Urback: Quebec’s plan to ban schoolkids from wearing religious symbols is a silly but harmful distraction

Yep:

…The most glaring conceptual flaw of this proposal, however, ties back to the original rationale for implementing Bill 21; that is, that people in positions of authority cannot wear religious symbols because of the power and influence they have over others. None of that applies in the case of schoolchildren. Children are not making court judgments, or issuing classroom suspensions, or enforcing law. They are simply existing at school, as members of a purportedly free society where we allow people to wear whatever they want as long as it does not materially affect others. The PQ can attempt to claim that children are impressionable when it comes to their peers, and that is true, but it is also irrelevant: If religious symbols are banned in school based on a concern that a child might be enticed to pick up a Quran, they will have to be banned everywhere in society, because influence can be exerted anywhere – not just in a classroom.

The proposal is a silly, yet harmful, distraction from the many real problems Quebec’s new government is tasked with taking on. And unlike the PQ, children in schools don’t have the power, authority, or persuasive rigour to do anything about them.

Source: Quebec’s plan to ban schoolkids from wearing religious symbols is a silly but harmful distraction

Lederman: For an Anishinaabe jurist, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit gets a failing grade

The general comments regarding the museum are raise questions about the museum’s ideological tilt and the extent to which community consultations may impede more balanced approaches (Laforme has been a strong advocate for measures against antisemtism:

…It’s a report by Anishinaabe scholar and retired justice Harry LaForme and his wife Janice LaForme, a lawyer, written for the Network of Engaged Canadian Academics (NECA), a non-partisan group of university and college faculty concerned about campus antisemitism. Mr. LaForme, the former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, examines the exhibition through an Indigenous lens, specifically an Anishinaabe one. The LaFormes, who are not Jewish, also wanted to assess the exhibit in the context of the museum’s other offerings.

This led to stunning findings. The scathing report concludes not only that the Nakba exhibition is “dangerously one-sided and divisive” and presents a “distorted and inaccurate history,” but that the wider museum is problematic.

“Throughout the galleries and exhibits reviewed, the authors found a troubling lack of fairness and balance, along with a willingness to co-opt Indigenous culture and tradition for ideological purposes,” states the report, titled “Betraying the Truth: How the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Violates Indigenous Values.”…

Source: For an Anishinaabe jurist, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit gets a failing grade

Opinion | America is not safe for refugees and Canadian border policies must reflect that now

Hard to continue arguing USA safe for refugees under Trump administration:

…This week, as Canada’s Federal Court hears arguments on the legality of the Safe Third Country Agreement, more than 130 U.S.-based immigrant-serving organizations and experts issued a rare joint statement: The United States is not safe for asylum seekers.

The situation is clear. Prime Minister Carney must pause the Safe Third Country Agreement until the United States is truly “safe” for asylum seekers.

Our organizations maintain databases that catalogue U.S. human rights abuses against people seeking safety. One such database tracks third country deportations: the Trump administration’s cruel policy that deports asylum seekers and refugees to unsafe countries where they have never been, including the Central African Republic and Honduras.

The other database tracks brutality and neglect in ICE detention, where deaths have nearly doubled in the past year. This includes Johnny Noviello, a Canadian citizen with U.S. permanent residency who died in ICE custody in a manner experts say was preventable.

The Canadian government claims that conditions in the United States are continually monitored and “only countries that respect human rights and offer a “high degree of protection to asylum-seekers” may be designated as safe third countries.”…

Anna MacLennan is a Canadian-American refugee advocate with the Refugee Advocacy Lab, Refugees International and the Human Impact Project. Dr. Yael Schacher is an historian of U.S. immigration law and Director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International.

Source: Opinion | America is not safe for refugees and Canadian border policies must reflect that now

Budget reinvests in parts of public service cut last year, economist says [IRCC]

All real pressures. Funny the juxtaposition between “significant backlogs” and the regular backlog updates that generally show progress in reducing them. CCPA has a bias towards a larger public service irrespective of outcomes and efficiency:

…The department only answered specific questions around funding for IRCC, pointing to “increasing pressure from identity fraud, security risks, large asylum inventories, and aging border technology.”

The result, according to the federal government, has been “significant backlogs” despite new measures to reduce asylum intake.

The federal government’s earmarking of $98 million over five years to reduce asylum backlogs will “help strengthen the integrity, security of Canada’s immigration and asylum systems, while focusing resources on initiatives that address immediate operational pressures,” said the finance department statement.

