Segacs’s World I Know

Statistics Canada released new census figures this week, and now the PQ nitwits are falling all over themselves to decry a “lack of bilingualism” in Canada.

“It’s a dream, this vast bilingual country and this dream is not a reality,” Diane Lemieux said at a news conference after the 2001 census figures were unveiled. “This image of Canada being a bilingual country is an image disproven by reality. “It’s not true that French and English coexist as equals throughout Canada.” Lemieux said French would be better protected if Quebec were sovereign.

“The real solution is for Quebec to be a country,” she said.

The census showed Canadian bilingualism is divided along geographic lines, Lemieux suggested.

Of course, to the PQ, everything would be better if Quebec were sovereign.

But that’s not the point here. The point is that while the number of francophones in Canada (excluding Quebec) dropped a tiny bit – 4.4% down from 4.5% in 1996 – the truth is, both French and English-speaking populations dropped as the number of allophones (people with a mother tongue other than French or English) increased sharply. This is a result of increased immigration and multiculturalism, and only the PQ would see it as a BAD thing.

Wasn’t it Louise Beaudoin who was rallying about “rampant” bilingualism just a few short years ago? Of course, in that case she meant Quebec – where 83.1% of people speak French at home, compared to only 8.3% who speak English (down from 8.8% in 1996). Of course, to the PQ, bilingualism is only bad if it’s in Quebec. Their “raison d’être” is to preserve French, and of course there’s nothing wrong with that except when it’s done by criticizing other languages and groups.

Language has always been divided along geographic lines. That’s human nature. People tend to gravitate towards areas and communities where there are others who share their language and culture. In fact, the entire PQ argument for sovereignty is based on the division of language along geographic lines.

The problem is that the PQ has always seen the population of Canada as pieces on a chessboard, which they are free to position and manipulate at will. This was the reasoning behind immigration policies that would see immigrants forced to live in designated (outlying) areas instead of big cities. This was the reasoning behind efforts to shut down English schools and force all immigrants to send their children to French schools, even if they already speak English fluently. This was the same reasoning behind the law forcing all companies with 50 or more employees to conduct their internal business in French – even if all the people working at the company are non-francophone – and to advertise in French even if they’re targeting a mainly non-francophone market.

The PQ wants to hammer out a francophone society – whether the people like it or not. And now the same government that has been so restrictive of its anglophone minority is criticizing the rest of Canada for not being French enough! The difference, of course, is that in the rest of Canada, people are free to speak whatever language they choose. And this is apparently what the PQ finds so offensive. Maybe they ought to start targeting communities out in Alberta for “forced bilingualism” laws. Something tells me they wouldn’t get welcomed with a red carpet.

I’ve heard a lot of discourse lately on what’s gone wrong in Europe – why there’s so much of a propensity to support false moral equivalences, why antisemitism is on the rise, and why the EU is so quick to criticize Israel while defending Iraq.

There are tons of theories out there, but I think I’ve finally got the winner: Lack of priorities. Most Europeans would rather give up sex for a month than quit smoking.

Nearly 80 percent of British smokers, almost 70 percent in the Netherlands, France and Germany and more than 55 percent in the Belgium and Spain would forgo sex rather than live without cigarettes for a month.

Well, that explains it perfectly.

On Saturday, King Abdullah II of Jordan made a speech about how the “true voice of Islam” is against terrorism and violence. And while he included the seemingly requisite criticisms of Israel and the “balanced” call for an end to “all” violence, it’s at least a step.

Now Nabil Shaath, a top Palestinian cabinet minister has added his voice to the rising condemnation of violence:

Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said attacks on all Israeli civilians must stop, including on Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “Stopping targeting Israeli civilians is a step that needs to be implemented,” Shaath said.

I’m sure we could find plenty to criticize in both those leaders’ motives, politics, or even actions. But that’s besides the point. The point is that – whatever their motives – prominent voices are criticizing terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend.

Noah Sarna and Noah Joseph, co-presidents of Concordia Hillel, have written an article urging all Concordia students to take back their campus. It’s not much more than a summary of what we already know, but it’s worth a read.

The university reversed its original decision, made Friday, and Gideon Kouts will be allowed to speak today as originally scheduled.

