Calling Out Canada

There is no other country in the Western world that has been more generous in the scope of its acceptance of immigrants than Canada. Fully one-quarter of a million new immigrants are accepted as for emigration to Canada on an annual basis. And those migrants and refugees come from all areas of the world. Statistics Canada has latterly issued a report indicating that visible minorities would account for a third of the population of the country by 2031 at the current rate of absorption.

As it is, Canada's most populous cities are reaching, and in some cases, exceeding majority status in their immigrant population. This may perhaps not be all that surprising in that Canada is a country largely comprised of immigrants. Where in its early years the country accepted mostly people of European stock, in the last forty years visible minorities have swelled the population of the country. Canada prides itself on its inclusivity, its welcome to the people of the world.

Canadians view themselves as a largely pluralistic society. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees all Canadians, regardless of origin, equality under the law and freedom to practise their religion, freedom of expression, of assembly and of conscience. Canada must surely present as the least-racist, most egalitarian of all countries in its wide acceptance of people of various traditions, cultures, heritage and religion.

But nor is the country perfect; no country is, though they may attain to that state. People are human and discrimination on the basis of perceived race, religion, ethnicity, culture, ideology, practise and orientation does occur, and always will. Discrimination cannot be legislated against and people will always have their biases. So there will always be some level of complaints of lack of opportunities due to perceived racist attitudes.

But for Canada to have been rebuked at the Geneva-based United Nation's Human Rights Council speaks of an institution of a world body that has its values, priorities and perceptions implicitly deranged. Little wonder when human-rights-abusing countries like Libya and Iran play vital roles in the Human Rights Council.

When special rapporteur Gay McDougall made a cursory trip to Canada last fall to investigate the condition of immigrants and minorities in the country, she was criticized for visiting a democracy to begin with, rather than any of a large number of countries of the world where refugees and minorities are abused and life is dismal for all inhabitants of totalitarian nations.

And, sure enough, the report critiqued Canada's role in exerting itself insufficiently to better the lives of minorities, insisting also that Canada should take care to ensure that Muslim and Arab communities not feel 'targeted' by the larger community or by counter-terrorism measures.
Canada, officially, disagrees with Ms. McDougall's conclusions of alleged racial profiling.

Pointing out that some of the conclusions reached were done so on the basis of a single media report, or through the method of several interviews, where no evidence clearly exists to support the allegations. "Unfortunately, in some cases, findings appear to be drawn from anecdotal evidence or from an assessment by one individual or journalist", was the response by Canada's deputy permanent representative to the UN in Geneva.

"It's tragic that the council's main annual session is turning a blind eye to the worst human rights violators - including Libya, which has persecuted two million black African migrants - and is instead wasting time on one of the world's leading democracies", commented Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.

This is cranky mischief verging on malignity from signal elements of the United Nations.