Changements à la charte des droits et liberté au Québec – La charte “des valeurs québecoises”

Bon, je ne suis pas certaine si je vais traduire le tout que j’ai écris hier en anglais; ce n’est pas mon meilleur texte et j’ai les émotions qui courent un peu partout. Que ressens-je en ce moment? Je suis triste, déçue, fâchée, même enragée par temps… D’un sens, je me sens aussi trahie par certaines personnes dans mon peuple, la culture dans laquelle j’ai été élevée. Bref, j’ai le cœur brisé…

C’est drôle, mes parents m’ont toujours dit d’être tolérante et ils m’ont élevés avec un esprit curieux, ouvert. Ils ne m’ont jamais montré comment différer entre une personne ou une autre basé sur la couleur de leur peau, la manière dont il(elle) se vêtit, leur pays d’origine, leur religion ou leur langue maternelle. Non, on m’a encouragée d’apprendre à connaitre et apprécier le monde basé sur leur caractère, leur personnalité, leurs valeurs.

Certains dirons peut-être que je suis naïve, mais j’essaie toujours de vivre ma vie de cette manière, de percevoir le monde à travers cette philosophie. Je ne peux m’imaginer à quel point ma vie serait limitée et vide si mes parents m’auraient inculqués avec une vision intolérante et fermée d’esprit.

Alhamdullillahi rabbil ‘alamin! (Louange à Allah, Seigneur de l’univers) En grande part, c’est grâce à eux et à la manière dont ils m’ont élevés que j’ai retrouvé mon chemin vers Dieu, que j’ai trouvé l’homme de ma vie, que j’ai eu la chance de m’entourer de gens magnifiques. Même si j’ai le cœur brisé avec ce qu’il se passe au Québec, je leurs suis infiniment reconnaissante de m’avoir appris que tout ce que je sais, y incluant que tout le monde est égal et que nous avons tous des droits; peu importe notre nom, sexe, origine, langue, foie, mode de vie, etc.!

Un positif dans toute cette situation; il semblerait que l’île de Montréal ferait une demande d’exemption pour cette nouvelle charte. Ceci m’a tellement remonté le moral. Toutes les municipalités et la grande Ville elle même, toute l’île, à l’unanimité s’oppose à la charte! Subhan’Allah! Voir l’article dans La Presse.

Je vais terminer ceci avec un lien vers un manifeste en français, écrit par un groupe surnommé Québec Inclusif. C’est un long texte mais ça vaut le temps de lecture.
Lien vers le manifeste
Et si vous aimez ce qu’ils ont à dire, je vous encourage à signer leur manifeste en cliquant ici.

Merci.

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On the proposed changes to the Québec charter of rights

As some of you may or may not know, the government of Québec is looking to make some changes to the provincial charter of rights and freedoms. Usually, I would say that change can be good, but in this case I cannot agree in the least!

This post may be a bit all over the place – I’m that annoyed/disappointed/mad/enraged/heart-broken.

 

What are the changes proposed?

It would ban the wearing of “overt and conspicuous” religious symbols by any public/civil servants while on the job.

So what is an “overt and conspicuous” religious symbol anyway? Large crucifixes, turbans, hijabs, burqas and kippas. But feel free to wear a small symbol as jewelry.

 

Who is directly affected by the ban?

Public service extends to: judges, police, prosecutors, public daycare workers, teachers, school staff, hospital workers (doctors, nurses and other staff), municipal personnel.

 

Why is this ban being proposed?

To ensure the equality of the sexes and establish a secular society. *please note the whole “equality of the sexes” thing – anyone else feel this whole thing is really aimed at women wearing hijab?*

 

While it may not sound all that bad, the tensions this whole issue has created are horrible! It pits one group against another. As if non “pure-laine” didn’t feel unwanted enough, this gets thrown in their face. I would also like to point out that it’s not only Muslims, Jews and Sikhs that are affected, but Christians as well.

