Landon: Let’s match Canada’s immigration goals with an ambitious housing plan

2023/09/06 1 Comment

Sponsored content or infomercial? That being said, issue is more with the private colleges and colleges that subcontract than with universities:

Thousands of students are arriving on university campuses across the country in the coming days, some living on their own for the first time, some travelling from countries far and wide, and others commuting from home. It is a time of excitement but also of apprehension as Canada is facing an affordable housing crunch.

Universities across Canada have long provided affordable housing for their communities. They’ve also been innovative in managing a growing demand, from getting shovels in the ground quickly for new builds, to repurposing existing buildings, to developing innovative configurations for changing population needs.

We see examples already under way today: Construction has begun for the University of Windsor’s new residence in a public-private partnership with a real estate and development company. McMaster University is opening a new residence in Hamilton, Ont., dedicated to housing graduate students and their families, while another new residence building is set to include space for students and older adults to socialize and learn together, in partnership with the university’s Institute for Research on Aging. The University of PEI will open a new student residence this fall in a space that was first used for the Canada Winter Games. A new residence at the University of Victoria has met the requirements for LEED V4 Gold and Passive House status, “the most rigorous global building standards for sustainability and energy efficiency,” says the university. It also incorporates Indigenous design elements and teachings.

But more needs to be done. Solving the housing crisis requires collaboration among all levels of government. It requires the federal government to meet its commitments to reduce homelessness, construct new homes, and provide Canadians with access to affordable housing that meets their needs. And, it requires the federal government to support community partners, like universities, which can deliver the housing Canada needs.

Here’s where the federal government can start: expand student housing through low-cost financing, broaden eligibility for housing programs through the National Housing Strategy, and open the door to a more collaborative approach to affordable housing projects.

One way governments can incentivize the creation of new housing is by offering loans with favourable terms and interest rates for targeted building projects. The National Housing Strategy’s Rental Construction Financing Initiative does just that, encouraging the construction of sustainable rental apartment projects through low-cost loans.

But retirement residences and student housing don’t qualify. With both an aging population and more students attending postsecondary institutions, we must incentivize the construction of purpose-built rentals that meet Canada’s changing needs. A low-cost loan fund specifically for universities would help to expand student housing and bring down demand for rentals in surrounding communities.

To meet the housing strategy’s target of 160,000 new affordable homes by 2028, Canada must invest in projects and ideas that will move us forward faster. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund and Rapid Housing Initiative are working, but we are still far from our goals. More can be done to leverage the unique strengths of universities and other community partners. Universities are well-positioned to help the government quickly deliver for Canadians, with access to land and simplified approval processes.

People around the world see Canada as a destination for opportunity, inclusion and freedom. Our world-class education system attracts students from across the globe to Canadian universities. Our commitment to ambitious immigration goals must be accompanied by an ambitious housing plan.

Higher education serves us well by strengthening our communities and our national economy. In the face of a national housing crisis, universities should be part of the solution.

Philip Landon is interim president of Universities Canada.

Source: Let’s match Canada’s immigration goals with an ambitious housing plan

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Iranian Media Warn About Rapid Growth Of Afghan Immigration – ایران اینترنشنال

2023/09/06 Leave a comment

Of interest. I recall from my time in Iran that there were also many Afghans in Iran during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 80s. UNHCR reports 4.5 million in the 1990s so hard to understand the increased focus apart from the disaster that is the Iranian economy:

Media in Tehran are increasingly sounding alarms about the rapid growth of the Afghan population in Iran, which is estimated to be between five to ten million now.

The conservative Jomhuri Eslami reported last week that unofficial statistics indicate that last fall out of 300 babies born at the hospital of Kavar, a small town near Shiraz, capital of southern Fars province, 297 belonged to Afghan families.

According to the newspaper, which is one of the Islamic Republic’s oldest, the latest statistics also show that the number of Afghans in the province has risen to 357,000 from 121,000 since the Taliban took over the Afghan government in August 2021.

Officials say hundreds of Afghans are entering Iran daily from the eastern borders. Less than one million Afghans in Iran have refugee status, and most of the rest are illegal immigrants.

“Security officials must concerned that the presence of so many foreign nationals will entail many threats [to national security],” Jomhuri Eslami wrote. Iranian authorities and some media usually refer to Afghan immigrants and refugees as “foreign nationals.

The article, extensively republished by other newspapers and websites, also referred to the involvement of two Afghan national in an attack on Shahcheragh shrine and mausoleum in Shiraz on October 26, 2022. Both men were publicly hanged on July 8.

In an unattributed commentary in July, Aftab News, a news website close to former President Hassan Rouhani and the moderate conservative Moderation and Development Party, also warned about what appears to be a massive increase in the number of Afghans in Iran and claimed that authorities are actively encouraging the growth of the Afghan population.

Aftab News alleged that factors such as a lack of control at eastern borders of the country, issuing thousands of tourist visas daily when applicants do not intend to return to their home country, automatic renewal of tourist, pilgrimage and other types of visas, elimination or reduction of cash fines for illegal entry and stay, indicate “targeted planning” by the authorities.

This may refer to some hardliner media openly promoting acceptance of more Afghans in Iran to increase the country’s population as a solution to the falling birth rate among Iranians when the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)linked Tasnim news agency suggested in 2022.

Iran’s population growth rate has dropped to around 0.7 percent in the past few years.

“Acceptance of immigrants can be one of the key solutions to overcome the problem of [dwindling] population and workforce given the drop in the fertility rate in the country,” Tasnim said in an unattributed commentary entitled “Iran Forced to Accept Immigration of Foreign [Nationals] to Resolve Its [Dwindling] Population Problem” on May 19, 2020.

“The closeness of beliefs and culture of neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, has provided an extraordinary opportunity to Iran in this regard,” the commentary said, presumably with an eye to accepting more Afghan Hazaras who are Shiites like Iranians.

