karl Péladeau, candidat vedette du Parti québécois dans la circonscription de Saint-Jérôme.
« Un vote pour Philippe Couillard, un vote pour le Parti libéral, c’est un vote contre la charte », a déclaré l’ex-ministre, précisant du même souffle que sa sortie n’avait rien à voir avec la remontée du PLQ dans les sondages.
« Le plan de match, depuis le début, c’est de parler de la charte au 15e jour », a-t-il répété. Une campagne publicitaire invitant les Québécois à voter pour la charte et le PQ a également été lancée mardi.
SUCCESS admits mistake in posting Chinese-only signs | Vancouver Sun
2014/03/20 Leave a comment
A controversy has erupted in Richmond over Chinese-language only advertising aimed at reducing gambling among Chinese-speaking Canadians. This is not the first flare-up of language issues (McDonald’s customer alleges language discrimination – British Columbia) and reminds us of the balance between serving new Canadians in an effective way (where use of other languages plays an important role), targeting communities in need, but not doing so exclusively that it alienates the “mainstream.”
I don’t share the view that targeted programs necessarily present the kind of ethical issue presented below as long as other general programs and support are available. If we are too universal, we may be less effective. But the signs should have a short description of the program in English to avoid such issues.
This is a fascinating ethical issue. Since SUCCESS is mostly funded by the B.C. and federal governments, it means that taxpayers are supporting an organization that explicitly excludes non-Chinese-speaking people from participation — since they wouldn’t be able to read the signs.
It is ethical that this program to fight addiction is only for those who speak Chinese?
SUCCESS admits mistake in posting Chinese-only signs | Vancouver Sun.
Jonathan S. Ostroff: Standing with Israel, but rejecting conscription | National Post
2014/03/20 Leave a comment
Reinforces much of the points made by Jonathan Kay (Shariah with a Jewish face), including the similarities with Muslim (and other) fundamentalism (e.g., expressions like “rampant immorality”):
Ben-Gurion and the other founders of the secular state of Israel wanted the army to be a melting pot for immigrants from all over the world. Haredi Jews did not, and still do not, want to be melted down. Living in an environment of rampant immorality and lack of commitment to Jewish observance is toxic to their youth. And yes, Haredim believe that marriage is between a man and a women; they do not want to serve in an institution that enforces the acceptance of homosexuality. Religious Zionists who consider it a great virtue to serve in the army complain that more than 20% of their youth loose their religious commitment during their service.
This is why many Haredi parents here in Canada and the United States refuse to send their sons to live in dorms in a co-ed secular universities. This is why Haredim have separate schools, separate newspapers, no television, no unfiltered Internet. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on education systems that isolate their children from secular culture.
Jonathan S. Ostroff: Standing with Israel, but rejecting conscription | National Post.
How losing 18,000 people made Manitoba $100-million poorer – The Globe and Mail
2014/03/20 Leave a comment
Although the article doesn’t state it, hard to believe that the shift from the mandatory Census to the National Household Voluntary Survey didn’t have something to do with it:
In past years, many people in Manitoba were missed. It has a large aboriginal population and aboriginal people tend to be missed at higher rates. Immigrants tend to get missed, and Manitoba had its highest levels of immigration in decades between 2006 and 2011. In 2011, the province also faced massive flooding that forced many people from their homes. Yet once the results of the reverse record check were complete, Statscan concluded that the adjusted population was only 1,233,728. A year earlier, it was thought to be 1,251,690.
But when they looked more closely at that sample, they examined something called the T-statistic, which acts as a test of statistical accuracy. Manitoba’s T-statistic was extremely high, “way out of bounds,” Mr. Falk said. (Manitoba’s was 3.35. Next highest was Alberta at 1.61). It points to a bad sample in the reverse record check, he said.
“It’s the canary in the coal mine,” he said. “The probability of getting a more extreme result than we observed in 2011 … is nearly non-existent.”
Statscan agreed there was something unusual. “We took a rigorous look at this,” Mr. Smith said. “We found nothing, and we went over it with a fine tooth comb.”
How losing 18,000 people made Manitoba $100-million poorer – The Globe and Mail.
Do new Canadians leave old conflicts behind? – The Globe and Mail
2014/03/19 1 Comment
Good report from Mosaic Institute on imported conflicts and some of the factors that increase and decrease the likelihood and impact:
Social inclusion is the single biggest factor in encouraging that change to happen; respondents spoke over and over about the importance of meeting, speaking with, living and working alongside people who are different from them in affecting that change of perspective. That is Canadian multiculturalism living up to its full potential.
Conversely, racism and exclusion can undermine that process of reframing conflict, and can impede new Canadians’ attachment to Canada. Sadly, all across the country, the darker our skin and the more we are visibly identifiable as a member of a racialized community, the more likely we are to experience racism and other forms of social exclusion at school, at work, and on the street.
Do new Canadians leave old conflicts behind? – The Globe and Mail.
Charte: le PQ indigné d’un rapprochement avec Marine Le Pen
2014/03/19 Leave a comment
If the shoe fits ….
Lors d’un débat musclé entre le candidat du PQ dans Marie-Victorin, Bernard Drainville et Andrés Fontecilla, l’animateur, Paul Arcand, a demandé à ses invités s’ils faisaient un lien entre les législations sur les symboles ostentatoires en France et la montée du racisme dans ce pays.