In a country and province that depends so much on newcomers to immigrate and establish lives and families here to help support the population, I think this is just absurd! It’s like telling a guest to come over and stay, permanently, that they are welcome. But then you turn around to belittle them and make them feel so unwelcome with every chance you get. “I don’t like the way you look/dress/think/lead your life – you are below me! – but keep paying me rent and respect me.”

How can this proposed change benefit anyone in this province?

It doesn’t! It actually creates anger between groups, encourages the “us vs them” mentality that is already poisoning this society, will cause further segregation between groups rather than encouraging people to integrate and contribute to society, will increase the jobless rate and will lead to loss of manpower to other provinces.

That means that your 8, 12, 17 hour wait in the emergency room could increase! Why? Because it would seem that being cared for by a doctor with a kippa is unacceptable.

On an endless waiting list for a daycare spot for your little munchkin? Wait a little longer, why don’t you? It would seem a woman wearing a hijab is unfit to care for your child.

Like feeling safe at home? Well, worry no more! That menace to society, turbaned police officer has been sent packing and criminals will be freer to roam your neighbourhood now! (I hope you can hear the sarcasm)

Remember that freaking awesome French teacher you had? Well, she’s been sacked too – turns out her cross was too big.

 

In a province where emergency room wait times are now averaging 19 hours. Where parents are knocking door-to-door and waiting months before they can find a subsidized a day daycare spot (and the quality isn’t all that great either). Where the dropout rate in high schools is set at average of 29%. Where crime has hit its lowest numbers in about 40 years (nationally) due to better tactics and hard work by officers and the justice system… Have we forgotten that we accept immigrants not our of “pity” but out of need? Who else is going to support our ageing population? Quebecers don’t reproduce enough to create the jobs and workers needed to support our asses and all the services we demand!

So why in the world do we want to discourage people from public service? Why chase them away? In all honesty, the last time you went to the hospital, or to get your license renewed, or had a police officer answer your call – did you get your panties in a bunch because the person serving you was wearing some form of religious symbol? I, myself, couldn’t care less as long as I am getting my service and as long as the person is dressed in a professional and clean manner.

 

Another question: Everyone here pays taxes for services provided by the government, no? I highly doubt people wearing religious symbols have some form of tax exemption – At least I’ve never heard of one. So why pay taxes to an entity that wants to actually take away your rights and freedoms? It’s like paying to get slapped in the face!

 

I’m honestly angry from all sides when it comes to this issue. As a Québecoise (or Francophone), I cannot believe that people still have this “us vs them” mentality. The whole “Le Québec aux Québecois” thing never made any sense to me – it’s a province built on immigrants. I guess people are quick to forget that the French were colonizers who took over the land of the Natives. Then came the English, and others followed. All contributed in some way, shape, or form to make Québec and Canada what it is today. Look at what we have all created. Look at the diversity – it is one of the most beautiful gifts Allah has given us.

So it pains me to hear what some of my fellow Francophones say. And I take it to heart even more because I am a Muslim. They would have me limited as to employment and segregated the day I choose to cover my hair. And how would they look at and treat our children? They will not have Francophone names, they may even look Arab, and I hope they will be good, practicing Muslims (insha’Allah)… Should they be discriminated against simply because they aren’t 100% pure Québecois “de souche”? Because they may wear a religious symbol?

 

How much farther would you like this to go? Not allowing people to speak any other language other than French in public? How about limiting jobs to only certain races? It sounds ludicrous, but it’s really not far off.

I thought our laws prevented against job discrimination based on race, religion, age. Isn’t this discrimination? By refusing gainful employment to someone solely on the basis of religious symbols?

 

Do we not have better issues to deal with?

