Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Multiculturalism Gone Wrong?


Excellent letter...

article from the Calgary Herald (from an email), no publication date provided.


"Time to Change Tune on Official Multiculturalism 
by Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald - 

About one dozen families who recently immigrated to Canada are 
demanding that the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg excuse their 
children from music and co-ed physical education programs for religious 
reasons. The families believe music is un-Islamic ~ just like the 
Taliban believe and then imposed on the entire population of 
Afghanistan and that physical education classes should be segregated 
by gender even in the elementary years. 

The school division is facing the music in a typically Canadian way - 
that is, bending itself into a trombone to try to accommodate these 
demands, even though in Manitoba, and indeed the rest of the country, 
music and phys-ed are compulsory parts of the curriculum. Officials say 
they may try to have the Muslim children do a writing project on music 
to satisfy the curriculum's requirements. The school officials have 
apparently consulted the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, and they 
have also spoken to a member of the Islamic community suggested by 
those very same Muslim parents. In any event, the school district is 
trying to find a way to adapt the curriculum to fit the wishes of these 
families, rather than these families adapting to fit into the school 
and Canadian culture. 

Mahfooz Kanwar, a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, says he has a 
better idea. "I'd tell them, this is Canada, and in Canada, we teach 
music and physical education in our schools. If you don't like it, 
leave. If you want to live under sharia law, go back to the hellhole 
country you came from or go to another hellhole country that lives 
under sharia law," said Kanwar, who is a professor emeritus of 
sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary. 

That might be putting things a little more forcefully than most of us 
would be comfortable with, but Kanwar says he is tired of hearing about 
such out-of-tune demands from newcomers to our country. 
"Immigrants to Canada should adjust to Canada, not the other way 
around," he argues. If they did not like these things in Canada, why 
did they not go somewhere else? If they want Canada to be like their 
homeland why don't they go home? 

Kanwar, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan via England and then the 
United States in 1966, says he used to buy into the "mosaic, official 
multiculturalism" (nonsense). He makes it clear, that like most 
Canadians, he is pleased and enjoys that Canada has citizens literally 
from every country and corner in the world, as it has enriched this 
country immensely. But it's official multiculturalism - the state 
policy "that entrenches the lie" that all cultures and beliefs are of 
equal value and of equal validity in Canada that he objects to. 

"The fact is, Canada has an enviable culture based on Judeo-Christian 
values - not Muslim values - with British and French rule of law and in 
all of the other places in the world. We are heading down a dangerous 
path if we allow the idea of sharia law a place in Canada. It does not. 
It is completely incompatible with the idea and reality of Canada," 
says Kanwar, who in the 1970s was the founder and president of the 
Pakistan-Canada Association and a big fan of official multiculturalism. 

Kanwar says his views changed when he started listening to the people 
who joined his group. They badmouthed Canada, weren't interested in 
knowing Canadians or even in learning one of our official languages. 
They created cultural ghettos and the Canadian government even helped 
fund it. 

"One day it dawned on me that the reason all of us wanted to move here 
was going to disappear if we didn't start defending Canada and 
itsfundamental values." That's when Kanwar started speaking out against 
the dangers of official multiculturalism. He has been doing so for 
decades. So, it's no surprise that Kanwar is delighted with the recent 
speech British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered to the 47th 
Munich Security Conference on Feb. 5. 

"Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism," said Cameron, "we have 
failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want 
tobelong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving 
in ways that run counter to our values. So when a white person holds 
objectionable views - racism, for example - we rightly condemn them.. 
But when equally unacceptable views or practices have come from someone 
who isn't white, we've been too cautious, frankly even fearful, to 
stand up to them. 

This hands-off tolerance," said Cameron, "has only served to reinforce 
the sense that not enough is shared. All this leaves some young Muslims 
feeling rootless and ... can lead them to this extremist ideology." 

Kanwar actually credits German Chancellor Angela Merkel for being among 
the first of the world's democratic leaders to take the courageous step 
in October to say that official multiculturalism had "failed totally.." 
It appears leaders are getting bolder. During an interview with TFI 
channel on Feb. 10, French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared: "We have 
been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving 
and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving 
him." Cameron ended his speech by saying: "At 
stake are not just lives, it's our way of life.That's why this is 
achallenge we cannot avoid - and one we must meet." 

That democratically elected leaders are at long last starting to sing a 
different tune on official multiculturalism is sweet music to Kanwar. 
Here's hoping those poor kids in Winnipeg will get to hear some of it."

Licia Corbella is The Herald's Editorial Page Editor


"Definitely food for thought," sighs Kia.

 

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