For Macdonald, regardless of instances where the government is putting money back into parts of its operations affected by CER cuts, the overall impact of the spending review is “massive.”

One silver lining for public servants whose jobs were cut, he said, is that any potential reversals could lead to some affected workers getting a callback notice months later.

“I mean, this does happen,” he said. “It’s just a lot easier to lay people off and close programs down rather than to start then back up, with a six month or a one year delay.”

Source: Budget reinvests in parts of public service cut last year, economist says

Ottawa under pressure to recognize Canadian citizenship of soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars

A more detailed article than the one in the Star, with more comments than just Don Chapman.

One thought that I have been increasingly pondering is the extent to which the government’s restoration of citizenship to earlier generations of those Canadian descendants in C-3, given that it has no generation limit and a significant number have applied whose ancestors pre-dated Canadian citizenship, would undermine previous government arguments maintaining the 1947 date.

Welcome any thoughts from those with greater legal knowledge than me.

…Ottawa lawyer Charles Gibson, who will lead the federal court challenge, said the government had “created a legal fallacy which will be rebutted easily by the overwhelming evidence that citizenship existed before 1947.”

But Andrew Griffith, a former director general at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), urged caution in changing the 1947 Citizenship Act, warning the ramifications of doing so would have to be looked at closely by the federal government.

He said whether citizenship predated 1947 is a “legitimate point of discussion,” but changing the government’s official position “can’t be a quick and easy decision.”

IRCC spokesperson Anahita Beladi said the Citizenship Act “introduced Canadian citizenship as a distinct legal status.”

“While the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada have confirmed that Canadian citizenship did not exist as a legal status with general application before January 1, 1947, this in no way diminishes the profound sacrifices made by those who served,” she added.

“Their courage, commitment and sacrifice remain an important part of Canada’s history and national identity.”

Source: Ottawa under pressure to recognize Canadian citizenship of soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars

The ‘lost Canadians’ of the world wars: Inside the fight to claim citizenship for those ‘willing to die for Canada’

Don Chapman continues his advocacy. Legally, Canadian citizenship only came into being in 1947 and informal recognition of those as “effectively” Canadian, as the maple leaf on their gravestones and the like, is different from formal legislative change:

…Chapman said the petition, which had been signed by more than 475 people as of Monday, is calling on the Canadian government to change its interpretation of the law, which holds that citizenship didn’t officially exist until Jan. 1, 1947. Before 1947, when the first Canadian Citizenship Act officially came into effect, all individuals born or naturalized in Canada were considered British subjects; others, like those of Chinese descent, had no legal status due to discriminatory and racist legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Chapman, who has dedicated more than two decades to fighting for reforms to Canadian citizenship regulations, said he’s gearing up to take the federal government to court over his bid for a resolution formally declaring that those killed in the service of Canada during two world wars were in fact citizens.

Chapman pointed out that while Canada commemorates the sacrifice made by these military members each Remembrance Day — some of their graves are even marked by maple leaves — they are still not officially considered citizens because of what he considers to be archaic rules.

He wants the approximately 110,000 who died for Canada in both world wars to be recognized, regardless of their status before 1947.

“We celebrate people as Canadian who the state says were not,” said Chapman, 72, a former airline pilot who authored “The Lost Canadians: A Struggle for Citizenship Rights” and founded the Lost Canadians movement. “This is a historic wrong. These are people who have fallen through the cracks.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada acknowledged but didn’t respond to the Star’s questions about the petition by publication time….

Source: The ‘lost Canadians’ of the world wars: Inside the fight to claim citizenship for those ‘willing to die for Canada’

Boucher-Gaudry | Femmes voilées ou droits voilés

Good framing of the issue:

…Il y a quelque chose de profondément contradictoire à prétendre défendre l’égalité des femmes tout en soutenant des politiques qui, dans leurs effets concrets, limitent les possibilités professionnelles.

J’invite donc les étudiantes de tous les domaines qui ont été contraintes d’interrompre leur formation en raison des effets de la loi 21 à témoigner de leur expérience auprès de l’Observatoire pour la justice migrante. Leurs histoires doivent être entendues, consignées et prises au sérieux. Il est essentiel de rendre visibles ces parcours que le débat public laisse trop souvent dans l’ombre.