• Unemployment – about 5000 jobs were lost in Québec last month while other provinces showed an increase in jobs!
• Emergency room wait times – 21 hours in Montréal, 17 in the rest of the province.  Why? A doctor and nurse shortage due to crap salaries and conditions and restrictions.
• Lack of family doctors – many people do not have family doctors. Again, salaries, conditions and restrictions.
• Medical specialists – did you know that you can easily wait 6 months to see a specialist in our wonderful province? What if you had cancer? Wouldn’t 6 months possibly make all the difference between life and death?
• Subsidized day care – parents are constantly searching for a spot, waiting months to get one and the quality of service isn’t all that much to write home about.
• Corruption – if you haven’t heard about the Charbonneau commission, I suggest you check it out! Our tax dollars are lining the pockets of the political elite and their buddies. Who knew?!
• Education – cuts in elementary, high school and continuing education but no increase in tuition to make up for it. How well is that going to bode? Already, McGill is no longer Canada’s top University. That didn’t take long! Again, did you not see the high school dropout rate posted above?
• Quebec debt – Seems it’s at about $258 billion. No problem there, right?

 

I’ll stick with this very simple way of summing it all up:

“Simple minds are distracted by simple things”

 

Anyone in Ontario looking to hire a graphic designer/translator and a procurement manager? I’m so sick of this xenophobic province!

 

 

Here’s a link to a petition, if you’re at all interested.

 https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/le-gouvernement-qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois-parti-qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois-arreter-le-projet-de-loi-la-charte-des-valeurs-du-qu%C3%A9bec

And here’s what I wrote as my comment:

Ceci ne profite aucunement à notre société, ça ne fait que diviser les gens.

SVP, passons aux vrais problèmes : temps d’attente et services de la santé, éducation, création d’emplois, endettement, accès aux services, corruption, etc.

NOTRE GOUVERNEMENT TENTE DE NOUS DISTRAIRE AVEC DES CONNERIES! Mme Marois, cessez donc de gaspiller notre temps et notre argent et penchez-vous donc sur les problèmes qui nous touchent! Vous et votre parti ne fait qu’accroître la haîne entre les québecois et de nous faire honte en face du monde entier! 

 

Interested in further reading?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/09/10/f-quebec-charter-proposal-constitution.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/08/21/f-charter-quebec-values-jocelyn-maclure.html

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/09/11/kelly-mcparland-quebec-charter-is-an-embarrassment-to-canadian-values-and-human-dignity/

http://www.cjad.com/blog/TommySchnurmacherShow/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10586945

Say hello to our nephew – baby Yusuf!

On Friday, March 23rd, my sister (in-law, but I still consider her my sister) gave birth to her and her husband’s first child – baby Yusuf. The birth went pretty well, no complications and mommy and baby both went home the following evening.

I’m sharing a few of my favorite pictures here. A note to my sister and brother: While I have many pictures of the baby, I wouldn’t mind a few pictures of both parents with the baby… *hint hint hint* LOL!

Just a few days old… He’s still a bit pink!

I actually find it funny that he looks much older in this picture. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais il me fait penser à un petit poussin!

One of the famous “floating baby” pictures (there are plenty of these). But I particularly love this one due to the knitted disco baby booties! Check out the pompoms!!!

I had to insert this picture of baby Yusuf with his grand-mother (Salem and Lama’s mother). Can you tell just how smitten she is with her first grand-child?

Sporting Tante-Caro wear. I really like the contrasts in this picture.

I love the different angle in this picture.

It’s funny to see just how “gushy” Salem is when it comes to this whole thing. Meanwhile, I think the fact that I am an aunt hasn’t really sunk in yet. Is it simply because I have yet to see see my nephew in person? I am getting loads of pictures, FaceTiming and a few videos but… I still feel a bit… I don’t know, it’s just like my mind can’t make the full connection just yet. Hello, you’re an aunt! This is your nephew! Perhaps also because I am a bit stand-offish/terrified of kids in general. I can only remember a handful of kids I’ve ever felt comfortable around so perhaps that is also sticking around in the back of my mind… “What if I go there and he just doesn’t like me?” It may seem like a silly thing to think, but I am so uneasy around kids – I never know what to do with them and I can’t help but think that kids have some instant dislike of me…

Here’s a typical situation: I sit down next to a someone’s kid (10 months and older), I look at the child out of the corner of my eye. Internal dialogue: “Don’t look at them directly, you might make them feel uncomfortable – they don’t know you.” I slowly (and stiffly) turn to them, they look at me, barely moving a muscle, halfway to the “dear in the headlights” already. “Ok, just give them a smile, let them know you’re nice… OMG! Not that big a smile! What are you? The Cheshire cat? You’ll make them have nightmares!” I give a sheepish smile and quickly turn my attention elsewhere, feeling so uncomfortable “They hate me already! Crap!”.