Hazaras make up the biggest ethnic group among Afghan immigrants to Iran followed by Sunni Tajiks, Pashtuns and Uzbeks.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly stressed that the country’s population should rise to at least 150 million, presumably to strengthen the only Shiite-ruled Muslim state.

Faraz Daily, an online newspaper, reported last week that there are now transportation companies that move commercial consignments and belongings of Afghan household to Tehran within a week from Kabul and Herat.

This, the newspaper argued “has been causing concerns in Iran because the illegal residence of these immigrants, in the absence of laws and policies to regulate their presence, will lead to numerous political, social and even security challenges,” Faraz Daily wrote.

Source: Iranian Media Warn About Rapid Growth Of Afghan Immigration – ایران اینترنشنال

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Education and earnings of Canadian-born Black populations

2023/09/06 Leave a comment

Striking the differences between Canadian-born and African and to a lesser extent Caribbean born groups, along with the education differences. Helps explain part of the higher prevalence of Blacks in administrative positions compared to professional positions.

This study uses the 2021 Census to describe the educational attainment and earnings of the Canadian-born Black population, focusing on three groups: 1) those with at least one African-born parent (African-origin); 2) those with at least one Caribbean-born parent (Caribbean-origin) and 3) those whose parents were both born in Canada (Canadian-origin). Comparisons are drawn with the non-racialized, non-Indigenous population, both second generation and third generation or more. The study provides a descriptive analysis of the demographic and educational characteristics of the three Canadian-born Black populations, followed by a regression analysis examining factors affecting earnings, including educational attainment, job characteristics, and other factors.

  • The educational attainment of Canadian-born Black populations differs considerably between groups. For example, the share with a bachelor’s degree or higher is 46% among the African-origin Black population, 27% among the Caribbean-origin Black population, and 16% among the Canadian-origin Black population. 
  • After taking age into account, all groups of Black men earn less than non-racialized third-generation or more men, with the largest earnings gap among Canadian-origin Black men (-$16,300) and the smallest among African-origin Black men (-$8,500). Canadian-origin (-$9,500) and Caribbean-origin (-$1,300) Black women likewise earn less than non-racialized third-generation or more women, while African-origin Black women earn more (+$3,100). 
  • For both women and men, differences in educational attainment are associated with approximately $8,000 in earnings difference between the African-origin and Canadian-origin Black populations, after controlling for other factors.
  • Differences in educational attainment are associated with higher earnings among African-origin Black women (+$4,500) and men (+3,500), who have high educational attainment, and lower earnings among Canadian-origin Black women (-$3,800) and men (-$4,500), who have low educational attainment, relative to non-racialized third-generation or more populations of the same genders. Earnings differences related to educational attainment are smaller for Caribbean-origin Black women (+1,200) and men (-$400), whose educational attainment is more similar to that of the non-racialized third-generation or more population. 
  • Despite their diversity in terms of educational attainment and other characteristics, all Black groups experienced earnings gaps (ranging from $1,400 to $4,100) associated with working in lower-level occupations relative to their education and being less likely to have full time full year work, compared to the non-racialized third-generation or more population. Among African-origin men and Caribbean-origin women, the negative wage effect from these differences was larger than the positive effect from higher educational attainment.
  • All Black groups also had earnings gaps (ranging from $2,900 to $8,300) that were not explained by any factors associated in the regression. Differences in pay between Black and non-racialized workers in the same occupations may be one factor in these differences. The unexplained effects were larger for Black men than Black women, across all three Black groups.

Source: Education and earnings of Canadian-born Black populations

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Delacourt: Is Canada’s housing crisis about to take a very dark turn?

2023/09/05 Leave a comment

I am less concerned than Delacourt given that it is possible to discuss levels of permanent and temporary migrants and their impact on housing, healthcare and infrastructure without being xenophobic. After all, both immigrants and non-immigrants are affected and with the exception of the PPC, all parties understand the need to be careful.

In the case of the Conservatives, it is partly the fear of being labelled as racist or xenophobic by the Liberals but of greater importance is the 51 ridings in which visible minorities are the majority, many who are immigrants themselves.

As I argued in Has immigration become a third rail in Canadian politics?, I believe it is possible to have such a discussion and would argue that we court greater risks by not having this discussion. But we shall see:

If politicians in this country are going to be seized with housing in the coming months — as they are all promising — they’re going to have to learn to tread carefully around the minefield of immigration.

Blaming immigrants for the housing crisis in Canada is something that all political parties say they’re keen to avoid, yet there have already been risky remarks on that score, across the board. And there will probably be more.

New Housing Minister Sean Fraser embarked into that perilous territory a few weeks ago when he said Canada might need to crack down on universities attracting foreign students without the means to house them properly.

Fraser, to be clear, said he wasn’t blaming the students and indeed stressed: “we have to be really, really careful that we don’t have a conversation that somehow blames newcomers for the housing challenges.”

That didn’t stop Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre from accusing Justin Trudeau’s government of whipping up resentment against immigration.

“I think Justin Trudeau would love Canadians to blame immigrants for the housing crisis that he has doubled. But immigrants are just following the rules that he put in place. So how can we blame them and not him?” Poilievre told reporters.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford continues to pin the housing crisis in his province — not to mention his Greenbelt scandal — on the desperate need to accommodate Ottawa’s abrupt increase to the number of newcomers to Canada.

“I didn’t know the federal government was gonna bring in over 500,000 (newcomers),” Ford said at a testy news conference this week.

“I didn’t get a phone call from the prime minister saying, ‘Surprise, surprise. We’re dropping these many people in your province and by the way, good luck, you deal with them.’”

To hear Ford tell it at that news conference, most of the unhoused people in his province are people who weren’t born in Canada. He talked of a phone call he got from a new Canadian in danger of losing his house and about the refugees and asylum seekers sleeping in church basements.

As my Queen’s Park columnist colleague Martin Regg Cohn put it, “if tolerance is truly his goal, the premier is playing with rhetorical fire … It’s not a dog whistle. It’s a bullhorn being blown from Ford’s bully pulpit.”

