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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject: Endlessly divisible Canada |
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Raheel Raza
This year marks the 20th anniversary of my arrival in Canada. People who have been here for less time are busy trying to change the face of this wonderful country I call home.
Not to be left behind, I take this opportunity to look ahead another 20 years:
There will be a separate school at every corner. Each religious and ethnic community will have their own school so there will be Sikh, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and its denominations plus Muslims and their 72 sects, to name a few. Since it's unhealthy for boys and girls to study together, there will be separate schools for those who support gender segregation. Schools will further be divided along the lines of race and colour. White, black and brown schools will take the lead, other colours can follow.
Within the school system there will be division of language so each ethnic community can have their own language. For those kids who don't know the language of their ancestors, the Canadian government will pay for them to take lessons. Never mind learning English as the language of the host community.
Schools and workplaces will be closed on the cultural and religious holidays of each community. This will leave about 100 working days but that's okay with Canada because we're so inclusive.
There will be no exams on the "holy days" of any community. If falling on one of the 100 working days, they will reschedule for another day.
Schoolbooks will be printed in every language that is spoken here because Canada prides itself on multiculturalism. References to pigs will not be present in books used by Muslim students. The Three Little Pigs story will be changed to The Three Little Wigs.
While separation of church and state is really not that important, we must separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Restaurants will not be allowed to serve meat and potatoes at the same time because it discriminates. Some special attempts could be made to mix foods, but a permit will be needed. In the same essence, a halal restaurant with a cash bar will not be popular.
Ethnic communities will be encouraged to have their own residential enclaves, which could be gated. What a remarkable example Canada will present to the whole world as they show off their little ghettos.
There will be separate laws for all religious groups. The Canadian Bar Association will have to change its name because "bar" is offensive to some.
Christmas will be cancelled since it's the festival of the religious majority but offensive to the ethnic minority. However, every ethnic minority can savour and celebrate their cultural and religious festivals with gusto.
Government grants will be given to everyone who feels they've been discriminated against and can prove there is rampant racism in Canada. There are no grants for anyone who wants to prove that Canada is the best country in the world. (How silly would that be?)
Newcomers to Canada will only have to prove that they've swallowed their passport (vinaigrette provided free by the airline) and they will be welcomed with open arms, accommodated, given health benefits and financial aid from the government.
Loyalty to Canada will not be a prerequisite to living here. All one has to do is learn to say "eh." A Canadian passport will be given on a platter to take away and enjoy while raking in petrodollars in oil-rich countries, returning only to use the health-care system, confident in knowing that if an emergency arises, Canada will bring you back at any cost.
Raheel Raza is a Muslim feminist, author and public speaker. |
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/299337
This is multiculturalism (the policy) taken to a logical end. And to that end, Canada will go. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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| I prefer Canada go the Ron Paul route: secession. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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funny shit. luckily, the one thing that multiculturalism can't fight is apathy, and Canadians are one sorry bunch of apathetic bastards. We talk a good fight, but in the end, everyone just ends up chilling. For example, the Toronto black school? If it doesn't get results quickly, people will pull their kids, although I am quite certain that parents who actually care about the quality of their children's education will not be sending them to a school that looks at ethnicity as the most important factor. It will be a big failure. In the meantime, Canada will continue to have muslim schools, mostly attended by immigrants children, and when those children grow up, they will put their kids in private, non-muslim schools. That's the cycle. Children born in Canada become Canadianized, despite what their immigrant parents would like.
Canada isn't Europe, where ethnicities gather in ghettos, such as in France and Germany. Immigrants do better than average Canadian children in school, except for Blacks from the Carribean and Africa. Canadian medical, law, and engineering schools are packed with the children of immigrants. Most Canadians admire the intellect of Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, even Korean students. They do better than the average, and we admire them for it. This isn't America, where meritocracy is entrenched in schools of higher learning. Canada is based on grades, for the most part. I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
Canada isn't Europe, where ethnicities gather in ghettos, such as in France and Germany.
I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
I'm in favor if immigration, to start.
Ethniciites do gather in ghettos. Been to Scarborough or Jane Finch lately?
Check out www.notcanada.com to see how "new Canadians" are enjoying their time in the country. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| thepeel wrote: |
| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
Canada isn't Europe, where ethnicities gather in ghettos, such as in France and Germany.
I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
I'm in favor if immigration, to start.
Ethniciites do gather in ghettos. Been to Scarborough or Jane Finch lately?
Check out www.notcanada.com to see how "new Canadians" are enjoying their time in the country. |
Like I said, except for black immigrants. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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| thepeel wrote: |
| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
Canada isn't Europe, where ethnicities gather in ghettos, such as in France and Germany.
