A bad month for diversity-focused fear-mongers | Toronto Star

2014/04/11 Leave a comment

Good piece by Natalie Brender on the fear mongers, citing the defeat of the PQ and its values charter, the Mosaic Institute’s study on imported conflicts (Do new Canadians leave old conflicts behind?) and the Pew Research study on how increased diversity tends to correlate with lower levels of violence (Countries With Less Religious Diversity Have More Faith-Based Violence):

Fear-mongers keen on stirring up angst about the increasingly diverse nature of Canadian society have had a bad month of it, on the whole. That’s because three recent sets of evidence suggest that really there’s not that much to worry about in face of a blossoming patchwork of religious headgear being worn, languages being spoken and national soccer teams being cheered for across the land. Such reassurances are relatively undramatic to report on — but it’s worth taking some sedate pleasure in a trio of dogs that didn’t bark alarms of warning in the past month.

A bad month for diversity-focused fear-mongers | Toronto Star.

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What Tessanne Chin teaches us about diversity

2014/04/09 Leave a comment

Nice story about the Chinese-Jamaican diaspora in Canada and the richness of identities:

The Chinese diaspora isn’t limited to Jamaica, of course. My cousins come from Trinidad and Dutch Guyana. And anyone who has eaten at a Hakka Indian restaurant in Toronto knows there is a thriving Chinese community in India.

The bottom line is that diversity is a complex, beautiful thing, and you could do worse to have an ambassador like Chin who shrinks cultural boundaries just by opening her mouth.

“My mom always said if you have a gift it is absolutely not about you. So I don’t get twisted and think for one second it’s all about me,” said Chin, nursing a drink in Chang’s expansive kitchen.

What Tessanne Chin teaches us about diversity | Toronto Star.

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Countries With Less Religious Diversity Have More Faith-Based Violence

2014/04/07 1 Comment

Interesting study with the caveats below:

Of course, these findings come with some limitations. The diversity study doesn’t account for different denominations within religions, like Sunnis and Shiites in Muslim countries or Protestants and Catholics in Christian countries; apparently it was too difficult to gather enough data to make those distinctions. It’s also impossible to make conclusions about cause and effect: Pluralism itself might help reduce violence, or countries that tolerate high levels of diversity might attract people less inclined to violence. And these trends may be related to overall patterns of violence and political instability in the world—in the past several years, some of the countries with the highest levels of religious affiliation have been hit hard by war, especially in the Middle East.

Still, the two studies reveal an interesting pattern: Spiritual consensus is not the key to peace or stability. And this seems to be true across faiths: The most violent, homogenous places include countries that are primarily Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian. It may not be true everywhere, but these data suggest something remarkable: Religious pluralism can be, and often is, compatible with peaceful societies.

Countries With Less Religious Diversity Have More Faith-Based Violence – Emma Green – The Atlantic.

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Toronto

2014/03/25 Leave a comment

Nice piece from the NY Times on Toronto and its diversity and neighbourhoods.

It’s a great walking town, and part of what makes it so much fun to explore is the range and variety of the neighborhoods in which the city takes pride, and which have resisted the homogenization that has occurred throughout so much of New York City — from Yorkville, with its fashionable shops and department stores, to Old Town, where you can find the St. Lawrence Market, an immense covered structure offering a huge selection of foods and crafts, and where, on Saturdays, local farmers sell their produce. Some of the neighborhoods are known for their architectural beauty: the charming Victorian houses along the tree-lined streets of Cabbagetown, originally a working-class Irish enclave; the equally attractive brick mansions and neo-Gothic cottages of the Annex, a district of artists, professors and students who attend the nearby University of Toronto; the brick rowhouses and manicured lawns of Roncesvalles and the mansions of Forest Hill.

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Calgary Mayor Nenshi’s diversity problem

2014/01/28 Leave a comment

I am not sure that greater attention to employment equity means that each and every group will argue for parity. That hasn’t been the case at the federal level, and there is something out of whack when senior management, in any organization, is monolithic:

Albertans really are colour-blind, most of ’em. They can afford to be. The province is an affluent land of individualistic, relatively independent farmers, entrepreneurs and non-union workers. But the broaching of racial grievance is not vexing only to those who are racists simpliciter. When well-meaning people hear the mayor talk about how there are not enough women and minorities in the upper ranks of Calgary’s government, they know perfectly well that, as soon as it does recruit some women and minorities, questions about minority women will follow. And then individual ethnic groups will start agitating for parity. And, before long, everybody is plunging into a thicket of mutually irresolvable claims and ad-hoc affirmative-action programs, with no one ever explicitly mentioning “quotas,” while overall institutional quality is neglected.

This is not what the mayor is proposing, but then, no one ever proposes such a thing explicitly. Nenshi’s complaint about city hall is obviously valid on its face—and yet the validity is quite irrelevant to the fears it will tend to arouse.

Nenshi’s diversity problem – Blog Central, Canada, Colby Cosh – Macleans.ca.

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Correctional investigator calls on prison system to keep up with diversity

2013/11/28 Leave a comment

While the Minister is correct that Corrections Canada has implemented a number of initiatives to improve diversity and awareness, the gap in representation between prisoners and Corrections staff is striking, after so many years. Corrections Canada has even developed a hijab for use of one of the guards that addressed safety concerns.

On the other hand, the government suspended a chaplains program that ensured representation of other religions among the chaplains.

Correctional investigator calls on prison system to keep up with diversity | iPolitics.

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