Le Québec ne peut pas se dire pour l’égalité tout en fermant les portes de ses établissements et de ses milieux de stage à une partie de sa population. Nous ne pouvons pas dénoncer les pénuries de main-d’œuvre tout en acceptant que des étudiantes soient écartées de professions essentielles. Et nous ne pouvons pas prétendre défendre les droits des femmes sans écouter celles dont les droits sont aujourd’hui compromis.

Le voile ne devrait jamais devenir un écran derrière lequel on cesse de voir les compétences, les aspirations et les droits des femmes. Si nous voulons réellement une société juste et égalitaire, il est temps de regarder en face les conséquences de nos choix politiques.

Je publie cette lettre en solidarité avec mes étudiantes en techniques d’éducation spécialisée, que j’admire pour leur persévérance, leur engagement et leur volonté de contribuer à la société québécoise. Je refuse de considérer leur exclusion comme une fatalité.

Sébastien Boucher-Gaudry est professeur de sociologie au Cégep de Saint-Laurent.

Source: Idées | Femmes voilées ou droits voilés

…There is something deeply contradictory about claiming to defend women’s equality while supporting policies that, in their concrete effects, limit professional opportunities.

I therefore invite students from all fields who have been forced to interrupt their training due to the effects of law 21 to share their experiences with the Observatory for Migrant Justice. Their stories must be heard, recorded, and taken seriously. It is essential to make these journeys visible, as public debate too often leaves them in the shadows.

Quebec cannot claim equality while closing the doors of its institutions and internship programs to a part of its population. We cannot denounce labor shortages while accepting that students are excluded from essential professions. And we cannot claim to defend women’s rights without listening to those whose rights are currently compromised.

The veil should never become a screen behind which we stop seeing the skills, aspirations, and rights of women. If we truly want a just and egalitarian society, it is time to look face to face at the consequences of our political choices.

I am publishing this letter in solidarity with my students in specialized education techniques, whom I admire for their perseverance, commitment, and willingness to contribute to Quebec society. I refuse to consider their exclusion as a fate.

Sébastien Boucher-Gaudry is a sociology professor at the Cégep of Saint-Laurent.

Man who used fraudulent passport to get in and out of Canada 16 times handed 2-year sentence

Presumably will be deported after completing his sentence:

A Ghanaian man who used a fraudulent Canadian passport to leave and re-enter the country 16 times has been sentenced to two years in prison for citizenship fraud.

Jefferson Zormelo, 22, pleaded guilty earlier this year to violating the Canadian Citizenship Act.

On Monday in Calgary, Justice Karen Molle said Zormelo’s act “attacks the integrity of the Canadian citizenship regime.”

“The offence jeopardized public safety and our national security,” noted Molle. “Fraudulent use of Canadian passports affects Canada’s international reputation.”

With credit for the time he’s served since his arrest, Zormelo has about 14 months left behind bars….

Source: Man who used fraudulent passport to get in and out of Canada 16 times handed 2-year sentence

Elkouri: Laïcité de l’ÉtatCe qui répugne à Gérard Bouchard

Moi aussi:

…Rappelons que le rapport Bouchard-Taylor recommandait d’interdire le port de signes religieux non pas à n’importe quelle personne considérée comme en situation d’autorité, mais uniquement aux agents publics détenant un pouvoir de coercition et autorisés à exercer une violence à l’endroit d’un citoyen.

Que des étudiantes portant un foulard soient aujourd’hui forcées d’abandonner leur projet de travailler dans une école illustre une dérive dont les conséquences sont graves, croit le sociologue.

« Je me demande si les auteurs de la loi et ceux et celles qui l’ont adoptée se rendent bien compte des conséquences désastreuses que cela peut avoir sur la vie personnelle de citoyens et de citoyennes qui sont parfaitement légitimes, qui veulent s’intégrer au Québec et qui, un jour, occuperont des postes de responsabilité dont nous avons bien besoin. »

Pour Gérard Bouchard, l’appareil théorique et législatif qui a conduit à une telle dérive est vraiment « vicié ». « C’est tout à fait inacceptable. C’est même un peu révoltant quand on voit où ça peut conduire. »

Bien qu’il soit contre la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État, sur laquelle la Cour suprême devrait bientôt se prononcer, Gérard Bouchard ne renie en rien ses convictions souverainistes. « Même si le jugement de la Cour suprême allait dans le sens de mes positions, je serais quand même toujours très opposé à ce qu’une instance fédérale se mêle de nos affaires. »

Le sociologue considère que le scandale de l’école Bedford était « très évidemment un prétexte malicieux pour saisir l’occasion de donner un tour de vis à une politique qui était déjà discriminatoire et qui l’est donc encore davantage ».

