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In my lifetime there have been any number of Royal Commissions established with many of them discussing our dirty laundry based upon the overarching demand for "peace, order and good government" emanating out of the British North America Act
They weren't held for show but for the purpose of investigating a perceived inequity and airing it publicly, warts and all.
Canada also discusses their issues in all their ugliness AND, as witnessed with the TRC, actually does assign responsibility and attempt change. Do you see anything like that formal a procedure to address wrongs, other than just spouting about it in the press then business as usual, as in some other countries?
TRC? Holy cow Batman, how long did it take before a) closing the last of the schools and b) holding the commission? Most of the people who went through those schools are long dead.
And of course, nothing concrete is being done to address the critical (and growing) problems of aboriginal communities today.
Even the frightening rate of disappearances of aboriginal women in Western Canada doesn't seem to move anyone.
It may sound silly but do any of you English Canadians get jealous of Quebeckers because they speak French (unique) and most are bilingual in French and English (some also in other languages) while you only speak English? If I was English Canadian I would have been jealous. Knowing other languages especially a world language like French is a huge plus + many Quebeckers can work for the federal government.
Rather than make all our francophone members feel all warm and fuzzy at the prospect of Anglos being jealous of"French Quebec" are you going to participate in your topic? have you come to any conclusions to answer your original query based on our responses? ,are you fulfilling your apparent need to learn French?, got any plans to visit Quebec?
TRC? Holy cow Batman, how long did it take before a) closing the last of the schools and b) holding the commission? Most of the people who went through those schools are long dead.
And of course, nothing concrete is being done to address the critical (and growing) problems of aboriginal communities today.
Even the frightening rate of disappearances of aboriginal women in Western Canada doesn't seem to move anyone.
Originally Posted by Migratory Chicken View Post
Of course they do; the US's so powerful (and I'll grant this to you, hard to ignore) that even some of its own citizens resent it. You'll find no shortage of Americans to tell you how awful the US is. I think that's way too harsh, but that's the thing: Americans do discuss their issues in all their ugliness. I thought the whole point being discussed was being more insular in comparison to the U.S. Insular does not describe a timeline does it?
DOING something about the stuff that is discussed is another area we compare favourably with many countries and most certainly, more than favourably, with the U.S.
Rather than make all our francophone members feel all warm and fuzzy at the prospect of Anglos being jealous of"French Quebec" are you going to participate in your topic? have you come to any conclusions to answer your original query based on our responses? ,are you fulfilling your apparent need to learn French?, got any plans to visit Quebec?
He's not coming back Jambo.
A glance at his posting history shows this one is all over the map with issues ranging from bisexuality to racial to education and working for managers who fail to appreciate his talents.
Two of his posts even requested deletion of all his posts and history. I don't think his toaster's plugged in.
Originally Posted by Migratory Chicken View Post
Of course they do; the US's so powerful (and I'll grant this to you, hard to ignore) that even some of its own citizens resent it. You'll find no shortage of Americans to tell you how awful the US is. I think that's way too harsh, but that's the thing: Americans do discuss their issues in all their ugliness. I thought the whole point being discussed was being more insular in comparison to the U.S. Insular does not describe a timeline does it?
DOING something about the stuff that is discussed is another area we compare favourably with many countries and most certainly, more than favourably, with the U.S.
I think blind nationalism is getting the better of you. As far as I can see, social revolutions start in the U.S. and trickle over to Canada, even when the same problems are present in Canada. Notice that Martin Luther King Jr. originated in the U.S. and not in the equally oppressed black communities of Nova Scotia or southern Ontario. Even today, anglo-Canadian nationalists prefer to sweep discussion of racial issues under the rug rather than talk about them openly like the do in the U.S. In most cases anglo-Canada is a few decades behind the U.S. in the category of social innovation. This is why we see things like marijuana being legalized for recreational use on a mass scale in the U.S. while in Canada we are still locking people up for growing a plant. Anglo-Canada is very conservative when it come to real social change.
I think blind nationalism is getting the better of you. As far as I can see, social revolutions start in the U.S. and trickle over to Canada, even when the same problems are present in Canada. Notice that Martin Luther King Jr. originated in the U.S. and not in the equally oppressed black communities of Nova Scotia or southern Ontario. Even today, anglo-Canadian nationalists prefer to sweep discussion of racial issues under the rug rather than talk about them openly like the do in the U.S. In most cases anglo-Canada is a few decades behind the U.S. in the category of social innovation. This is why we see things like marijuana being legalized for recreational use on a mass scale in the U.S. while in Canada we are still locking people up for growing a plant. Anglo-Canada is very conservative when it come to real social change.