I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
I'm in favor if immigration, to start.
Ethniciites do gather in ghettos. Been to Scarborough or Jane Finch lately?
Check out www.notcanada.com to see how "new Canadians" are enjoying their time in the country. |
That link reads like it came from "the Onion". Thanks for the laugh! |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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Staff reporter
The term "flight capital" probably doesn't mean much to you, but if you have a stake in the GTA economy it should.
Three reports released in the last three weeks underscore the potentially harmful trend of "flight capital" � the loss of skilled immigrant and second-generation labour to competing job markets � and the effect it could have on the Southern Ontario economy.
This week, data from the 2006 census revealed a fact that's obvious even without the numbers: Many of the youngest neighbourhoods in an aging city with serious labour shortages are dominated by immigrants.
Another report, released by TD, detailed Toronto's relative economic decline compared with other Canadian cities, such as Calgary. It highlighted the myth of immigrants being the economic panacea for the GTA � an area where, in fact, huge numbers of young immigrants are likely to be unemployed or underemployed and earn considerably less than their non-immigrant counterparts.
And in late June, Catalyst Canada released its comprehensive survey of visible minorities in the Canadian workforce, which revealed a perceived glass ceiling that prevents immigrants and other non-whites from advancing beyond mid-level positions.
In a fluid, mobile global economy that allows the most skilled migrants and their educated children to cherry-pick the best jobs in the world, perception is everything.
"If Canada doesn't want the brightest computer programmers, science PhDs, doctors and financial experts there are a hundred other countries that do," says Myer Siemiatycki, director of Ryerson University's graduate program in immigration and settlement studies.
"Canada is gaining a reputation overseas as a place that's not as friendly to immigrants as people like to think. And, now, immigrant patterns and opportunities aren't what they used to be."
The historical view of newcomers destined to toil for generations before gaining a foothold in their new country has been replaced by what Kenny Zhang, senior research analyst for the Asia Pacific Foundation, calls the signal effect, "which means a person with high human capital probably has a better potential return on that capital (wage) in their home country or their parents' home country."
Zhang says that based on his research, "the situation in Canada and other parts of the world is that immigrants are now reassessing their opportunities and moving to other countries or returning to the countries where they came from. Immigrants are much more educated and mobile than in previous times."
Zhang says 675,000 Canadians have moved to Asia alone � the majority over the last decade � and that figure doesn't include those who left the country before getting their citizenship.
"The numbers are soaring," says Don DeVoretz, a professor of economics at Simon Fraser University who has studied the trend of immigrant flight for over 10 years. "Hong Kong, India and the U.S. are the most popular destinations. |
http://www.thestar.com/article/238305 |
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The_Conservative
Joined: 15 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| thepeel wrote: |
| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
Canada isn't Europe, where ethnicities gather in ghettos, such as in France and Germany.
I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
I'm in favor if immigration, to start.
Ethniciites do gather in ghettos. Been to Scarborough or Jane Finch lately?
Check out www.notcanada.com to see how "new Canadians" are enjoying their time in the country. |
That link reads like it came from "the Onion". Thanks for the laugh! |
Here's something that's not quite so funny. Even English teachers in Korea don't get treated quite as badly as some of these people were.
http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10177080 |
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The Perfect Cup of Coffee
Joined: 17 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| This isn't America, where meritocracy is entrenched in schools of higher learning. Canada is based on grades, for the most part. I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
I'm confused, isn't entrenched meritocracy the goal? Promotion by merit, based on ability. I'd say those are strengths in both the US and Canada. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| The_Conservative wrote: |
| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| thepeel wrote: |
| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
Canada isn't Europe, where ethnicities gather in ghettos, such as in France and Germany.
I don't get a sense that most minorities feel marginalized in Canada, they in fact feel Canadian, and that they can have a piece of the pie. |
I'm in favor if immigration, to start.
Ethniciites do gather in ghettos. Been to Scarborough or Jane Finch lately?
Check out www.notcanada.com to see how "new Canadians" are enjoying their time in the country. |
That link reads like it came from "the Onion". Thanks for the laugh! |
Here's something that's not quite so funny. Even English teachers in Korea don't get treated quite as badly as some of these people were.
http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10177080 |
Canadians are all talk. They know absolutely nothing about their own country beyond a few catch phrases that make them feel good.
www.notcanada.com has a message board where immigrants to Canada discuss how difficult it is to find work and gain societal acceptance. It reads like the Onion because a Canadian would never be knowledgeable enough about his own country to know how much of an unserious joke it is. |
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