24 Feb 2017
Just so that we have a common basis of analysis, the motion put forward yesterday is as follows:
Mme Nathalie Des
Rosiers: I move that, in the opinion of
this House, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario should reaffirm that diversity
has always played an important part in Ontario’s culture and heritage;
recognize the significant contributions Muslims have made, and continue to
make, to Ontario’s cultural and social fabric and prosperity; stand against all
forms of hatred, hostility, prejudice, racism and intolerance; rebuke the
notable growing tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiments; denounce hate
attacks, threats of violence and hate crimes against people of the Muslim
faith; condemn all forms of Islamophobia and reaffirm its support for
government’s efforts, through the Anti-Racism Directorate, to address and
prevent systemic racism across government policy, programs and services, and
increase anti-racism education and awareness, including Islamophobia, in all
parts of the province.
There is little worse than a sore winner. After seeing
her Anti-Islamophobia resolution passed unanimously in the Ontario legislature yesterday,
Nathalie Des Rosier, OC, OOnt, LLM, lawyer, professor, constitutional expert,
and Liberal MPP for Ottawa-Vanier, complained that she received an unspecified
“racist backlash.” Since Mme. Des Rosier is a Franco-Ontarian, it is hard
to image what could be racist in respect of any backlash she might have
received.
The response she received might have something to do with
the witless, unbalanced, and in an important respect false resolution that she
introduced. Unspecified Ontarians and Canadians are fatigued at being
accused of ‘hatred, hostility, prejudice, racism, intolerance…” and for being
rebuked for hosting the “growing tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiments”
and being condemned for harbouring various forms of Islamophobia. By
people who don’t know them.
I know I’m tired of it. I think time is better spent
trying to cut electrical costs, upgrade infrastructure, and balancing the
budget; but impotent, virtue-signalling resolutions like this are what the
Liberals want to talk about.
The resolution is unbalanced and false because the
statistics show that the real problem with hate is an old one: anti-Semitism,
not Islamophobia. Jews are far more likely to experience a hate incident
than any other group, including Muslims. But the statistics also show
that the problem is small.
The witlessness of the resolution is found in its
absolutism. “It enrages me that we still have this conversation
globally,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said in the legislature. That sounds
pretty hostile. That sounds pretty intolerant, and that hostility and
intolerance is directed at someone, those at whom the resolution is
directed. But since the resolution stands against all forms of
hatred, hostility, and intolerance the Premier stands condemned by the
resolution she spoke in support of. The resolution is intolerant of
fascism, and so condemns itself. In naming Islamophobia specifically and
singularly, and anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiments, the resolution commits an
act of Islamophilia – a prejudice favoring Islam, and so condemns itself.
The things the resolution condemns has to exist somewhere to
the minds of those who support it. That means that they think a fair
number of Ontarians bear these evil thoughts and attitudes in their
minds. As an old, white, old-line Canadian male, I’m an obvious choice of
being a guilty party. No wonder Mme. Des Rosier got a blast from her
constituents after her legislative success, for she had them condemned by their
legislature for what she said was in their minds. People she has never
met.
Permit me a few more kicks at the cat. The motion calls upon the legislature to recognize something that is patently false, namely that "diversity has always played a important part in Ontario's culture and heritage." Between 1867 and about 1975 multiculturalism did not exist in Ontario. There were French speakers of European descent in Northern Ontario and a few spots here and there in Southern Ontario while the rest were English speakers of European descent. Bilingualism and biculturalism. That was it. The diversity of multiculturalism did not even come into being until Canada was 110 years old. So the absolutism of "always" makes the resolution false. I am going to ignore the statement of the significant contributions Muslims have made and continue to make because, like much else, they are unspecified and likely wouldn't stand scrutiny; I can't name one significant contribution a Muslim has made to Ontario's cultural and social fabric distinct from mere existence.
One last kick: the resolution calls for the prevention of systemic racism in Ontario. Canada's Indian Act establishes systemic racism in Ontario. The efforts to implement the resolutions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are acts of systemic racism. The resolution simply fails to distinguish the good systemic racism from the bad systemic racism.
Virtue-signalling like this resolution are what dominates Ontario's politics. Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
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