Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
No room for xenophobic rhetoric
I seldom comment on other columnists' contributions to this newspaper. They have their opinions and I have mine. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't, and it is good to have differing points of view.
But, having said that, I cannot let Harry Stemp's column of last week go unchallenged.
Mr. Stemp went on at some length to rail against multi-culturalism, as is his or anybody else's right. The problem is, he aimed his comments at one culture alone: the Muslim community. And in doing so, in my opinion, he showed his prejudice.
Unfortunately, he is not alone. It has become almost the accepted thing to do these days, with little or no repercussions.
Mr. Stemp talks about the Dutch experience with Muslim immigrants and, in effect, grafts it onto the Canadian experience. He talks about the Dutch demand that new immigrants be required to learn the Dutch language and how the Dutch will "take a tougher approach to immigrants who ignore Dutch values or disobey Dutch law", of how "tougher measures" will be taken if they don't abandon the way they dress to improve their chances of employment. He talks of how the Dutch will impose a ban on face coverings.
It's not a stretch to believe that Mr. Stemp would like to see the same in Canada.
If that is the case, I would ask him and you just exactly what are Canadian values? As I discovered myself this week, I have vastly different values from some of my fellow Uxbridgians (but that's another story). And I'm sure I would have different values from someone living in Inuvik.
For example, do our Canadian values include the acceptance of torture? Most of you would say no. But, as the Montreal Gazette reported last month, a former director of CSIS wrote a letter in 2008 urging the government to fight an amendment to a government bill that would prohibit CSIS and the Canadian courts from using information obtained by torture.
On the issue of dress, it is not uncommon in the big cities of this country to see women from India in offices and stores wearing saris. That doesn't seem to hurt their chances of employment. And, to use the Dutch example, why should a tougher approach be taken for immigrants who break the law than to Canadian-born citizens who break the law?
As for the demand that Muslim immigrants learn our language (English or French), how about the multitude of Italians and Chinese, for example, now living in Canada who speak not a word of either of the two official languages? How come nobody talks about them? You can go to Vaughan or Agincourt and find many such people
No one talks about Turkish or Syrian or Egyptian or Lebanese immigrants. No, it's always about Muslim immigrants. But if we look at immigrants from Europe, we talk about Italians or Germans or French, not Christians.
If you took the word Muslims in Mr. Stemp's column and substituted it with the word Jews or Hindus or Christians or French or Italians or Spanish, there would be an uproar. But Muslims have become fair game. Decades ago, it was the Irish immigrants who were vilified, then the Italians, then the Pakistanis. There's always some group to dump on with impunity: it's just a matter of who is the favourite whipping boy of the times.
Mr. Stemp points out that "Muslim immigrants leave their countries of birth because of civil and political unrest created by the very nature of their culture". Is he telling us that Muslims are the only people in the world that emigrate because they want a better economic future? Is he telling us that America was founded by Muslims from England? Is he telling us we don't have political unrest in this country?
That there is considerable strife in this world caused in great part by a conflict between Muslims and Christians and Jews is undeniable. But you don't solve problems by telling someone their dress is unacceptable or that they cannot honour their traditions. If that were the case, there would be no beer-swilling and lederhosen in Kitchener at Oktoberfest and there would be no dragon parades in Chinatown.
It seems to me that as long as immigrants obey the law as it applies to everyone and do their best to contribute in some way to society, it doesn't matter where they come from or what, if any, religion they choose to practice.
Tell me, am I wrong?