Much has been made over recent years about how Canada has avoided the anti-immigration backlash that has arisen during the Brexit debate, not to mention Donald Trump’s rise to power in 2016 in the U.S.

It is a testament to tolerance in this country, most certainly, as well as to the fact that political success has often hinged on who best can attract the cultural communities in Canada. That was part of Stephen Harper’s big break from opposition to power and then a majority from 2006 to 2015, and it was the flirtation with anti-immigrant sentiment (barbaric cultural practices) that helped get the Conservatives booted from power.

Little wonder, then, that Poilievre walks quickly backward from any argument with the Liberals over immigration numbers. The current Conservative leader hasn’t minded lifting a few pages from Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada — globalist conspiracies included — but he hasn’t joined the “no mass immigration” chorus of the Bernier crowd.

Trudeau was asked at the cabinet retreat last month in PEI whether he was worried about the housing crisis taking a dark turn into anti-immigration sentiment. He said the housing crisis also includes a labour shortage; that for every suggestion that Canada doesn’t have enough homes, there is the reply that Canada doesn’t have enough people to build them. “That’s why immigration remains a solution.”

Most Canadians, or at least many of them, would say it’s possible to have a political debate this fall about housing without reopening a conversation into how many is too many when it comes to newcomers.

But the foreign interference fixation, which dominated political debate in the first half of this year, bodes ill for that kind of optimism. At many points in that debate, one could well have concluded that Chinese interference was the only kind of meddling we should be worried about. Some Chinese Canadians expressed justified concern that the whole foreign meddling conversation was going to make any kind of political involvement from them suspect. I continue to wonder why there wasn’t similar outrage being voiced about Russian meddling or even Americans messing around in Canadian politics.

This is all to say that when political debates get intense, as the housing one is shaping up to be, it can create collateral cultural damage. Right now, all the politicians are saying they can keep anti-immigration talk out of the housing crisis. We’ll see whether they’re up to that this fall.

Source: Is Canada’s housing crisis about to take a very dark turn?

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Terry Glavin: Antisemitic Egyptian sheikh was to be hosted by Ottawa-funded Muslim group

2023/09/05 Leave a comment

Of note, ongoing issue. But CIJA also has its blind spots given its silence on judicial reform in Israel:

Another year, another conference, another tableau of speakers associated with antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny and hatred.

The convening organization is not the grotesque Goyim Defense League, a Hitler-admiring American neo-fascist groupuscule linked to a spate of graffiti, leaflets and posters the RCMP has begun investigating in the Toronto area. It’s the federally-funded Muslim Association of Canada.

In recent years, the MAC’s conferences have come under increasing scrutiny from Muslim human rights activists and Jewish advocacy organizations. It’s the same story this year with the MAC’s annual gathering at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend.

Among the speakers, one is known for justifying wife-beating and suicide bombing. Another considers unveiled women to be demonstrating “a sign of weak faith and the domination of desires and lust over a woman.” Another justifies execution for the sin of adultery: “What is the punishment for them? He is to be stoned to death.”

The MAC has responded to criticism in the same way it’s responded in the past: It’s Islamophobia. The MAC conference this weekend will be hosting respected and highly reputable international scholars and theologians who are being subjected to a smear campaign that “epitomizes the persistent Islamophobia and divisiveness” the Muslim community faces in Canada, according to the MAC’s President-Strategy Sharaf Sharafeldin.

There is a bit of a difference this year, however. After inquiries from the National Post, the MAC has “temporarily” dissociated itself with the Egyptian sheikh Nashaat Ahmed, a man who Jewish advocacy groups have accused of openly praying for the Jewish people to be destroyed, and who refers to Jews as evil beasts, the worst of the earth’s living creatures, and the descendants of apes and pigs.

Independent translations of Ahmed’s various speeches feature several statements to the effect that Jews should be eliminated along with “all others who support them in countries around the world,” and suggest support for the Islamic State, the Al Qaida successor in Iraq and Syria. Translations of Ahmed’s speeches on Islamic piety further suggest his support for prohibiting women from leaving the home unaccompanied by a male relative.

On Wednesday, the MAC explained that the organization does not endorse supplications against Jews or any other group of people. “However it is a well established Islamic theological position to invoke the help of God against oppressors.” In a prepared statement, the MAC announced that while it is commonplace for anti-Israel rhetoric to conflate Israel with the Jewish people, it is wrong to do so, and while the MAC had asked Sheikh Ahmed for clarification, an initial review indicated that statements attributed to him had been mistranslated, misrepresented or incorrectly dated.

On Thursday, the MAC sent me a statement reiterating Sharafeldin’s claim that concerns about Ahmed’s statements are evidence of “a smear campaign involving deliberate mistranslations and quotes out of context” that are part of a “harmful pattern of targeting Muslim scholars to undermine religious freedom and perpetuate a cancel culture.”

However, Ahmed would nonetheless be pulled from the weekend program.

“MAC acknowledges certain remarks that do not align with our core values and policies. . . we have temporarily suspended his participation in this year’s convention until the matter is fully resolved. We look forward to him clarifying his position and speaking in the future.”

Another difference from last year’s conference: In January, the Trudeau government appointed Toronto Star contributing columnist and Canadian Race Relations Foundation activist Amira Elghawaby as Canada’s first Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia. Elghawaby was scheduled to speak at the conference, but after queries from the National Post, Canadian Heritage confirmed on Thursday that she’d been pulled from the speakers lineup.

Canadian Heritage spokesman Daniel Savoie would not say why Elghawaby’s address was cancelled. “The Government of Canada strongly condemns any form of racism and hate speech, including antisemitism, as well as hate crimes in Canada and around the world,” Savoie said. “Hate, in any form, has no place in Canada as it runs counter to the values and spirit of a diverse and inclusive society.”

Canadian Heritage is not funding the conference, Savoie said. However, in recent years the Liberal government has allotted more than $3 million to a variety of programs and projects administered by the MAC, which has grown from its founding 20 years ago to include mosques, community centres and Islamic schools in more than a dozen Canadian cities.