Rappelons que parmi les professeurs mis en cause à l’école Bedford, on comptait des hommes musulmans qui ne portaient aucun signe religieux, ce qui, visiblement, n’a garanti ni leur neutralité ni leur professionnalisme. Rappelons aussi qu’il s’est écoulé sept ans avant que les premiers signaux d’alarme concernant l’incompétence et le zèle idéologique d’enseignants de cette école poussent les autorités scolaires à sévir. Une nonchalance insensée qui ne s’explique pas par un manque d’outils légaux en matière de laïcité, mais bien par un manque de courage.

Qu’une politique encore plus discriminatoire prive désormais des jeunes femmes désirant travailler dans une école de contribuer à la société comme elles le voudraient rebute Gérard Bouchard.

Source: Laïcité de l’État Ce qui répugne à Gérard Bouchard

…Let’s recall that the Bouchard-Taylor report recommended banning the wearing of religious signs not to any person considered in a position of authority, but only to public officials holding coercive power and authorized to exercise violence against a citizen.

The fact that students wearing a scarf are today forced to abandon their plan to work in a school illustrates a trend whose consequences are serious, the sociologist believes.

“I wonder if the authors of the law and those who adopted it are fully aware of the disastrous consequences that this could have on the personal lives of citizens who are perfectly legitimate, who want to integrate into Quebec and who, one day, will hold positions of responsibility that we really need. ”

For Gérard Bouchard, the theoretical and legislative apparatus that led to such a drift is really “corrupted.” “It is completely unacceptable. It is even a little revolting when you see where it can lead. ”

Although he is against the State Secularism Law, on which the Supreme Court is expected to soon decide, Gérard Bouchard does not deny his sovereigntist convictions in any way. “Even if the Supreme Court’s judgment goes in the direction of my positions, I would still be very opposed to a federal body interfering in our affairs.” ”

The sociologist considers that the Bedford school scandal was “very obviously a mischievous pretext to seize the opportunity to give a blow to a policy that was already discriminatory and is therefore even more so”.

Let us remember that among the teachers implicated at Bedford School, there were Muslim men who did not wear any religious symbols, which, obviously, did not guarantee their neutrality or professionalism. We should also recall that it took seven years before the first alarm signals regarding the incompetence and ideological zeal of teachers at this school prompted the school authorities to take action. This senseless nonchalance cannot be explained by a lack of legal tools regarding secularism, but rather by a lack of courage.

Gérard Bouchard is now disgusted that a more discriminatory policy is now preventing young women who want to work in a school from contributing to society as they would like.

Nunez-Neto: The Inconvenient Truth at the Center of the Immigration [USA] Debate

Plague on both their houses, valid:

Have liberals learned anything from the border crisis that helped return Donald Trump to office two years ago? Many have not, if a recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union is any indication. The group claims to offer a “way forward” for the country’s asylum system, which has become a back door for economic migrants. But the ACLU instead recycles arguments that immigration advocates have made for decades. Too many progressives fail to understand, or acknowledge, the real reason migrants, including those intending to seek asylum, cross the border illegally: People come when they think they can stay.

I have been working on border and immigration policy for more than 20 years, serving in senior roles at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security as well as Senate staff. I have seen, up close, surges in illegal immigration under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Again and again, the loudest and most extreme voices have set the immigration agenda for each party, to the detriment of the country. Despite Trump’s concession in yesterday’s 60 Minutesinterview that his administration’s handling of immigration was “too tough,” his elevation of the anti-immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller as his chief of staff suggests that this trend will continue. Immigration advocates who deplore the Trump administration’s aggressive tactics have an obligation to propose realistic, constructive alternatives.

Yet on the left, the ACLU and other immigration advocates continue to argue that enforcement at the border, including restrictions on asylum eligibility, do not prevent or deter illegal immigration; they simply create pent-up demand and encourage migrants to attempt more dangerous routes. As a result, according to advocacy groups, the only way to stem the tide of illegal immigration is to address the underlying problems that push people to leave their countries, and to provide more legal pathways for these migrants to come to the United States.

In reality, the United States’ inability to promptly remove those who lack a legal basis to remain in the country has been the driving force behind every major surge in illegal immigration since the Obama administration….

Source: The Inconvenient Truth at the Center of the Immigration Debate