Racial profiling? On Canada's Parliament Hill? Yowza!

February is Black History Month. Why they picked the shortest month of the year is beside the point. The politically correct governments of both the USA and Canada want us to celebrate whatever black history we can find -- e.g. the story of Viola Desmond, Canada's answer to Rosa Parks -- and make sure there's a lot more of it in the future. That means more events... and laws... to ensure that people of the coloured persuasion play a more prominent role in our countries' social and political life.

Up in Ottawa, the capital of the Great No-longer-white North, the ultra-PC government of Just In Trudeau decided to start the festivities off with a special "Black Voices on the Hill Day", the "hill" in question being Parliament Hill, the Canuck version of Capitol Hill [not exactly as shown. Ed.] 150 members of the alleged "black community" were invited to Ottawa for a series of meetings with eight federal cabinet ministers, to discuss great progressive ideas like affirmative action and building more basketball courts to put a stop to yoof crime.

Of course they couldn't all meet with the ministers at once. Some of them had to wait outside the committee room where the meetings were being held. The sight of large numbers of black people loitering in the corridors of power disturbed the Parliamentary Protective Service -- the rent-a-cops responsible for security on Parliament Hill -- who responded by asking the visitors to wait in the Parliamentary Cafeteria, so that's where they went.

Some racist -- not a Member of Parliament, surely -- who dropped by the caf for a coffee noticed the large number of people of a type not normally seen in that precinct, and took a couple of pix with his cellphone, which he then passed along to security. A PPS guard went to have a word with the visitors. According to a spokesthingy for the Federation of Black Canadians, the guard "responded by labelling the delegates 'dark-skinned' and telling them to leave, even though established regulations allow civilians with the appropriate pass to be in that space."

In the US of A, the request to leave would probably have been countered with a sit-in, but the sheep-like Canucks [black sheep? Ed.] left quietly, but did complain to one of their own, an African-Canadian [sic] senator from Nova Scotia -- a Trudeau appointee qualified not just by her colour but also her gender -- who went public with the story, demanding a meeting with Mr Socks and the customary apologies all round.

The Parliamentary Protective Service was quick to oblige. A spokesthingy said the force [sic] is investigating the incident, and the PPS director's chief of staff [sic] issued a statement saying that "Our security personnel must always conduct themselves with professionalism and respect towards parliamentarians, employees and visitors. We need to do a better job in ensuring that this standard is maintained across our workforce. The Parliamentary Protective Service has zero tolerance for any type of discrimination."

So that's all right, then, even though no-one's head has actually been seen rolling down Parliament Hill. A further apology from the Prime Minister is expected momentarily, to be followed by a six- or seven-figure cheque to salve the hurt feelings and make the black voices understand that they have indeed been heard.

Canadian money more funny-looking than ever

Americans have long made fun of Canada's "funny money". As you can see, the paper "beaverbucks" come in different colours. On the front are pictures of a foreign woman and four dead white men who many Canadians fail to recognize.

Four men and only one woman seemed politically incorrect to the Liberal government of Canuck Prime Minister "Mr Socks" Trudeau. To make matters worse, not one of the five people pictured is a vizmin. So a decision was made -- an egregious example of tokenism, even by Canadian standards -- to replace one of the white men with a black woman.

Conveniently, the white man who was the first to die was Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first prime minister (and a Conservative!), about whom there has been a good deal of controversy in recent months, similar to the controversy in the Excited States of America about Robert E. Lee. So, away you go, John Eh, and a big welcome to Viola Desmond, now appearing on the new $10 (= $7.50 in real money) banknote which goes into circulation this week.

featuring Viola Desmond’s portrait will go into circulation in a week, just over 72 years after she was ousted from the whites-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, N.S.

The Canadian Ministry of Truth describes the late Viola Desmond as a civil rights pioneer and businesswoman. Her business was a hairdressing salon (surprised?) which she operated in the "historic north end" of Halifax NS, home to one of Canada's oldest black communities. On 8 November 1946 -- nearly a decade before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Alabama -- Ms Desmond was dragged out of the Roseland Theatre by police, arrested, kept in the lockup for 12 hours and fined. 63 years later, the provinice of Nova Scotia issued her a posthumous pardon and apology.

A spokesthingy for the black community said he hopes the new banknote will "inspire young girls to pursue their dreams and push back against injustice." He went on to say, "I'm hoping having Viola on the bill will prompt people to want to know what's the story behind her, because still, there's a lot of people who have no idea who she was and what she stands for."

Walt says good luck with that. It won't be surprising (to me) if a lot of Canucks refuse to accept the new bill on the grounds that it just doesn't look like money, at least not Canadian money. Some will wonder if the queen had a facelift. I also predict some comments from the usual gang of NPCs that Ms Desmond has been made to look as if she was "passing". All this for political correctness!