Babies I can handle a bit more but I swear they can feel how worried I am that they will start crying. I know, I know, crying = they need something and it has nothing to do with me. But when a baby I am holding starts crying, I start hearing those blaring submarine alarms “abandon ship! abandon ship! crying baby!” and then I start scrambling frantically, baby held out as far as I can, trying to find a parent in order to hand off the baby.

So I guess, in a sense, this is some kind of confession to everyone who encounters me and introduces me to their kids – Please, don’t be offended if I seem a bit distant/nervous/not all gushy and smiles with your kids – it’s certainly not them, it’s 100% me (ahahaha, yes it seems the “it’s not you, it’s me” bit can apply to kids as well). Just give me time to get over my urge for “flight”. And if your kid can talk, please bring up topics of conversation here and there that they can participate in so I can get to know what I can talk to them about… I have a hard enough time figuring out what people my age talk about, your child is even more of a total mystery to me. Oh, and people with babies – I will almost never work up the courage to ask if I can hold your baby. If you want me to hold them, please ask me and I will almost always accept. I never ask for 2 reasons: 1 – my fear that the kid won’t like me and 2 – perhaps the parent doesn’t trust me with their kid… don’t ask, again it makes no sense, it’s just the way my brain works.

After all this blabbing, I just wanted to post about our nephew. Masha’Allah to mommy and daddy, you have a beautiful child. Insha’Allah, you will get to experience one of the most beautiful and rewarding things that Allah has to offer us during our short time on this earth. And when you get bored or tired, ship over the baby to us… If he likes me…

Student protests in Qubec concerning fee hikes to post-secondary institutions

One of the big news stories today in Montréal and the province of Québec are the student protests over the hiking of post-secondary educational institutions. The government plans to increase tuition fees by 325$ a year, every year until 2016 in order to better fund these institutions. Today, many students are outside these institutions, holding signs and forming chains to prevent people from getting in. As an avid listener of CJAD, I was floored to hear one protester saying that some students tried to get in to the buildings in order to go to class, that a few had gotten in and, this is what did it for me, he called them “closed-minded”.

Please excuse me as I step up onto my soapbox for just a few minutes (or get up on my high horse, whichever you prefer).

Why call some of the students, with their minds set to go to class, trying their best to brave a wall of another group of students with their intentions set on DENYING THEM OF THEIR PAID RIGHT TO AN EDUCATION considered closed-minded? Is it simply because they are not of the same opinion as another group? That, my friend, is being closed-minded. HYPOCRITE!!! *steps off box/horse*

Having been a student just a few years ago, living outside of home, paying for part of my tuition/books (although my parents did help me with educational fees – Alhamdullilah), I still held a part-time job throughout my studies and saved as much as I could to pay for the things I needed. Yes, I took on some debt but studies show that I most likely make more than those who didn’t get a post-secondary education. Basically, I invested into my future.

Students in this province seem to fail to realize that tuition fees here are much lower than in other provinces. Current tuition fees are around $2100 per year (2 semesters). With the hike, the fees would go up to $3700 per year by 2016. The rest of Canada charges approximately $4000 per year and the US… well I rather not think about it. While I do agree that the hike is quite steep for such a short implementation (I would have suggested by 2020), I do understand why these institutions need these hikes – Underfunded institutions (of any kind) eventually turn out a lower-quality product. An underfunded hospital may not be able to hire 5 great surgeons – instead, they hire only 3 great surgeons and overwork them until they either make mistakes or go on burnout. Post-secondary institutions need to fund not only their teachers/professors, but they also need to pay for the maintenance of their campuses as well as pay other forms of staff and student programs.