As the organization has grown, the MAC has gravitated towards openly counseling a heavily politicized version of Islam embraced by only a small minority of Canadian Muslims. The MAC explicitly aligns with the political theology of Hassan Albanna, founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is the global fountainhead of Islamism, an ideology that demands Islamic law in all aspects of social, cultural and political life. The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas was founded as the Muslim Brotherhood’s military wing in Palestine.

The focus of the MAC’s weekend convention in Toronto is intended to be “a discourse on how Islam can not be compartmentalized or partially adopted, rather it presents real, viable, and much needed complete solutions for all facets of our lives.”

Even as its federal funding support has increased since Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were elected in 2015, the MAC has been subject to an ongoing investigation by the Canada Revenue Agency. The MAC leadership accuses the CRA of harboring a systemic Islamophobic bias, a claim under investigation by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA).

Meanwhile, last December the RCMP launched an investigation into a trove of elaborately forged government documents designed to give the impression that the RCMP and the CRA are maliciously targeting the MAC and relying on paid informants to frame the MAC as an organization that funds terrorism overseas.

Shimon Koffler Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), says that the MAC has given no indication that it’s interested in breaking its habit of hosting extremist lecturers at its annual gatherings.

“Year after year, the Muslim Association of Canada platforms speakers with records of promoting virulent antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, and hatred at its convention,” Fogel said. “A major Muslim organization representing a community that itself is the target of hate should know better than to promote that same hatred towards other marginalized groups. Instead, they choose to amplify bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance.”

This year’s conference is “a missed opportunity to show unity against the vitriol we all face,” Fogel said. “It is the responsibility of each of us to combat hatred and racism, and we should expect no less from Canadian Muslims.”

Source: Terry Glavin: Antisemitic Egyptian sheikh was to be hosted by Ottawa-funded Muslim group

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New Report Reveals Immigrant Roots of Fortune 500 Companies 

2023/09/05 Leave a comment

Of note:

In an annual review of the most successful companies in the United States, the American Immigration Council unveiled today a report that sheds light on the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs and their children to the U.S. economy. The report, “New American Fortune 500 in 2023: The Largest American Companies and Their Immigrant Roots,” reveals that an impressive 44.8% of Fortune 500 companies in 2023, equating to 224 companies, were founded by immigrants or their children.  

Since the inception of the New American Fortune 500 report in 2011, the American Immigration Council has consistently tracked the impact of immigrant founders and their descendants on corporate America. The report draws from Fortune Magazine’s annual ranking of the United States’ 500 largest corporations, ranked by revenue, to analyze the share of companies that were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants and these firms’ contributions to the U.S. and global economy. 

These New American Fortune 500 companies collectively generated a staggering $8.1 trillion in revenue during fiscal year 2022, surpassing the GDP of several developed nations. Their significant contributions extend beyond revenue, as they employ over 14.8 million people, emphasizing their role as a crucial driver of job creation and economic prosperity. 

“These New American Fortune 500 companies stand as a testament to the extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants. Immigrants have long been economic catalyzers, known for igniting innovation and growth across industries,” said Steven Hubbard, senior data scientist at the American Immigration Council. “This report underscores the pivotal role that immigrants and their descendants play in shaping the nation’s economic landscape. Their innovative contributions and dedication to entrepreneurship have contributed significantly to the United States’ standing as a global economic powerhouse as evident in this report.” 

Furthermore, the report showcases the state-level impact of these New American Fortune 500 companies. New York leads the states with the most companies (30), followed by California (24), Texas, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia. These companies collectively shape state economies, with revenues in some cases exceeding a significant portion of the state’s GDP. 

The full report and interactive tool can be accessed here.   

Source: New Report Reveals Immigrant Roots of Fortune 500 Companies

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Will Egypt back off from the demolition of Cairo’s historic Islamic cemeteries? 

2023/09/05 Leave a comment

Memories from my Cairo days in the mid-80s. In this case, the government is “paving paradise to put up” an autoroute:

For the past 10 years, Egyptian researcher Mostafa el-Sadek has been visiting the Islamic cemetery complex City of the Dead in Cairo, always discovering something new about Egyptian heritage from tombs that date back to the arrival of Islam in the seventh century and up to the early 20th century.

But everything has changed since 2020. That’s when the Egyptian government began demolishing hundreds of these historic graves to widen highways to the new administrative capital 50 kilometers east of Cairo.

Sadek’s visits have also changed. He joined volunteers fighting to save the historic area. They work in parallel with the diggers and bulldozers to rescue artifacts amid the rubble of tombs in the Imam al-Shafi’i and Sayyida Nafisa complexes.

“We feel incapable and frustrated. The government that should protect this heritage destroyed it with its bulldozers,” Sadek told Al-Monitor.

First wave in 2020

The City of the Dead, which was first built with the inception of the Islamic capital in 642, covers six areas in the historic northern and southern Cairo, according to the Urban Regeneration Project for Historic Cairo report in 2010-2012.

In July 2020, the first wave of demolition targeted al-Qarafa al-Kobra in historic northern Cairo to link the area with the new administrative capital. Many tombs were demolished that housed famous figures from the 20th century, such as the first president of Cairo University, Ahmed Lutfi El-Sayed; writers Ihsan Abdel Quddous and Mohamed El-Tabii; engineer Abbud Pasha; and Princess Nazli Hanim Halim, Sadek said

The government said in a statement that these tombs were not registered as Islamic or Coptic monuments and were modern graves.

Sadek, who is also an obstetrician at Cairo University, argued, “Yes, it is not registered. But some of these tombs are full of history, architecture and art.”

A few months later, the government embarked on the second wave, which involved al-Qarafa al-Sughra (also called the Qarafa of Imam al-Shafi’i). The plan was to raze 2,760 tombs as part of the Salah Salem Road, to link the mosques and mausoleums that belong to the family of Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Cairo.

