Working site on citizenship and multiculturalism issues.
2013/09/27 Leave a comment
More on just how broken Canada’s Access to Information system is. So much for government accountability.
Canada’s info czar warns against federal government’s new obstructive tactics – The Globe and Mail.
2013/09/27 Leave a comment
I would call it world literature, and agree that more exposure to different perspectives is better (and we are fortunate in Canada to have many Canadian writers who draw upon their formative experiences in their country of origin).
This is a bit of an over-the-top debate between a student, commenting on Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and his professor, Bhakti Shringarpure. However, illustrates the sensitivities of some.
2013/09/27 2 Comments
A number of columns by critics of Islam and Muslims (Michael Coren, Farzana Hassan), who focus on the extremists among them, without recognizing that all religions have their fundamentalists, conservatives and extremists, as well as the majority who are more moderate believers.
The issue is more how extremism manifests itself; unfortunately, in the case of Muslims, it manifests itself in terrorism and blowing people up. And that is the problem, unlike most other communities where it is more internal to how people live their lives (e.g., the choices made by conservative Jews, Christians, Sikhs and the like), although there are also issues from an integration perspective.
I could not find the source reference to Imam Soharwardy (the Calgary Imam referred to in the second article), just the blog commenting on it without a direct link.
Muslim extremism: That’s just calling it like it is | Home | Toronto Sun.
2013/09/26 Leave a comment
A good review and overview by Stanley Fish in the NYTimes of Ronald Dworkin’s last book, Religion without God. Some of the argumentation is complex, but treating belief and non-belief as equal rights (freedom of and freedom from religion), and how liberals recreate an ethnical framework, is of interest. Quote:
By “ethical independence” Dworkin means the individual’s independence to decide for himself or herself how to acknowledge the “felt conviction that the universe really does embody a sublime beauty.” One form of acknowledgment might be the practice of theism — traditional religion with its rituals, sacred texts, formal prayers, proscribed and prescribed activities; but the conviction of the universe’s beauty does not, says Dworkin, “suppose any god” as its ground. Once we see this, we are on the way to “decoupling religion from a god” and admitting into the ranks of the religious those who are possessed by that conviction but do not trace it back to any deity. They will be, Dworkin declares, “religious atheists.”
2013/09/26 Leave a comment
Mixed messages are never a good communications strategy.
2013/09/26 Leave a comment
An opinion piece by Matthew Mendelsohn of the Mowat Centre, arguing that we should benefit more from the diaspora networks created by immigration. Not too much new here but bears repeating:
Diasporas provide linkages. They help information circulate. They provide cultural knowledge where it didn’t exist before. They can help establish trust and deepen social capital.
Their knowledge can lower transaction costs and reduce the time it takes to enter new markets and form new partnerships. They connect people, ideas and understanding….
We are failing immigrants and Canada when we fail to recognize the cultural knowledge, international experience and global networks of our people. We can do better.
The private sector could deepen its connections with ethnocultural chambers of commerce, professional immigrant networks, alumni networks and immigrant resource groups within firms. All these networks can help businesses better understand opportunities in emerging markets. Successful firms are already doing this.
But capitalizing on our potential requires more than the private sector. It requires governments to ensure that rules and regulations from a half century ago are not undermining our capacity to fulfil our potential as a diaspora nation.
Canada needs to take advantage of being ‘Diaspora Nation’ | Toronto Star.
2013/09/25 Leave a comment
A lengthy but interesting discussion by Stéphane Gobeil in L’Actualité of laicité and Canadian multiculturalism. Again, too much in the past, too much caricature, too little understanding of the commonalities between interculturalisme and multiculturalism. And no acknowledgement of the recent emphasis in Canadian multiculturalism on integration, largely returning to multiculturalism’s roots. Nevertheless a good read to better understand some of the Quebec debates.
But borders in the absurd, with the assertion that Canadian multiculturalism is the most “perfidious and insidious” form of racism, ignoring the strong integrative and equity aspects:
C’est l’essence de l’idéologie du multiculturalisme canadien, qui comme le déclarait l’autre soir Micheline Lanctôt, chez Bazzo, représente la forme la plus perfide et insidieuse de racisme. Elle n’est pas la première à le dire et ceux qui sont déjà grimpés dans les rideaux feraient bien de retourner lire l’essai de Neil Bissoondath, Le marché aux illusions: la méprise multiculturelle. …..
Le multiculturalisme à la canadienne est insidieux en ce sens que sous couvert d’ouverture, il institue des catégories de citoyens et les pousse à entrer dans un moule culturel dont beaucoup ne veulent plus.
Julie Miville-Dechêne, Gérard Bouchard et moi – L’actualité.
2013/09/25 1 Comment
Haroon Siddiqui in The Star comes up with a few questions on how the proposed Charter could be implemented and the numerous practical issues that arise. The challenge for any principles-based approach lies in the practical; his list indicates just how impractical and exclusionary it actually is.
2013/09/25 Leave a comment
A few good articles on the Conseil du statut de la femme, and its president, Julie Miville-Dechêne, and how she is being careful not to be drawn into the debate over the proposed Charter. She refused the Prix du mouvement laïque and has insisted on an evidence-based approach as to whether or not wearing the veil is forced or voluntary (most studies indicate the latter):
Le pape ou Julie Miville-Dechêne | Le Devoir.
Miville-Dechêne a refusé le prix du Mouvement laïque destiné au CSF
2013/09/24 Leave a comment
Book launch went well, with about 50 people attending, and nice mix of family, neighbours, friends and former colleagues. Not much media that I saw, but given press to date, no complaints. And reasonable book sales.
A fun event to reconnect with so many.
For those interested, I have posted:
And some other photos for the feel of the launch:
Group Shot
Book Signing
Click image for book purchase
