Filed under: Issues | Tags: anti-Semitic, asian, Asian Canadian anglers, B'nai Brith Canada, canadian, Chinese Canadian National Council, Georgina, homophobic, Lake Simcoe, Ontario, racism, vandalism
Mayor apologizes for assaults on Asian Canadian anglers, anti-Semitic and homophobic vandalism. The mayor of Georgina has denounced recent attacks on Asian Canadian fishermen, as well as anti-Semitic and homophobic vandalism, and has apologized on behalf of his community.
“The people that I have the privilege of representing are shamed and embarrassed that this would have happened in our community,” Robert Grossi said yesterday after meeting with leaders of B’nai Brith Canada and the Chinese Canadian National Council.
Grossi’s comments came after swastikas and anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs were painted on nine vehicles in Keswick, while York Region police investigate a series of attacks on Asian Canadian anglers at Lake Simcoe.
“From what we’ve heard so far, they’re isolated incidents,” said the mayor of the lakeshore community of 40,000 north of Toronto.
Grossi was praised for meeting with local faith groups and educators about the attacks.
“We see leadership from the mayor on this,” said Victor Wong, executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council. “We’re quite appreciative of it.”
Grossi noted that police are investigating the attacks, and have stepped up patrols around the lake.
“York Regional Police have been very responsive, very respectful.”
Immediately after reports of the incidents last week, Grossi’s office issued a public statement saying that “broad-stroke painting of our community as a place that is unwelcoming to some groups or nationalities is unjustified.”
Yesterday, he said he still considers his community to be tolerant.
“We are a very welcoming community,” Grossi said.
In one of the recent incidents, a man was left in a coma after a violent confrontation between anglers and community members.
In other recent incidents, a man and a boy were pushed into the water while fishing.
Two related cases are before the courts, including one involving a high-speed chase that began when youths approached anglers fishing off a pier, and demanded to see their fishing licences.
The youths began shouting racial slurs and then chased the anglers as they fled, ramming their car from behind with a pickup truck.
Meanwhile, in the town of Westport on Big Rideau Lake, police are investigating at least two incidents in which locals have allegedly attacked Asian-Canadian anglers in the past two months.
In one incident, a man who was fishing with his 73-year-old father-in-law on a bridge at midnight was beaten up and thrown off the bridge by a group of young men.
In another incident, men wielding baseball bats and an axe forced some Asian-Canadians to give up their fishing spot on a local bridge.
In both cases, the victims were said to be from Toronto.
Residents of this hamlet say while they are fed up with people poaching fish from local reservoirs, they deny the incidents have anything to do with racism.
“People are really angry and I’m afraid sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt,” said Charlie Jones, who heads a local group of conservationists.
Filed under: Issues, Politics | Tags: Anglo-Saxon, canada, canadian, Chart of Rights, Conservative, freedom, Immigration, Liberal, Multiculturalism, Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau
Why do many Conservatives, not all, hate the Charter of Rights, Multiculturalism and Immigration in Canada? Why does the Charter of Rights make them feel that it is a flawed justice system? Why does the world multiculturalism ante up thoughts of destroying “their” culture? What is the fear about immigration? However, I had to take a look at history to realize that what they actually hated was the loss of power to control the lives of others; using discrimination, prejudice and ignorance as a way to dominate.
In essence, in Canada the courts aren’t above parliament. This is generally, a lie being pushed by people who think Canadians are not bright enough to know better. Parliament makes laws and those laws are limited by the constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If somebody believes that a law exceeds the limits put in place by the Constitution and Charter, they can challenge it in court. The Supreme Court of Canada has the final word on whether a law actually breaks the Charter or not, but most laws are struck down at the provincial level and the government doesn’t challenge the provincial courts on it. If the courts strike down a law, the government then has the option of rewriting the law so that it abides by the Charter.
That law is there to protect minorities against what is known as the tyranny of the majority. If the Charter of Rights did not exist, then I guess it would be fine for the majority of Anglo-Saxon Canadians to continue to discriminate against any one group of individuals. There is a need to limit the powers of majority in order to keep democracy from becoming something it should not be.
Multiculturalism is a way to recognition of the many, vast cultures that built, and continue to build, this country. It is amazing that so-called Canadians love to say that other cultures are eroding the Canadian culture. Please tell me, what is the Canadian culture anyway? Are Anglo-Saxons so much better than other cultures? Have we forgotten all of the groups that made of Canada anyway? Have we forgotten the history of Canada, which is based on a group of people that came to a place that was not their own? Also, remember that many things that we call Canadian are actually the essence of other cultures.
