Another Tour de Farce with One Glimmer of Common Sense -- Quebec bans Sharia

First major Metis land claim will go to court next year

If Metis refers to part white, part aboriginal citizens, how do they get to join the land claims settlement group? How are they identified? Could other Canadians dig back into their family history, find an aboriginal ancestor and get in on . . . ?

WINNIPEG - A Metis claim that much of Manitoba's most valuable land was illegally taken from the mixed-blood aboriginal community in the 19th century will finally be heard in court next year after more than two decades of delays. Canada's first major Metis land claim trial begins April 6, 2006, in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench [. . . . ]

Anti-Business

The anti-business book awards Peter Foster, May 27, 05. Foster lists some good books, as well as skewering the candidates for the prize, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and BMO Financial Group.

Perhaps the two most bizarre recent winners were Ingeborg Boyens' Unnatural Harvest: How Corporate Science is Secretly Altering Our Food and Naomi Klein's No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies.

Douglas Powell, a professor of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, called Ms. Boyens' book "the antithesis of a well-researched, investigative and compelling report worthy of a national award." He noted that the book was "laced with New-Age hucksterism." [. . . . ]

Link for the whole article and his list of books that deal with Bombardier, Air Canada, Conrad Black and Edgar Bronfman Jr. which are on my wish list . . . . or for a trip to the library.



Failed refugees might receive second chance -- Class action claims thousands unfairly ordered out Adrian Humphreys, National Post, May 27, 05

Nearly 4,000 rejected refugee claimants -- including some denied status in Canada because of wartime atrocities and crimes against humanity -- could be allowed back to try again for residency if a lawsuit filed by a recruiter and fundraiser for a militant group is successful.

[. . . . ] The lead plaintiff, Vivekananthan Nalliah, in fact, is deemed in court records to be a member, fundraiser and recruiter for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Sri Lankan armed faction responsible for conscripting child soldiers, killing two world leaders and carrying out more suicide bombings than any terrorist group.

The LTTE was designated as a terrorist organization in the United States in 1997 but is not named as such in Canada.

[. . . . ] A legal notice of the proposed suit appears on the CBSA Web site, . . . .

. . . . may be entitled to return to Canada," it says. [. . . . ]

Criminals' Charter Guarantees & Other People's Money

Really, the Auditor General's reports, even old ones when you come upon a distillation of some particularly egregious facts, are best sellers.

I found this on the way to something else -- worth reading. Our government cannot adequately fund our own security; there is going to be a Charter Challenge over failed refugee claims ( Failed refugees might receive second chance National Post, May 27, 05) . . . . . and Canadians are paying for this?

Religious Diversity in Kingston Penitentiary: Jails struggle to accommodate religious diversity, audit says, copy of an article in the Globe and Mail by Gloria Galloway, Jan. 13, 03, A6.

Federal inmates who are religious but not Christian are dissatisfied with the level of spiritual services provided to them, a recent departmental audit has found.

[. . . . ] The Canadian Charter of Rights guarantees prisoners access to the accoutrements of their religion -- be it paganism, Zoroastrianism or Satanism. That guarantee plays out in all kinds of ways, from a separate outdoor space at Kingston Penitentiary that has been set aside for Wiccan ceremonies to the provision of meals to meet special religious requirements, says the audit completed in June

[. . . . ] That means any institution might find itself housing a sole member of a certain faith, a Rastafarian, for instance, but must still accommodate that person's religious needs as long as they are within the bounds of law and will not disrupt security. [. . . . ]

But "there are cost implications," she said. When "kosher food or halal food or specific things that are religiously required or justified, are needed in such small amounts, that always costs more." So much more that the department had to ask the Treasury Board this year for an additional $1.06-million to make special meals.

About $400,000 of that went to inmates who are on therapeutic diets. The rest was for the roughly 650 inmates who need distinct meals for religious reasons. [. . . . ]

Can you believe that, especially if your diet is determined by what is on sale, reduced, or given to you by a gardening friend or relative? If they hadn't committed crimes, they would not be in prison and the fact that they did says something about their spirituality . . . unless, of course, they were following their faith's teachings.




Religious Diversity Kingston

The number of Muslims in Canada increased by more than 128 per cent during the 1990s ­ a reflection of Canadian immigration patterns during that period. For the first time ever, there are more Muslims (579,640) than Jews (329,995) in Canada. Moustafa Fahmy is the past president of the Islamic Centre of Kingston and now a member of the centre. He said while Kingston doesn’t attract the same number of Muslim immigrants as bigger cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, Kingston does have a strong Muslim population. He says the Muslim population has steadily increased here over the years and estimates about 1,000 people belong to the Islamic Centre. [. . . . ]

Unfortunately, I have come to see this as simply importing a fifth column movement or worse. Until Muslims rail against the extreme nature of Islamic practices in relation to women's rights, I see no compromise between Islam and democracy. I fear that the only reason for lack of problems with Islamic immigrants--men, in particular in the past--was low numbers. That has changed. I do NOT want Sharia in Canada.



PQ Common Sense

Quebec has few qualms about political correctness . . . which is good for women.

Quebec bans sharia -- Blow to proponents of using Islamic law in Canadian society Kevin Dougherty, with files from Mike de Souza, ElizabethThompson and Lee Greenberg, May 27, 05, National Post.

[. . . . ] "It's important to send a very clear message that there's one rule of law in Quebec," Premier Jean Charest said. [. . . . ]

Islamic fundamentalists have targeted Canada to introduce sharia law -- a code of conduct based on the Koran that critics say discriminates against women -- because of this country's rights guarantees and official multiculturalism, said Quebec Liberal Fatima Houda-Pepin, who proposed the private member's resolution.

[. . . ] Francoise Boivin, chairwoman of the Liberal women's caucus, praised the National Assembly's resolution, describing Islamic tribunals as "dangerous." [. . . ]

Why do Muslims come here if they want to live under Sharia? You will note, the traffic is one way.