Walt is obliged to correct the belief of some of his Agents and readers that all the Muslims who've immigrated to Canada in the last decade are living on welfare in Toronto. One notable exception to the stereotype is Mahfooz A. Kanwar, emeritus professor of sociology at Mount Royal College in Calgary.
Dr. Kanwar came to Canada in 1966 (via the UK and then the USA), and seems to have embraced the values of his adopted country, even if that means forgetting about imposing his Muslim culture on that of the majority in the name of the official multiculturalism so beloved of the Canadian government.
Walt's attention has only recently been drawn (by Agent 6) to some quite politically incorrect statements made by Prof. Kanwar in response to demands by some Muslim immigrants to the Winnipeg area. Just over a year ago, about a dozen Muslim families who recently immigrated to Canada demanded that the Louis Riel School Division excuse their children from music and coed physical education programmes for religious reasons. Like the Taliban, the families believe music is un-Islamic, and that phys ed classes should be segregated by gender even in grade school.
The school board reacted in the usual PC Canadian way, bending itself double to accommodate these demands, just like the Toronto District School Board. (See "Update on Islamization of Toronto schools", posted here in July.) For instance, although music and phys ed are compulsory parts of the Manitoba curriculum, the educators said they might have the Muslim kids do a writing project on music to satisfy the legal requirement. In short, the school district tried to find a way to adapt the curriculum to fit the wishes of the minority, rather than requiring the minority to fit into the school and Canadian culture. Another case of the tail wagging the PC dog.
Dr. Kanwar, however, begs to differ. Although a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, he said he would "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."
He added that he is tired of hearing about such out-of-tune demands from newcomers to Canada. [Obviously the good doctor is an accomplished punster. Ed.] "Immigrants to Canada should adjust to Canada , not the other way around," is how he put it.
Dr. Kanwar says he used to buy into the official multiculturalism which became fashionable during the reign of Trudeau, the Sun King. He makes it clear, that like most Canadians, he is pleased that Canada has citizens from every country and corner in the world, but he rejects "official multiculturalism" -- the state policy "that entrenches the lie" that all cultures and beliefs are of equal value and of equal validity in Canada. [Walt's emphasis.]
"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 has a place in Canada. It does not. It is completely incompatible with the idea and reality of Canada," says the professor.
Back in the Trudeau era, Dr. Kanwar founded the Pakistan-Canada Association, and was a big fan of state-sponsored multicult. But 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 the country's official languages. They created cultural ghettos which were duly funded by the Canadian government.
"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 he started speaking out against the dangers of official multiculturalism, and he's been doing so ever since. Click here to read "Tolerance misplaced" written by Dr. Kanwar in 2009.
See also "Multiculturalism fails in Canada too, says Muslim leader", which relates to a speech delivered to the 47th Munich Security Conference in February 2011 by British Prime Minister David Cameron. "Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism," the British leader said, "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."
Except in Canada and the USA, it has suddenly become OK for political leaders to say things like that. Back in October 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the first of Europe’s democratic leaders to have the stones [Errr... Ed.] to say that official multiculturalism had "failed totally."
In February 2011, while the Winnipeg educators were busy pandering, French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the government policy that encourages immigrant groups to foster distinct societies within France "is a failure.... If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France."
M le Président added, "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." And M Sarkozy hasn't changed his tune in the intervening year. Just this week, Walt noticed, he said, while campaigning for re-election, that France has too many foreigners which she can't accommodate. Pretty strong stuff for the son of a Hungarian Jew.
As for Dr. Kanwar, he says for years, some "non-whites like me" have felt the failings of official multiculturalism must be exposed. He must be encouraged, nowadays, to see that leaders of the majority culture are starting to get it, at long last. Well... in Europe, anyway.
I wish Muslims all the best living in the country of their origin. Here in Canada we have a different way of living. If you want to live like an animal, go live with animals. If you want to be a part of the civilized world, then you are welcome to join the team. Like most, I don't care about the colour of your skin. I welcome people to seek a better standard of living here in Canada. But the muslim faith has no place in a civilized country.
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