Congolese Canadians, Be Canadian

A demonstration outside the Embassy of Congo on Range Road turned violent in Ottawa, December 06, 2011. Photograph by: Jean Levac, The Ottawa Citizen

Canadian Sri Lankans marched in Ottawa, protesting the Sri Lankan crackdown on Tamils and the Tamil Tigers in what could have been characterized as a localized civil war, and which even the United Nations claims the government of Sri Lanka's military behaved in a rather less than just way with civilian Sri Lankan Tamils.

They had a reason to be angry and upset to say the least, with Sri Lanka. But what they wanted to accomplish by marching in Ottawa to the Parliament Buildings isn't quite clear. Intervention of some sort, obviously. They are now Canadians, although their Sri Lankan heritage is etched deep in their consciousness and always will be.

The grief they experienced as a result of their ethnic group, their friends and relatives, having been oppressed and held as hostages and some killed in a final conflict between the militant terror group claiming to represent the Tamils' wish for a homeland of their own and the Sri Lankan government, impelled them to 'do something'.

What they did did not exactly endear them to many of their Canadian neighbours. Their grievance was about a far-off conflict having nothing to do with Canada, although Canada did officially register its concern. Canada is not at war with Sri Lanka. Canada has one of the largest expatriate Sri Lankan communities, mostly Tamil, out of Sri Lanka. But those immigrants are now Canadian.

Now, another demonstration has taken place by former Congolese living in Canada as landed immigrants, refugees from war-torn, dysfunctional Democratic Republic of Congo. Members of the Canadian Congolese community demonstrated in Toronto and in Ottawa. And in Ottawa it was a demonstration that turned violent, unlike the Sri Lankan demonstration.

Demonstrators threw rocks, fired air guns and used spray paint on the DRC embassy.

Theirs was anything but a peaceful demonstration; it was a violent one, uncharacteristic of Canadian civil disobedience. These are Congolese who have become, or aspire to becoming Canadian citizens, and as such it is Canadian values they should be embracing. What the purpose is of their marching in Ottawa is unclear. The elections they are furious about have nothing to do with Canada.

A sovereign African country held an election. Period. The electoral process in Africa is not quite what it is in most Western, democratic countries. There the process is informed by an archaic, brutal contest of violence-prone tribal conquests. Had they mounted a silent protest outside the DRC embassy their message would have been accurately interpreted by the embassy.

The RCMP and Ottawa Police have a legal obligation under the Vienna Convention to protect the environs and the diplomatic personnel of any foreign embassy or consulate located within Canada.
Protesters chose to become violent. They charged the riot-geared police. They threw dirt at police, and rocks.

Living in Canada as Canadians they should be adapting to the Canadian way of life, adopting Canadian values and modes of expression. Ours is not a tribal society.