On Aug. 8, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated Sayyida Nafisa Mosque as part of the renovation of the Ahl al-Bayt shrines. Speaking at the inauguration, Sisi spoke of “the state’s plan to revamp Historic Cairo.”

But Sisi’s plan has stirred public outcry and criticism from heritage researchers, archaeologists and architects. Distinguished architect Tarek el-Murri filed a lawsuit  to stop the demolition of cemeteries, with the court set to decide the case on Sept. 21.

“The removal and demolition operations are a disdain to a part of Egypt’s history and represent a danger to a significant area back to the seventh century A.D.,” Murri told Al-Monitor.

In contrast, Sisi ordered that a committee be formed to “assess the situation and consider available alternatives” for the relocation of the Sayyida Nafissa and Imam Shafi’i cemeteries, even as the government implements its development plan in the two areas. He also directed that a cemetery be established to bury remnants of the great figures of Egypt. The cemetery would also include a museum for artifacts found in the current cemeteries.

“We had felt optimistic after the president’s order, especially since the committee recommended to stop the demolition and [that there was] no need to build new roads in that heritage area,” Sadek said.

Prominent tombs destroyed

A week after Sisi inaugurated the Sayyida Nafisa Mosque on Aug. 18, as part of the second wave bulldozers were at the Qarafa of Imam al-Shafi’i to demolish the aforementioned 2,760 tombs, including those of prominent Egyptians in the fields of culture, politics, religion and art, as well as members of the royal family.

“I had never been shocked like this time. The demolition was more violent and indiscriminate,” Sadek said. “Even workers on bulldozers in the site felt sorry about that.” He said workers helped rescue the artifacts from the tomb of Prince Ibrahim-Hilmy, son of Ismail, the Khedive of Egypt (1860-1927).

“The situation is so catastrophic,” said Hossam Abdel-Azeem, founder of Egypt’s Shawahid Misr initiative, which is tasked with preserving Egypt’s lost heritage. Since December 2021, the initiative has rescued 25 artifacts and antiquities from the tombs, including tombstones dating from the Abbasid caliphate in the ninth century.

“All these landmarks are not registered under antiquities laws,” Abdel-Azeem told Al-Monitor. But “the funeral monuments are a major factor in Egypt’s history from ancient Egyptians to Islamic ages and modern history.”

On Aug. 29, the Cairo governorate rejected reports that the tombs of poet Ahmed Shawqi and of Imam Warsh had been destroyed.

However, Sadek said that he did find debris close to poet Shawqi’s tomb, and six graves of his family were destroyed.

Parliament member Maha Abdel Nasser sent several questions to Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly on the development plans in 2020, but she hasn’t received any answers. She told Al-Monitor that five members pulled out of the Sisi’s presidential committee of experts over the government’s determination to demolish the graves.

“It is not clear what’s behind the project and the government’s determination to demolish the graves,” she said. Murri said that the government’s plan will replace these cemeteries with skyscrapers and green areas by 2030.

In a rare objection, Ayman Wanas, a government official who headed the Committee for the Survey of Buildings and Facilities of Distinguished Architectural Style, resigned on Thursday to protest the destruction of Cairo’s historic tombs.

Wanas posted his handwritten resignation on Facebook: “The ongoing demolition of the heritage cemeteries is not only a loss of the historical cemetery buildings but a loss of a historical urban fabric of unique value in the world and an important part of the world heritage.”

World heritage site

Historic Cairo has been considered a world heritage site by UNESCO since 1979. “We sent letters to the organization, but it hasn’t replied yet,” Sadek said.

In 2021, UNESCO said that “no information on this project was sent beforehand to the World Heritage Center for evaluation. … The World Heritage Center sent a letter in July 2020 to the Egyptian authorities requesting confirmation of this information and the provision of any relevant information, but neither of these has yet been provided,” UNESCO said.

The organization added, “While these demolished tombs and mausolea may not have been protected/registered monuments, they are nevertheless important parts of the historic urban fabric, and the roads could channel yet more traffic into the property.”

“Even UNESCO can’t halt this mess,” Murri said. Murri and Sadek still have a glimmer of hope that popular support might push the government to back off through talks, petitions, exhibitions and social media.

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/09/will-egypt-back-demolition-cairos-historic-islamic-cemeteries#ixzz8C9EOSJK3

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Bouchard: Mise au point sur l’interculturalisme

2023/09/05 Leave a comment

While I disagree with Bouchard on his characterization of multiculturalism, which is also based on integration (“un modèle d’intégration d’une société dans l’unité et la diversité, dans un esprit d’équilibre entre les besoins et les attentes respectives de la majorité et des minorités” also applies to multiculturalism), nevertheless he is a strong advocate for and integration and inclusive approach:

L’interculturalisme semble réinvestir le débat public, comme en témoigne, entre autres, le texte d’Alex Bilodeau paru dans Le Devoir du 31 juillet. C’est une initiative bienvenue, car le dossier québécois de l’immigration évolue présentement dans une mauvaise direction. C’est l’occasion d’une mise au point assortie d’une mise en garde.

Concernant le texte de M. Bilodeau, ce n’est pas une bonne idée que d’associer nationalisme et interculturalisme sans clarifier les rapports entre les deux — si rapport il y a. Par ailleurs, l’auteur voit dans l’interculturalisme deux courants incompatibles.

D’un côté (courant A), il y aurait les tenants d’une nation homogène orbitant autour de l’héritage de la majorité canadienne-française. De l’autre côté (courant B), on trouverait un modèle centré sur le pluralisme radical qui réduirait la nation québécoise au français comme langue commune, sans accorder de priorité à l’intégration, ce qui le rapproche du multiculturalisme.

Ces deux courants sont en effet incompatibles, mais ce qu’il faut surtout souligner, c’est qu’aucun des deux ne relève de l’interculturalisme.