But the following may shed some light into why the university cancelled the planned talk in the first place:

Desmarais said the university received two threatening phone calls after posters advertising Kouts’s talk were put up around campus on Wednesday.

The anonymous callers threatened the event with the same type of violence that marred the anti-Netanyahu protest.

“Suddenly, some people became very tense at UQÀM,” Desmarais said. “It was asked, ‘Are we going to have the same things happen here that we saw elsewhere?’ – namely Concordia.”

Kudos to UQÀM for not giving into this kind of bald-faced blackmail. And to the cowards who made those calls, if you’re out there, know this: We have no tolerance for your kind of mob rule here in Canada. This is a free and open society and even people you disagree with have the right to be heard.

Some of you may notice that several comments have been deleted. I posted repeated warnings, but sadly, they were unheeded, and I was forced to step in. I’m as against censorship as anyone, but several posts have crossed the line and I was forced to remove them. You know who you are, and I’m tired of playing nanny, so behave.

Thought it was just Concordia, did you? Well, now the Université de Québec à Montréal is throwing its hat into the ring of anti-Israel universities. The Gazette reports that a scheduled talk by Israeli journalist Gideon Kouts has been cancelled. The stated reasons are technical problems in space booking and “complaints over ads for the event”. In other words, the pro-Palestinian lobby put pressure on the university to shut this down, and it caved.

(Kouts) said he is surprised and more than a little mystified by the university’s decision to scrap his appearance. “I’m not inciting anyone. I’ve never killed anyone. I’m just a journalist and a university professor who was coming to talk to Jewish and non-Jewish students about my experience (in Beirut),” said Kouts, who was to speak tomorrow.

Hillel’s ads for the event consisted of posters and handbills showing a Star of David with a slash through it, and the words “De Durban à Beyrouth, l’exclusion d’Israel et des juifs”. Looks like Montreal has to be added to that list now too.

Kouts is the same journalist who had his credentials revoked at the Francophonie Summit last October for being Israeli and filing reports with an Israeli TV station. Anyone in Lebanon with Israeli nationality is subject to arrest and deportation. So Kouts is no stranger to controversy. But he’s still perplexed at the turn of events at UQÀM.

“In my mind, it’s censorship. It astounds me that this could happen in a free city like Montreal . . . I’ve never had this happen in France or in any Arab country I’ve visited,” Kouts said.

Kouts will deliver his speech at the Federation CJA Building instead, but won’t have the opportunity to address students.

This is a clear case of censorship and the repression of the right to free speech. Just like at Concordia, pro-Israel speakers and students at UQÀM are having their rights trampled on. This needs to be fought wherever and whenever it happens.

The following comes courtesy of an e-mail from Jon, and explains further the distinction between the two legally separate bodies:

Everyone who gets upset with what’s going on at Concordia blames the administration, but they are totally powerless on the issue. The CSU is a separate and legal institution, and as such the admin has no recourse against them unless they start breaking laws. I know that it’s hard to understand, because the CSU is ON university premises, and therefore people wonder why the admin just doesn’t step in and stop them.

Problem is, the CSU successfully won an “accreditation” vote in September 2000, which gave it official status as the representative of Concordia undergrad students. It legally owns it’s office space on the 6th floor, it owns the Reggie’s space, it owns the Java U space, it co-owns the Mezz space on the 2nd floor, it owns the Hive at Loyola, and it collects approximately $600,000 from students every year, which is part of it’s annual overall budget of approximately $1.2 million. This is not a trivial student club; it is a powerful, legal, and resourceful institution that is being run by legally elected members of the student body. The admin is literally not allowed to step in and do anything to it unless it has just cause. And as long as whatever the CSU is doing only affects students, the admin can’t do a damn thing: in the eyes of the law it’s up to the students to change things because they’re the members of the student union.

So, as a result, it’s pointless to attack the admin because they are the CSU’s BIGGEST enemy, and the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Trust me when I tell you that if the admin could take down the union in ANY way possible they’d do it at the drop of a hat.

In other words, the fight is against the CSU, not the Concordia admin. The real change needs to come at the ballot box.

The Habs finally broke their losing streak. Montreal won tonight 4-2 over the Coyotes. Way to go, guys!