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- 104
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- October 2009 and 15 April 2011
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- 15 July 2011
Subject: Muslims in Manitoba [article from the Calgary Herald]
Date: Sat, 7 May 2011 14:25:51 -0400
Time to Change Tune on Official Multiculturalism
by Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald - February 12, 2011
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 coed 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.
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 traditions and that's why it's better than all of the
other places in the world. We are heading down a dangerous path if we allow
the idea that 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 its
fundamental 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 to
belong. 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 a challenge 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
lcorBella@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Date: Sat, 7 May 2011 14:25:51 -0400
Time to Change Tune on Official Multiculturalism
by Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald - February 12, 2011
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 coed 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.
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 traditions and that's why it's better than all of the
other places in the world. We are heading down a dangerous path if we allow
the idea that 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 its
fundamental 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 to
belong. 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 a challenge 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
lcorBella@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
