My Country 'Tis of Thee I Sing
This is some special country, this place called Canada. My home and native-birth country. It wasn't always so, there were times in recent memory (if you're as grizzled as I am) when this country did not see itself as a welcome haven to those whose traditions and culture did not reflect that of the Mother Country, Great Britain. But look here, the British Empire has changed altogether, and we with it.
Now Canada is a proud country of immigrants reflecting the characteristics, both cultural and physiognomic of the great wide world. We are inclusively free of bias (some of are still working on that one, but not many) with respect to others' religions, ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions, asking only that they return the favour and extend the same rights to all as are offered to them. Proudly egalitarian.
The law, in fact, and our great and good Charter of Rights and Freedoms make us proud and free. Our immigrants, while retaining aspects of their original culture, embrace Canada's core values (which is to say, they should do so) and we all live together in harmony, in a generous spirit of coming-together. Our children attend the same schools, and equal favour and protection is extended under our universal laws.
At a time when Muslims live in a state of unease in many countries of the world which they have adopted as their new homes, in Canada 73% of Muslim-Canadians report feeling "very proud" of this country, of its acceptance of them. When the question was put to Canadians how they'd feel about living next to a Muslim a mere 6.5% of Canadians (admittedly too many, but we're working on that, too) responded negatively.
Islam's faith expression within Canada is generally one of tolerance and good fellowship (there are exceptions, needless to say; we're working on it). Our Muslim population has responded affirmatively to the Canadian invitation to live among us as equals, taking full advantage of equal opportunities, equal regard.
Compare that, for example, to France (and Germany and Holland) which admitted immigrants as expendible labourers, ghettoized, considered socially/culturally inferior. They are now reaping the harvest of the seeds they sowed with "troubled" neighbourhoods (stick England in here too for prime convenience) where the immigrant society is poor, marginalized and underemployed.
Where thousands of cars are burned every year in France, as a protest by the unemployed and disaffected youth. And where French police, firefighters and ambulance drivers are routinely injured venturing into the badlands of the immigrant ghettoes. But it's all right folks, everything's cool. They say.
In Canada, our immigrant populations are valued, trusted members of this society. This is, above all, a community of communities, a country of immigrants, our Canada. We serve and protect all of our people. Which is why civil libertarians were up in arms over key provisions brought into law to combat the threat of terrorism; federal security certificates among them.
Why, our politicians value our immigrant populations so much that even when some are implicated in questionable anti-Canadian values that some term terrorist in nature, they are not averse to supporting them. Which is why leaders of the Liberal and New Democratic Party saw fit to attend Tamil Tiger gatherings.
Which explains why former Prime Minister Paul Martin solicited the support of the terrorist International Sikh Youth Federation in his then-failed bid for the federal Liberal leadership in 1990, (5 years post-Air India bombing; but not on Canadian soil) despite the bothersome fact that then-Conservative External Affairs Minister Joe Clark warned Canadian politicians to steer clear of the federation.
Mind, the ISYF had already been identified as a terrorist group by CSIS; 4 members of the group had been convicted in British Columbia of the attempted assassination of a visiting Indian politician; others had associated with a would-be assassin who shot newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer in 1998. He survived that attempt, only to succumb to another more successful assassination effort years later.
Mr. Clark's warning included staying well clear of the Babbar Khalsa and the World Sikh Organization, all three of which groups (inclusive of the ISYF) were linked to terrorism. But Canadians are open-minded; as long as the terrorist attacks don't take place on Canadian soil, some obviously think co-operation with terrorists can't be all bad.
In fact, in his speech before the International Sikh Youth Federation, in 1990 (the good Paul Martin pledged to raise the issue of human rights abuses in Punjab. Two other Liberal party members and Members of Parliament were with him at the time, both still sitting Liberal MPs: Albina Guarnieri and Maurizio Bevilacqua.
Aren't Canadians something else?
Now Canada is a proud country of immigrants reflecting the characteristics, both cultural and physiognomic of the great wide world. We are inclusively free of bias (some of are still working on that one, but not many) with respect to others' religions, ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions, asking only that they return the favour and extend the same rights to all as are offered to them. Proudly egalitarian.
The law, in fact, and our great and good Charter of Rights and Freedoms make us proud and free. Our immigrants, while retaining aspects of their original culture, embrace Canada's core values (which is to say, they should do so) and we all live together in harmony, in a generous spirit of coming-together. Our children attend the same schools, and equal favour and protection is extended under our universal laws.
At a time when Muslims live in a state of unease in many countries of the world which they have adopted as their new homes, in Canada 73% of Muslim-Canadians report feeling "very proud" of this country, of its acceptance of them. When the question was put to Canadians how they'd feel about living next to a Muslim a mere 6.5% of Canadians (admittedly too many, but we're working on that, too) responded negatively.
Islam's faith expression within Canada is generally one of tolerance and good fellowship (there are exceptions, needless to say; we're working on it). Our Muslim population has responded affirmatively to the Canadian invitation to live among us as equals, taking full advantage of equal opportunities, equal regard.
Compare that, for example, to France (and Germany and Holland) which admitted immigrants as expendible labourers, ghettoized, considered socially/culturally inferior. They are now reaping the harvest of the seeds they sowed with "troubled" neighbourhoods (stick England in here too for prime convenience) where the immigrant society is poor, marginalized and underemployed.
Where thousands of cars are burned every year in France, as a protest by the unemployed and disaffected youth. And where French police, firefighters and ambulance drivers are routinely injured venturing into the badlands of the immigrant ghettoes. But it's all right folks, everything's cool. They say.
In Canada, our immigrant populations are valued, trusted members of this society. This is, above all, a community of communities, a country of immigrants, our Canada. We serve and protect all of our people. Which is why civil libertarians were up in arms over key provisions brought into law to combat the threat of terrorism; federal security certificates among them.
Why, our politicians value our immigrant populations so much that even when some are implicated in questionable anti-Canadian values that some term terrorist in nature, they are not averse to supporting them. Which is why leaders of the Liberal and New Democratic Party saw fit to attend Tamil Tiger gatherings.
Which explains why former Prime Minister Paul Martin solicited the support of the terrorist International Sikh Youth Federation in his then-failed bid for the federal Liberal leadership in 1990, (5 years post-Air India bombing; but not on Canadian soil) despite the bothersome fact that then-Conservative External Affairs Minister Joe Clark warned Canadian politicians to steer clear of the federation.
Mind, the ISYF had already been identified as a terrorist group by CSIS; 4 members of the group had been convicted in British Columbia of the attempted assassination of a visiting Indian politician; others had associated with a would-be assassin who shot newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer in 1998. He survived that attempt, only to succumb to another more successful assassination effort years later.
Mr. Clark's warning included staying well clear of the Babbar Khalsa and the World Sikh Organization, all three of which groups (inclusive of the ISYF) were linked to terrorism. But Canadians are open-minded; as long as the terrorist attacks don't take place on Canadian soil, some obviously think co-operation with terrorists can't be all bad.
In fact, in his speech before the International Sikh Youth Federation, in 1990 (the good Paul Martin pledged to raise the issue of human rights abuses in Punjab. Two other Liberal party members and Members of Parliament were with him at the time, both still sitting Liberal MPs: Albina Guarnieri and Maurizio Bevilacqua.
Aren't Canadians something else?
Labels: Canada
posted by Pieface | 5:19 PM
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