Selon Alex Bilodeau, l’opposition entre les deux courants se manifeste de trois façons :

Le rapport majorité-minorité. Selon le courant A, la première domine la seconde. En ce cas, il ne peut en résulter que l’exclusion ou une forme d’assimilation. Quant au courant B, il ferait l’économie d’une culture commune à construire et effacerait le rapport majorité-minorité.

L’intégration. Ici, le texte de Bilodeau se fait répétitif. Le premier courant se signale par l’assimilation, le second récuse la domination de la majorité au nom de l’égalité des droits.

La culture commune. Dans l’esprit du courant A, cet élément serait secondaire, le vieil héritage devant primer. Selon le courant B, au contraire, le rapport majorité-minorité doit être atténué en le traitant sur une base de complémentarité, de réciprocité et de respect de la différence.

Définis de cette façon, on voit bien que les deux courants sont en effet incompatibles. On voit aussi que le courant A est bien loin de l’interculturalisme. Le courant B se voit toutefois attribuer un de ses éléments, soit la nécessité de traiter la relation majorité-minorité hors de toute hiérarchie ou de toute volonté de domination. J’ajoute que le texte de Bilodeau est un peu difficile à comprendre du fait que le courant B est présenté de deux manières différentes.

Une dualité en interaction

Pour mémoire, je rappelle que l’interculturalisme (tel que je l’ai toujours conçu) est un modèle d’intégration d’une société dans l’unité et la diversité, dans un esprit d’équilibre entre les besoins et les attentes respectives de la majorité et des minorités. Il repose sur ce qu’on peut appeler une dualité en interaction. D’abord, on s’attend à ce que le coeur du modèle dessine les bases de la société plurielle dans laquelle nous souhaitons vivre.

Cette première composante doit se concrétiser dans un ensemble de politiques et de programmes qui mobilisent les appareils de l’État, mais aussi les principaux acteurs collectifs. Par ailleurs, ces deux composantes doivent être pensées en interaction dans un but de cohérence.

L’objectif concret de l’interculturalisme est d’amener les immigrants et les minorités à s’intégrer grâce à des programmes de rapprochement, d’échange, de partage et d’initiatives communes. Il ne s’agit pas de réduire ou de supprimer la diversité, mais de la mettre à profit dans l’intérêt général de la société et dans un esprit d’égalité, en accord avec le droit. De ce processus devrait résulter une culture commune dans laquelle immigrants et minorités auraient investi tout en gardant leur part de spécificité. À cause de la logique du nombre, il est par ailleurs prévisible que la culture de la majorité pèsera beaucoup plus que les autres dans cette opération.

Cela dit, je conçois bien qu’on puisse diverger d’opinion sur des modalités ou des points annexes, mais sur l’ossature, il y a peu à changer si l’on tient à rester dans l’esprit de l’interculturalisme.

La responsabilité gouvernementale

Quoi qu’il en soit, le gouvernement n’en fait pas assez face aux changements qui s’annoncent. En 2002, le Québec a reçu 63 000 immigrants permanents (moyenne des années 2015-2022 : 47 000) et 28 000 immigrants temporaires, en hausse également.

Le nombre total d’immigrants temporaires vivant au Québec actuellement est de 200 000 environ (dont plusieurs deviendront permanents). Ces tendances à la hausse vont vraisemblablement se poursuivre. Je rappelle ces chiffres pour illustrer l’énorme défi qui se pose sur le plan de l’intégration. Comment sera-t-il relevé ?

Pour l’instant, cette immigration est surtout pensée en termes économiques. Mais l’immigrant n’est pas qu’un rouage dans une stratégie de croissance, il est aussi un citoyen qui doit être inséré socialement et culturellement.

L’urgence d’agir

Pour des raisons pressantes, l’État doit agir énergiquement, comme le montrent des résultats de recherches réalisées récemment. Je pense notamment aux travaux des politologues Antoine Bilodeau et Luc Turgeon (dont nous informait Le Devoir du 31 juillet).

Il en ressort principalement que, pour diverses raisons (dont la loi 21 sur les signes religieux), le sentiment d’appartenance au Québec est en baisse au sein des minorités, au profit de l’appartenance canadienne.

Une partie de leurs membres (difficile à quantifier) ne se sentent pas acceptés et songent à émigrer. Comment cette situation va-t-elle évoluer dans les 15 ou 20 prochaines années en l’absence d’une intervention appropriée de l’État ?

Les clivages entre majorité et minorités sont en croissance dans de nombreux pays, où ils provoquent des conflits interethniques. Une fois profondément installés, ces clivages deviennent extrêmement difficiles à réduire — la France en est un exemple, dont nous devrions tirer une leçon.

Un Québec à l’enseigne du multiculturalisme ?

Si l’immigrant ne trouve pas à s’intégrer pleinement dans la société d’accueil, il le fera au sein d’une minorité. C’est une tendance qui peut conduire à long terme à une fragmentation, à l’essor d’une mosaïque ethnique sur le modèle du multiculturalisme. Est-ce le genre de société que nous voulons ?

Source: Mise au point sur l’interculturalisme

Filed under Interculturalisme, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Police in schools has long been a topic of debate. In Alberta, at least, the students have spoken

2023/09/04 Leave a comment

Good example of serious research and examination of the evidence of the experience of having police school resource officers in schools. Money quote: “…it is worth remembering that social policies need to be grounded in empirical evidence. Ideally, that evidence should be collected by researchers without preordained opinions.”

Not, of course, unique to this issue as advocates and activists, including researchers, often have “preordained opinions” rather than looking at the evidence more dispassionately.

I come across this regularly in my analysis of public service diversity. My How well is the government meeting its diversity targets? An intersectionality analysis, which showed that Black public servants were not under-represented at the all employees level, and less under-represented at the EX level than South Asian, Chinese and Filipino public servants. Black hiring rates were among the highest, separations the lowest and promotion rates second highest, with overall visible minority hiring and promotion rates higher than not visible minority. Overall visible minority hiring rates were higher than not visible minorities, separation rates were lower (likely reflecting age) and promotion rates were also higher over the 2017-22 period.

