Charte des valeurs québécoises: Articles

2013/08/23 Leave a comment

Another series of articles on the proposed Charte des valeurs québécoises.

First, confirmation that the government plans to go ahead, and leak is likely more than trial balloon:

Charte des valeurs québécoises: Drainville dit unir les Québécois | Paul Journet | Politique québécoise.

Quatre conditions pour un accommodement raisonnable

Secondly, a piece by Jocelyn Maclure, quoted in a CBC interview earlier, speaks strongly of the risks and dangers of such a rigid, exclusionary approach, and notes the false assumption that the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights allow every form of accommodation, where the reality is different:

Charte des valeurs québécoises – Le jeu dangereux du Parti québécois

And from the English media, Farzana Hassan, former president of the secular Muslim Canadian Congress, a harsh critique, particularly interesting how consistently strong the MCC has been on secularism:

More xenophobia from PQ’s Marois

And a few pieces on some of the broader ethical and rights issues involved from professors of religion and ethics: Ian Henderson and Margaret Somerville:

 The state cannot decide what is a religious symbol

Op-Ed: Quebec bans religion from the public square (I do disagree with her definition of ‘freedom from religion’; religious freedom applies to all, whether they are believers or non-believers, the issue is whether or not the government allows people this freedom.

On the federal political level, interesting to see how this plays out. One leader has been clear and categorical against it (Trudeau, the same week as his marijuana revelations), the Prime Minister has ducked the issue but the real Minister for multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, issued a strong tweet, and the NDP and official opposition leader has also ducked, saying he will await the actual bill before commenting. Not inspiring leadership that. 

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U.S. Senator Ted Cruz may have to wait 8 months to stop being Canadian – The Globe and Mail

2013/08/22 Leave a comment

For my American readers interested in the process US Senator Cruz has to go through to renounce his Canadian citizenship, this article will be helpful. And yes, it takes time, not just a speech or statement.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz may have to wait 8 months to stop being Canadian – The Globe and Mail.

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Immigration policy wasn’t always about economics alone: Brender | Toronto Star

2013/08/17 Leave a comment

Good reminder of some of the broader issues and objectives around immigration by Natalie Brender, along with the concomitant need for refugee and family class advocates to develop more rigorous reasoning and rationales.

Just saying that these categories are important and valuable is not enough. After all, even some of the economic arguments that everyone ‘accepts’ have also been criticized by some as simplistic (i.e., Collacott, Paquet) or wrong.

It should be possible for advocates for more refugees and family class to argue more convincingly on the comparative benefits between economic, family class and refugees, than stating what they believe to be an article of faith.

Immigration policy wasn’t always about economics alone: Brender | Toronto Star.

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Is Canada doing enough to ‘de-radicalize’ convicted terrorists? | Toronto Star

2013/08/12 Leave a comment

Most countries with radicalization problems have some form of these programs. They are relatively low-cost and provide insights to those who have become radicalized, in addition to helping some get out of radicalization ideology.

The government decision last fall to  cancel part-time chaplain contracts, largely impacting Muslim Imams, can only be characterized as bizarre, given that radicalization, while not large-scale, is nevertheless an issue in Canada.

Penny wise but pound foolish. Given Canada’s multicultural reality, chaplains should the diversity of the prison population (72 full-time Christian chaplains compared to 2 full-time Muslim chaplains seems unbalanced to say the least).

Is Canada doing enough to ‘de-radicalize’ convicted terrorists? | Toronto Star.

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‘Birth tourists’ believed to be using Canada’s citizenship laws as back door into the West | National Post

2013/08/10 3 Comments

More information on birth tourism in Canada following the release of Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s recent consultations with Canadians on the issue, and in the context of the government considering changes to the current policy of granting citizenship automatically to people born in Canada.

While the press account still lacks hard numbers in terms of percentage of births, the range of comments and anecdotes suggests that the numbers are largely than expected, with the practice extending to more communities.

Still find it surprising, given the sophistication of some of our provincial medicare systems, that no harder data available. After all, we know the total number of births (377,636 in 2011),  government medicare billing systems should be able to isolate those births paid by provincial plans, and provincial public servants should be able to provide some analysis behind the different categories of births not paid by medicare (e.g., births within the 3 month waiting period for provincial medicare coverage).

‘Birth tourists’ believed to be using Canada’s citizenship laws as back door into the West | National Post.

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How many multiculturalism ministers does Canada need? – Inside Politics

2013/08/10 Leave a comment

More comment from Kady O’Malley further to the press release yesterday.

How many multiculturalism ministers does Canada need? – Inside Politics.

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Charte des valeurs québécoises: le PLQ pourrait s’y opposer | Martin Ouellet | Politique québécoise

2013/08/09 Leave a comment

Interesting developments in the ongoing Quebec debate over the need and form of a charter of Quebec values. Main point of the critics: a dividing rather than uniting strategy for Quebec society, and that most values are already captured in the Charter, Quebec laws and regulations.

The Quebec Liberal Party taking a much stronger line that previous liberal governments, where the tendency was to blow with the wind.

Charte des valeurs québécoises: le PLQ pourrait s’y opposer | Martin Ouellet | Politique québécoise.

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Monarchy’s role in government: Most Canadians want fixes, but how? – The Globe and Mail

2013/08/08 Leave a comment

Good discussion of some of the issues around the monarchy and suggestions for more written clarity regarding the power of the prime minister in relation to the legislature. Other governments have done so without undermining the role of the monarchy; and the article also lists a number of other options that could go further.

Not likely to happen given any debate would be divisive but good to have a range of options laid out and discussed.

Monarchy’s role in government: Most Canadians want fixes, but how? – The Globe and Mail.

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An independent Canada

2013/08/07 Leave a comment

Good piece by Robert Sibley on the history and the people that shaped Canada’s becoming independent in the 20s and 30s. And a strong comment on how much the role of the public service may have changed since then.

That’s the kind of visionary counsel — backbone stiffening, if you will — Canadians could once expect from their public servants. You have to wonder, given the current dysfunctional relationship between the government and the public service, if those days are long past, and, if so, how that might affect the country’s future.

An independent Canada

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The other truth about Trudeau

2013/08/06 Leave a comment

Good to see a healthy debate on the legacy of Trudeau, given that so much writing has had elements of hagiography. Bob Plamondon’s recent The Truth About Trudeau provides a valuable counter-narrative that, like many counter-narratives, may try too hard to make its case. On the other side, Andrew Cohen, emphasizes the long-term impact of  Trudeau’s achievements, particularly the Constitution and the Charter,  and his role, sometimes divisive, in trying to keep the country together.

Like all leaders with a legacy of achievement, views and interpretations will differ, but if Trudeau doesn’t ‘haunt us still,’ his legacy continues to shape the country, in big and small ways.

Even the Conservative government, opposed to much of the Trudeau legacy, has to live within it, sometimes with grace (e.g., the 2008 apology to aboriginal Canadians), sometimes churlishly (e.g., refusing to publicly commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Charter). And the reference to multiculturalism in the Charter (the Canadian ‘brand’) has equally sticking power despite efforts to invoke pluralism as an alternative.

The other truth about Trudeau.

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