Lastly, check out the last names in your area and the meals you eat. All sorts of groups brought their foods and customs with them; slowly integrating them into Canada’s greater culture. There is nothing wrong with immigration; since it made the country we now call Canada. Those against it essentially live in a world of ignorance and fear. Somehow, they were better than any other culture that comes to Canada. There is so much unwarranted fear around the issues of immigration. In the end, many immigrants today still thank Pierre E. Trudeau for their chance to enjoy Canada. So it is no wonder why there is such a move for immigrants to vote for Liberals or NDP candidates during elections. Not to say that there are not minority groups that vote for conservatives. Those who do are generally either fiscal or religious conservatives. I am generally fiscally conservative myself, but I guess I would be labelled progressive. The problem is the baggage that comes along with conservative style parties. In addition, the Conservatives like to play to the religious side on issues to morality, albeit history has shown that many conservative types themselves were prejudice and immoral, in that fashion, themselves.
Canada will go on and change for the better. There is nothing anyone can do to stop that change. Learn and adapt. Learn about others, as they come and are forced to learn about you. Just because someone does not look like you, eat your food and think like you does not mean we cannot live together. We can all be Canadian, from different strips. We do not have to live in fear. This is one planet, and we are all in it together.
By: Torontomatic
Filed under: Issues | Tags: Bio-fuels, canadian, CO2, Coal, electricity, emissions, Gas, Geothermal, greenhouse, Solar, Wind
Electricity is obviously fundamental to the well-being of Canadian society and industry. We feed on it and it encompasses every part of our society. However, we now have to face basic questions to ask. With increasing demand and dwindling energy sources, will there be enough electricity to supply our needs? Can our future electricity be generated without harmful effects to human health and Global Warming? There is now near “universal agreement that climate change is by far the most severe environmental problem facing the world” and that CO2 emissions is the leader among greenhouse gas driving it. Since nuclear power plants (in theory) have zero or little carbon dioxide emissions, some foremost environmentalists also appear to have lost there way in opposition to nuclear power. Albeit, the production and extraction of Uranium still delivers carbon to the atmosphere.
Even with improved safety, such a large number of reactors would entail the risk of periodic disastrous mishaps. All reactor designs now installed have the risk of accidents on the same scale as Chernobyl. I guess having Toronto so close to two of them was not such a smart idea? The probability of catastrophes is very hard to guess. However the costs for such an accident are quite severe. Do the dangers outweigh the benefits? Many have not considered nuclear waste and the costs of storage and maintenance. Yes, there is a cost! You cannot simply bury and hope it goes away.
In Ontario we have some serious questions that must be answered. Dalton McGuinty, Liberal Party of Ontario, originally promised to close all coal-burning plants by 2007. This of course that was an illogical and not well thought out promise. Or it was a way to get people to vote for them, but that is not the point. The power has to come from somewhere! No one likes coal-burning power plants and the Nanticoke Coal Plant is still one of North America’s largest polluters. The Clean Air Alliance has recently released press information in regards to the effects of the Nanticoke plant to the Green House effect (http://www.cleanair.web.net/media/press.html). In Paris, intellectuals and scientists all agree that we are warming the planet. There are some arguments against it, however it would be hard pressed to find anyone who is willing to place the face over a coal-burning plant and breathe in to clear their lungs. There are other health affects that cannot be ignored. An about face must be made now and it is not as bad as some would let us to believe.
So what are the options being thrown around?
• Clean-Coal
• Bio-fuels
• Wind
• Solar
• Geothermal
• Others
We must start to think about future generations and not just ours. Protecting the environment is not a bad thing. We should be good stewards of what has been given to us, unless you believe the earth will end in the next few years. By definition, renewable energy is clean and generates little or no hazardous pollutants. So how we could move our electric industry away from nuclear and fossil fuels and toward renewable energy and energy efficiency, all while greatly reducing the quantity of greenhouse gasses from electricity. The nuclear power industry will continue to have a future as long as politicians cover nuclear costs. Undoubtedly, the policies that favor this dangerous technology should be transformed in favor of energy efficiency and renewable technologies. But remember, no energy technology is without risks, environmental effect or economic turmoil. Governments must continue to educate the public about conservation methods and the benefits of renewable energy sources, indicating how future generations will be affected if changes are not made now.
By: Torontomatic