«J’aimerais seulement faire remarquer que la France est loin d’être un exemple d’intégration. Les problèmes entre les communautés sont exacerbés par ces législations là et je voudrais faire remarquer à M. Drainville que le thème de la laïcité a été approprié par la droite française et même l’extrême droite, M. Sarkozy et Mme Marine Le Pen», a répondu M. Fontecilla.
«Si je vous comprends bien, vous êtes en train de comparer le PQ au Front national et à l’extrême droite. Vous devriez avoir honte et vous excusez sur le champ», a rétorqué M. Drainville, piqué au vif.
«Si vous m’avez bien écouté, j’ai dit que le thème de la laïcité a été approprié par la droite française», a renchérit le candidat solidaire. «On n’est pas la droite française, on est le PQ», a ensuite balancé le responsable du projet de loi.
Charte: le PQ indigné d’un rapprochement avec Marine Le Pen | Annie Mathieu | Élections québécoises.
PQ reaps the intolerance it sowed with values charter
2014/03/19 1 Comment
Another bad week on identity politics in Quebec and the ugly side of the PQ election and Charter strategy, starting with Graeme Hamilton of the Post:
Following a question about France from Paul Arcand, a radio host on 98.5 FM, Mr. Fontecilla said France is “far from a model” for integrating immigrants. “I would like to point out to Mr. Drainville that the theme of secularism was appropriated by the French right and even the extreme right, [former president Nicolas] Sarkozy and [National Front leader] Marine Le Pen,” he said. He added later that he is surprised the PQ has focused on a charter of Quebec values that promotes a “closing in on ourselves” and “anti-Muslim reactions.”
The PQ’s all-out barrage against Québec Solidaire sounds like a party that doth protest too much. Consider that, in less than a week, two PQ candidates have been caught up in controversy for intolerant comments toward religious minorities.
Jean Carrière stepped down Thursday as a candidate in the Montreal riding of Lafontaine after an image he shared on Facebook declared “F— Islam,” and posts praising Ms. Le Pen, came to light.
Another PQ candidate, college philosophy professor Louise Mailloux, has been allowed to remain as the PQ candidate for Gouin despite declaring last week that she stands behind her writings declaring that kosher and halal food are part of a conspiracy to enrich rabbis and imams and fund religious wars. She also likened circumcision and baptism to rape.
Graeme Hamilton: PQ reaps the intolerance it sowed with values charter | National Post.
Bernie Farber in the Star piles on, correctly so on Marois’ refusal to dissociate herself with Mailloux:
Many in the Jewish community are stunned by these developments, even though they have heard Marois categorically state that the PQ is not an anti-Semitic party. Indeed, Marois told journalists last week that the PQ counts many friends among the Jewish community leadership. Sounds an awful lot like some of my best friends are …
This past weekend, in a dismal attempt at damage control, Mailloux offered her version of an apology. She said she never meant to “offend anyone” and apologized if she did. There was no contrition or acknowledgment that the “kosher tax” was in fact an anti-Semitic deception. Jewish groups quite rightly rejected her apology.
This latest trek down bigotry’s path, along with the discriminatory Charter of Quebec Values, is giving many in Quebec’s faith and ethnic communities a legitimate scare. It is time we hold politicians who make such absurd comments accountable. And it is more than time that we reject political leaders who embrace the path of ethnic and faith intolerance.
Parti Québécois candidate revives an anti-Semitic lie
Surprising the that blog post in question by Mailloux is still up:
Ottawa man wins religious rights complaint against Commissionaires
2014/03/19 Leave a comment
Right decision, and would hope that the same decision would be provided if it had been a Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist or other applicant (most Commissionaires basically control entry points into government buildings and accompany visitors inside – an important but limited security role):
Cybulski, 24, started training with the Commissionaires in late 2010. His complaint stemmed from one question, asked at his pre-screening interview in March 2011 — what was his opinion on “Canada’s involvement overseas?”
Cybulski said he responded that “I’m Catholic and a religious guy and I don’t think it is morally or ethically right to kill people.” They asked him to elaborate and Cybulski declined.
Ottawa man wins religious rights complaint against Commissionaires.
Who Speaks for a New Canadian Community? – New Canadian Media – NCM
2014/03/19 Leave a comment
Good reflections on media and public spokesman for different communities (also applies to groups within the “mainstream”):
When I produce religious and spiritual TV, I can usually locate pious types with an agenda of growth or political advancement, eager to proclaim their messages. In fact, they find me before I find them. It’s not so easy to find ground-level community types who include women and youths in their productions. It is harder animating liberal voices.
It’s too easy to mischaracterize a community by who comes forward to speak for it. Media coverage and official political acknowledgement imparts a sort of legitimacy. You have to wonder, without media coverage would there have been prominence for such figures and organizations as the Rev. Al Sharpton in the U.S., or the late Dudley Laws in Canada, Canadian Punjabi separatist groups, and the official-sounding, yet marginal, Canadian Islamic Congress?
In all cases, part of their credibility derived from savvy use of the media. The media are willing participants. Some lazy reporters and producers choose guests and sources on the basis of who is readily available on a moment’s notice, who’s articulate, or worse yet, who has the most anti-social, outrageous or activist point of view.
It is in our nature to be drawn to radical voices. Many of us love a fight.
Thus the militant voices start to punch far above their weight. The mainstream starts to accord them special status that they haven’t really earned.
Who Speaks for a New Canadian Community? – New Canadian Media – NCM.
Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote
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