This prompted Twitter discussion, with advocates arguing for a disproportionality index based on narrow salary bands rather than my approach based on the broader occupational groups, including EX, and the hiring, separation and promotion data for the last six years. While some engaged on the substance of the different approaches, some “activists on a pension” public servants simply disregarded an “inconvenient truth” to their narratives:

The presence of police in schools, often referred to as school resource officers (SROs), has been a topic of debate for decades. However, after the global movement critically examining the role of the police in modern society, these discussions have intensified. Proponents argue police in schools reduce crime, keep students safe and improve police-community relations. On the other hand, critics maintain that SRO programs are costly and disproportionately disadvantage Black, Indigenous and other marginalized students. Activists and community leaders often argue that SROs contribute to the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Several American studies have found that racialized students are subjected to higher levels of police surveillance within schools and are more likely to be disciplined and/or charged by SROs. These studies have also found that students disciplined by school-based police officers often maintain a criminal label, have poor educational and career outcomes, and are at increased risk of becoming further entrenched in the criminal-justice system. Does the same situation exist in Canada?

Most Canadian research has failed to explore whether SROs disproportionately affect racialized and marginalized students. Nonetheless, a few small-scale studies have suggested that racialized and marginalized youth are likelier to have negative experiences with SROs than their white counterparts. Advocates have used these findings to support removing SRO programs from several large Canadian school boards. However, in the aftermath of recent high-profile incidents of violence in Canadian schools, including student homicides in Toronto and Edmonton, there is renewed support for returning the police to schools. How should we as society assess the different perspectives on this issue? As university professors, we believe that answering such challenging questions begins with rigorous empirical research.

Between 2022 and 2023 we conducted research on SRO programs within both the Edmonton Catholic and public school systems. Our multimethod approach included a review of official SRO records and focus groups, interviews and surveys with over 11,000 students, 4,000 parents and 650 teachers. These are the largest and most comprehensive such studies in Canada. Unlike most other Canadian studies, we explicitly set out to explore and understand the perceptions and experiences of racialized and marginalized students. We found that:

  • Regardless of race, sexual orientation and self-reported disability status, students and parents were much more likely to report positive experiences with their SRO (approximately 45 per cent of all respondents) than negative experiences (approximately 7 per cent of all respondents). Positive experiences included feelings of safety, assistance with victimization incidents, assistance with personal problems, informal conflict resolution, mentorship, legal education, and innovative strategies for discipline and reform.
  • Regardless of race, sexual orientation and disability status, most students reported that their SRO made them feel safe at school and was a positive member of their school community. Few students felt targeted or intimidated by their SRO.
  • Regardless of race, few students and parents felt that SROs treat Black, Indigenous and other racialized students worse than white students. It was also uncommon for participants to believe officers were biased toward sexual minorities and students with disabilities.
  • Most teachers believed SROs reduce, not increase, formal disciplinary actions (i.e., suspensions, expulsions, arrests etc.) against students. Teachers felt students would be treated more harshly by regular police officers who might be called to the school if the school did not have an SRO.
  • Regardless of race, sexual orientation and disability status, most students, parents and teachers (approximately 80 per cent of all respondents) want the SRO program retained or reinstated at their school. Few want to see the program permanently suspended (approximately 8 per cent of all respondents).

That said, the results of our studies are not all positive. Both teachers and students believed SROs are sometimes called to deal with non-criminal student conduct issues (including lateness) that school staff should handle. Teachers and students also complained that certain police officers – particularly those with an enforcement orientation – should not work with youth and should be screened out and removed from SRO programs.

While most Black and Indigenous students and parents supported Edmonton’s SRO program, Black and Indigenous students were somewhat more likely to support suspending the program than respondents from other racial backgrounds. Black and Indigenous students were also more likely to report negative experiences with SROs, including allegations of oversurveillance, targeting and unfair disciplinary decisions.

Our study also uncovered considerable weaknesses in how the school boards and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) document SRO activities. How often are SROs involved in school disciplinary decisions, including suspensions and expulsions? How often do SROs ticket, arrest or lay charges against students? Are Black, Indigenous and other marginalized students disproportionately involved in SRO enforcement decisions? Does the presence of an SRO significantly reduce illegal activity on school property? We cannot answer these and other important questions with the existing data. If school boards retain SRO programs, we recommend improving the data being collected, including collecting data on the race and other demographic characteristics of those affected by SRO activities. At the same time, students and caregivers with personal experience with expulsions, suspensions and other interventions consistently reported being treated more harshly by school administrators than by SROs. This (perhaps surprising) finding suggests that leaving conduct issues in the hands of school administrators might lead to more harm for students and families – yet another aspect that warrants expanded data collection.

While many questions remain, our overall finding is that racialized and marginalized students and their families support SRO programs. Further, our results provide little evidence of perceived racial bias. This is news in a climate where some Canadian social scientists and activists now demand that SRO programs be eliminated. Unsurprisingly, they were not happy with our findings.

In the past, our research has – in various contexts – uncovered racial bias with respect to police street checks, arrest decisions and use of force. While the police largely dismissed these results, activists embraced our findings, using them as valuable evidence to support discussions about racial profiling. Our study of SROs has produced the opposite effect: Some advocates and scholars have been quick to criticize our findings because they do not support their preferred policies, while police organizations seem to support the results, without acknowledging negative findings.

This is concerning, but in some respects, these public responses fit a familiar pattern whereby activists and organizations selectively embrace, reject or ignore scholarly research depending on whether it supports or challenges their political position or preferred policies. However, one thing that makes the Edmonton SRO situation slightly different is that those who have opposed the SRO programs have said they were voicing the desires of Edmonton’s Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities. Our evidence, in contrast, demonstrates that such groups mainly support the SRO program, raising questions about who legitimately speaks on behalf of the interests of Black, Indigenous and other racialized parents and students on such issues in Alberta.

