Canada

The Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, released a new citizenship guide for potential immigrants. The minister and the media seemed to focus their attention on new provisions that state “new Canadians cannot engage in barbaric cultural practices such as genital mutilations and honour killings”. The new guide also places emphasis on getting employment and while immigrants may want to retain links to their roots they also have an obligation to celebrate the common values of Canadians and respect our laws. We are not very clear on the consequences of non-compliance to what we expect from our new citizens. From my ... Read Full Story

The union boss for Ottawa’s taxi drivers, Yusel Al Mezel, was sentenced yesterday to 12 months in jail for threatening the life of his daughter. Al Mezel argued that his actions were motivated by his desire to protect his family. From Al Mezel’s perspective, violence against women, which can range from intimidation to death, can be rationalized as an ‘honour crime’ and thus, acceptable. Al Mezel wanted his daughter to obey him and as he lives in one of those worlds where women have no rights and are expected to obey, he felt obligated to use threats of violence to impose his will. There’s ... Read Full Story

Notwithstanding the original objectives of the long-gun registry program, it was sold to Canadians on the basis that it was only going to cost a few million dollars and that the program would be a lifesaver. A billion dollars plus and 14 years later, the usefulness of the program objectives has continued to remain open to discussion. While there still are a few more hurdles to cross, I hope the naysayers will come to conclude that the long-gun registry had been advanced, however well-intended, without a sufficient analysis of the costs and benefits. Now is not the time for political gamesmanship but rather an ... Read Full Story

Using the podium at a conference on security and intelligence to get their message out, both CSIS Director Richard Fadden and RCMP Commissioner William Elliott are trying to get Canadians to understand that Canada is not immune to terrorism. While Elliott was also making a pitch for more resources dedicated to terrorism related investigations, both men captured the attention of their conference audience with their resolve to try and do more. From my perspective, many Canadians continue to believe that Canada is in some way insulated from terrorism. With most of the ongoing carnage happening in a faraway place, people will tune out from ... Read Full Story

There has been a lot of recent advertising by both the television networks as well as the cable/satellite companies trying to convince consumers that they are the respective good guys in this debate about paying for local television. As they toss the blame back and forth through television announcements and full page ads in newspapers, it is the consumer that will be stuck with paying the bill. The CRTC has established the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) which is intended to subsidize some smaller market TV stations and Rogers has already added this new charge to the monthly bill. Television stations should be able ... Read Full Story