I personally find that a lot of students in this province seems to have this sense of entitlement “everything is owed to me, I haven’t done anything in life yet, but I DESERVE to be spoon fed everything I desire!”. A we Francophones would say “Donné dans le bec tout cuit!”. Perhaps if these students god part-time jobs, asked for low-interest government loans, didn’t go out drinking with their buddies on a weekly basis and actually practiced good money-saving and handling habits, then people wouldn’t get so bloody irritated any time students started whining!

My advice to all students:
1- Get a job!
2- Get a low-interest government loan (you don’t get paid any interest until a few months after you get your degree!)
3- Stop wasting your money on stupid things you don’t really need
4- There’s no shame in asking your parents for help. If you’re not yet in a post-secondary institution but are considering attending one sometime in the future, ask your parents if they’d be willing to start up a fund for you, or help you set up a special savings fund on your own.

Here are some articles about the protests if you’d like to read more:
CTV Montreal
The Globe and Mail

Ahk! I know I know! I’m bad!!!

I didn’t forget you or my blog. I’ve just been REALY busy lately!

I’ll have some big news soon and more recipes (and possibly even a few projects I am working on).

I just need to have some time to breathe. I spent the whole day yesterday cleaning my apartment (re-organizing)… I was hoping to get rid of a lot of stuff but it seems I need all the crap that I have! Damn you craftiness! Damn you!

I decided to take a break and head for a coffee shop for some reading at 8:30 (I’m back to reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich). I think some guy attempted to hit on me/pick me up on the way to the shop… He was in a car, let me walk past the gas station entrance rather than run me over only to continue straight to the exit (not even stopping for gas). I saw him out of the corner of my eye looking and me and I saw his mouth move so I guess he was talking to me. I’d like to thank my iPod for offering the perfect excuse for my not hearing him. I just kept walking. Of course, part of me feels bad if he was just asking for directions… but somehow I highly doubt that was the case. Please let me know if you think I’m full of myself. ;-P

On the schedule tonight: my friend Michèle is coming over to teach me the basics of cake decorating! Woohooo!!!! I’m kinda hoping she’s craving Indian takeout!

Ok, back to work! I’m leaving early today!

What the hell is going on???

I must ask this question because so many weird things are going on all over this great country of ours this week.

1- 17 year old girl gets kidnapped and killed by her boyfriend’s repeat-offense father.
2- Man is found dead in manhole in Montreal (whaaaa?!).
3- Crazy 40 year old stabs to death then decapitates 22 year-old, complete stranger on a Greyhound bus.

I woke up to the news of #3 yesterday. At first I was thinking this was some kind of sick joke, that it must be a mistake, but as time went on, I figured out it wasn’t some kind of joke. Hearing the stories made me feel ill (and as someone who watches all those forensic/medical shows, it’s hard to make me feel ill).

I feel I am really saddened by what happened as well as enraged. This young man did nothing wrong, nothing, yet this crazy psychopath decided he had the right not only to kill some random person but also cut off his head!

Now this may shock some people, but it’s times like this that make me think we should bring back capital punishment. There are some individuals whom I think really do not deserve the right to live, to take away the right for one person to live, you take away your right to live. Now, would I advocate this in all cases? No, of course not, only in extreme cases.

My condolences to the family of the young man who’s life was brutally ended. I also hope that the people present at this horrible event will be able to heal and deal with the circumstances of this event. I can;t even begin to imagine how these people feel.

Onto brighter news now: I took a day off and went over to Alison‘s place with Janet. Unfortunately the weather was horrible, but we still had fun stuffing our faces with pizza and some black bean brownies Janet brought along (mmmmm yummy!!!). Also, I couldn’t believe all the plants Alison has outside! Whoah! I know who I’ll go bug for advice if I ever get a garden of my own! Thanks girls for a wonderful day out!

So far it seems the swap is going well. Hopefully people are in the process of starting projects and plan on sending a little something soon to their spoilees.

I guess I best get going as this is the 5th time Pumpkin jumps on my desk since the beginning of this post. She just doesn’t seem to get that I am busy…. GRRRR!!!!!!!! More posting later or in the next few days.