The legalization of marijuana in Canada, has everything to do with the current federal government which is totally out of touch with the people.
In Vancouver we have marijuana shops all over the place. Marijuana has been tolerated here for many years. Cops do not hassle people who are smoking it, but do occasionally visits certain cafes where it is sold. Mostly because they have to give the appearance of enforcing laws that are antiquated.
In fact, it wasn't that long ago that people in Seattle were amazed at how open marijuana is in Vancouver.
I doubt very much that people in US are more liberal than Canada.
As for social change. Gays in the military, gays adopting, gays marrying are just 3 issues that Canada has been on the forefront of. Years ahead of the US.
Racial issues are discussed in Canada. Just look at some of these thread regarding the Chinese in Vancouver. Something you love to bring up.
As for Blacks in Nova Scotia...their treatment of course was a disgrace, but equally oppressed? Didn't they come to Canada to not be slaves? Didn't black men get the right to vote in Canada in 1837.
I'm not being an apologist for what happened to black people in Canada...but I'm having a really hard time equating black history in Canada as being equal to black history in the US.
I should add the situation in the US in regards to marijuana is totally different than in Canada. Legalization so far is on the state level, not federal. Try crossing the border with some and see how far you get.
As for it being on a mass scale. No. Currently Washington State, Washington D.C., Alaska, Oregon and Colorado have legalized it.
7 more states are expected to by 2016.
In 27 states, all marijuana is illegal INCLUDING medical marijuana, whereas in Canada it is legal everywhere.
So if PBeauchamp is going to use this for comparing which country is more liberal the numbers I've found is that 73 percent of Americans believe medical marijuana should be legal, compared to 82.9 percent of Canadians.
The legalization of marijuana in Canada, has everything to do with the current federal government which is totally out of touch with the people.
In Vancouver we have marijuana shops all over the place. Marijuana has been tolerated here for many years. Cops do not hassle people who are smoking it, but do occasionally visits certain cafes where it is sold. Mostly because they have to give the appearance of enforcing laws that are antiquated.
In fact, it wasn't that long ago that people in Seattle were amazed at how open marijuana is in Vancouver.
I doubt very much that people in US are more liberal than Canada.
As for social change. Gays in the military, gays adopting, gays marrying are just 3 issues that Canada has been on the forefront of. Years ahead of the US.
Racial issues are discussed in Canada. Just look at some of these thread regarding the Chinese in Vancouver. Something you love to bring up.
As for Blacks in Nova Scotia...their treatment of course was a disgrace, but equally oppressed? Didn't they come to Canada to not be slaves? Didn't black men get the right to vote in Canada in 1837.
I'm not being an apologist for what happened to black people in Canada...but I'm having a really hard time equating black history in Canada as being equal to black history in the US.
Anyone??
The blacks in Nova Scotia are descendants of Loyalists brought north with Guy Carleton. They faced severe discrimination and most quickly left for Sierra Leone. Those that came to Ontario on the Underground Railroad also faced severe discrimination and returned to America after the U.S. won the Civil War. The inhabitants of Ontario made it abundantly clear that while they would tolerate a small number of temporary refugees, Canada was a white man's country and blacks were not welcome on a permanent basis. As a result the vast majority of slaves had no intention of escaping to Canada; the top destination for escaped slaves was Baltimore.
Blacks could vote in 1837 as they could in some states many decades earlier, yet there were no politicians to represent them in Canada well into the late 20th century. It was very different from the situation in Mississippi and other states where there were black senators to go along with black universities, black lawyers and black military regiments during the 1870's. Blacks couldn't serve in the Canadian/British military at all until after WWII, except as laborers, and those who sought higher education were more often than not forced to pursue their studies in the U.S. After Confederation, blacks and all other non-whites, even those from other parts of the British Empire, were banned from even settling in Canada until the 1960's in similar fashion to Australia. Compare that to America where blacks from the British Empire settled in large numbers in New York and Florida, giving rise to areas like Little Jamaica.
PBeauchamp is right, the situation of blacks in the U.S. and Canada has been bad in either case, in my opinion worse in Canada, with Canada's "lack of racial issues" being more a symptom have having very few blacks rather than any indicator of actual tolerance. As a general rule in either country, blacks were segregated as soon as they constituted any significant part of the population. PBeauchamp is also right that the situation of blacks in Canada has been seriously downplayed if not outright swept under the rug. Unfortunately many Canadians today genuinely believe that there was no segregation or slavery in Canada and respond to discussions of this history with a knee-jerk (and often blatantly inaccurate) comparison to America.
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