We deliberately mention Alberta because it is entirely possible that SRO programs in other jurisdictions are poorly run, biased and not supported by local communities. As researchers, we understand that context matters in how well any program or initiative operates. However, attention to such local specificity often gets lost on the political stage when people make sweeping statements embracing or rejecting policies without knowing or paying attention to the local details.

Given how many aspects of policing are contentious within Canada, it is worth remembering that social policies need to be grounded in empirical evidence. Ideally, that evidence should be collected by researchers without preordained opinions.

Kanika Samuels-Wortley is an associate professor in the faculty of social science and humanities at Ontario Tech University.

Scot Wortley is a professor in the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto.

Sandra Bucerius is a professor of sociology and criminology and director of the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Alberta.

Source: Police in schools has long been a topic of debate. In Alberta, at least, the students have spoken

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Cryderman: Liberals are late to housing, and time is running out

2023/09/04 Leave a comment

Arguably, already run out given time lags in increasing supply and likely reluctance by government to freeze or reduce levels of permanent and temporary residents:

Whether talking about shacks or sidesplits, Pierre Poilievre has owned the housing affordability file from the time he became Conservative leader one year ago. This is not because he has all the answers, or warms hearts with his words. It’s because he gives the issue the time and weight it deserves.

After a cabinet retreat in Prince Edward Island where housing was the key focus, it appears the Liberals are finally grasping the practical and political urgency of the situation, as Mr. Poilievre long has. They are listening to what people have been saying in the country’s largest cities for years – and is now being said from Charlottetown to Kingston to Kelowna: The cost and scarcity of housing in Canada is bonkers.

At least in words, there appears to be greater recognition of that from newly minted Housing Minister Sean Fraser. He has added shifts of tone on housing since the Liberal cabinet shuffle in July.

He’s saying reasonable things such as: Maybe the federal governmentshould be more thoughtful about its international student program that has seen “explosive growth” and driven up housing costs in postsecondary communities. And it should start to use the power of the $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund, first promised by the Liberals two years ago, with some political gusto.

In an interview with The Globe, Mr. Fraser added something new to the list: that his government has put a new focus on housing affordability for the middle class.

“This is now not just a crisis for low-income families,” Mr. Fraser said.

“This is a crisis for seniors who are looking to retire under very different circumstances than existed even a few years ago. It is a crisis for students who cannot find a place they can afford to live within an hour commute of the campus. And it is a crisis for young people who are seeking to get into the market who often have two people working in the household, and still can’t afford a place to live.

“It’s not reasonable for us to maintain an exclusive focus, or even a primary focus, that only speaks to low-income social housing.”

This reflects the truth that rents are up across the country, as demand grows and higher interests weigh on pocketbooks. Where I sit in Calgary, relatively affordable by other big city standards, rents are up an average of 16 per cent, year-over-year. The typical price of a home in the country is more than $760,000. The Canadian public is not going to be particularly patient in waiting for the 5.3 million homes economists say the country needs to build by 2030 to solve the affordability crisis.

Mr. Fraser said Canada is looking at a total capital spend that could exceed a trillion dollars to hit that housing target – “not an amount of money that most people can conceive of.” This will have to come both from the private and public sectors.

But it’s needed, not only in the real world, but also in the political sphere. Young people, according to recent polls, are increasingly disenchanted with the governing party. Some believe the Liberals aren’t doing enough on climate change, a concern exacerbated by a summer of wildfires. But economic anxiety about out-of-control costs, especially on housing, is likely an even bigger reason.

Nik Nanos, chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research, told CTV the Liberals’ popularity is down overall but plummeting among younger voters, the demographic that’s helped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau win past elections. The latest Nanos polling shows the Liberals in third place among Canadians aged 18 to 29 years old with 16 per cent support, compared with the Conservatives and the NDP with 39 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.

Polls are just a snapshot in time, but the trend isn’t good for the incumbents. Although the election is likely two years away, the problem requires complicated solutions and time is not on their side.

Mr. Fraser refutes Conservative claims that the Liberals weren’t paying attention or were negligent as the housing situation worsened. The last two years have been exceptional, he said. “What’s happened in the last couple of years in particular is there has been a shift in the housing continuum in terms of where the intense need is.”

As the former immigration minister, Mr. Fraser appears keenly aware his current and past portfolios have some overlap. He speaks of not decreasing immigration to address housing pressures, but becoming more thoughtful about it.

The country needs new people and workers, and has a moral imperative to welcome refugees. But the Liberals have boosted Canada’s immigration and non-permanent resident numbers to historic levels – and sometimes undercount those who are here. Canada’s ranks are growing quickly, and a BMO analysis earlier this year said that for every 1 per cent of population growth, housing prices typically increase by 3 per cent.

“The people we want to bring in want to stay for the rest of their lives. Let’s plan for it. And then let’s target the people who can improve the quality of life that not only their family gets to enjoy in Canada, but to improve the quality of life for Canadians who’ve lived here for generations, by addressing some of these social challenges – in particular around housing and health care.”

Even before Parliament resumes on Sept. 18, Mr. Fraser said he intends to act by “actually leveraging the federal spending power to incentivize change at municipal levels.” In short order, there will be an announcement on the municipalities that will receive help through the vaunted Housing Accelerator Fund.

BMO has also raised concerns about “an investor class” that’s increasingly dominating the real-estate market, as opposed to the people who actually live in the homes. Mr. Fraser said investors have a key role to play in creating housing units, but he is worried about homes being held by investors that remain vacant.

Ottawa will soon change the financial equation for home builders to get more units built, he added in the interview. Although the minister wouldn’t go into specifics, economists have said it’s time to waive or defer the sales tax developers incur for purpose-built rentals to incentivize new building.

All and all, Mr. Fraser said Canadians should expect to see aggressive action by the federal government to get more homes built, across the housing continuum. The question is not only whether this large task can be accomplished but also whether the Liberals, late to urgency on this issue, can catch up to the Conservatives on the political front.

Source: Liberals are late to housing, and time is running out

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