Pax Canadian Style

White Canadians wish peace for their country, I'm sure.
Yet their Pax seems only achieved through numbing their
brains and minds, rather than decisively taking steps
to take back their country.

The image above is of the Canadian Female Ice Hockey
players "celebrating" their gold medal at the
2010 Winter Olympics

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I haven't read Pax Canadiana's Canadian Immigration Reform Blog in a while. I went there to see what he'd written about the Scarborough shootings. He's abstained from writing directly about it, but instead, his July 8, 2012 headline that caught my attention:

"Can You Please Leave Canada? Pretty, Pretty, Please With Sugar On Top?"

Pax links to this Toronto Star article (Canada offers failed refugee claimants $2,000 to go home) and writes:

What a joke! So the government wants to bribe failed refugee claimants to voluntarily return home with a one-way plane ticket and up to $2,000 to help them re-establish themselves in their homelands. Do you think anyone will seriously take them up on that? For that to work they're going to have to offer more money than that.

He continues:

I wouldn't say this money being offered is an incentive for failed refugee claimants to willingly excuse themselves from Canada but more so an enticement for future would-be asylum seekers to try their luck with the Canadian asylum system as it makes it less risky to do so. If you're successful in your bid then you get Canadian citizenship. If you fail you get a plane ticket home and a possible $2,000 to help cover costs. How can you go wrong?

This is pretty much what I said in my post $10,000 To Go Back Home.

I try to address the incentive issue, and the "refugee" excuse. I write:

People fleeing war torn countries can be provided with special countries of refuge near, even adjacent to, their countries of origin.

Now the Canadian refugee policy is that any refugee who buys a plane ticket (what real refugee can afford a plane ticket, anyway?) and lands at a Canadian airport is automatically a "refugee claimant." "Claiming" refugee status can take years, during which time the claimant can disappear, change his location and name, marry a citizen, or just live illegally. But should he stay legal, and obtain his refugee status, he can then start the process of applying for landed immigrant (green card status) and eventually citizenship. As a refugee, it is almost guaranteed that he will get residency. Citizenship is acquired merely by living a certain number of years in Canada. That is why I wrote in my earlier post that refugee claimants who arrive at Canadian airports asking for asylum should be returned to a country near their homeland, with hopes of eventually repatriating them back to their countries.

But tackling the refugee problem is not enough. Immigration, mostly from Third World, non-Western countries with no cultural resemblance to Canada, should also be curtailed. I wrote:

[T]he government should follow a strict policy of reducing immigration into the country.

This is a more complicated issue, since two of the most important criteria for for entrance into Canada are economic, which takes into account financial and other assets the applicant brings, and educational, which favors immigrants with post-secondary, and preferably post-graduate, education. So far, Chinese and Hong Kong immigrants win hands down. But, their acceptance into Canada doesn't guarantee benefits for Canada.

In fact, Chinese/Asian immigrants' educational credentials are not up to par with the Canadian system. And their financial assets are often tied up with their countries of origin, in which they continue to invest even after immigrating to Canada.

They have higher rates of acceptance into universities and post-graduate programs because of their higher secondary and college scores (often from their countries of origin, which are nevertheless hard to verify since different grading criteria are used in Canadian high schools and universities), thus displacing white students. But once in these post-secondary institutions, and especially with post-graduate work, they produce inferior inventive and creative research. Many types of industries depend on graduate level research to improve and upgrade their products, thus inferior works affects them and eventually Canada, reducing the country's competitive place in the world.

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$10,000 To Go Back Home

The famous Canadian mosaic, falling apart at its seams

A few days ago, I posted a blog rather dramatically titled Thieves and Hypocrites on nonwhite immigrants that have settled in Canada with no intention of becoming Canadians. I still stand by that title, although I might also add liars to the mix, despite a hypocrite being a kind of liar.

I keep using those words a lot in conversations. Recently I said the following, after shootings at a block party in the northern part of Toronto. The guests and shooters were all immigrants, or immigrants turned "citizens," from nonwhite countries.

I said something like:

"Harper's government should start the process of sending back nonwhite immigrants back to their countries of origin. All (this really is without exception) the nonwhite immigrants I encounter, either superficially or through longer interactions, when discussing their place and presence in Canada, ALWAYS talk about their dissatisfaction with Canada, where they expected to advance further in their lives, in terms of wealth or career or feelings of "acceptance." Almost all their conversations revolve around this country of origin, which some have never even seen. Many second generation immigrants (those born in Canada) spend a considerable amount of their time thinking about and discussing a country they have never seen, and re-inventing their cultural background on that mythical country. They say they feel alienated from the main stream Canadian culture. They spend all their time with like-minded immigrants, and not just nonwhites, but those from their specific cultural and national background.

Let Harper give each "family" a one-off $10,000 check for its members to relinquish their Canadian citizenship or landed immigrant status (the same as a green card in the U.S.). And a one way plane ticket back to their countries of origin for each family member. This sounds unfeasible, and many would probably not accept it. All kinds of organizations will scream "racism" etc. Politicians will use it as bait for the next elections. But some immigrants will go back. They can then use this money, large by Third World standards, to improve their own countries, building small businesses, schools, hospitals or clinics, pharmacies, hotels, factories, and so on, from all they have learned through their years in Canadian schools, universities, and their various employments. Even the governments they return to will benefit, since not only are they getting aid (this could be considered a form of international aid) but they'd get the best manpower possible: people who would financially invest in the country, and also who have strong cultural, social, psychological and emotional attachments to the country.

These immigrant-returnees can then start pulling back all the unhappy immigrant youth, some who terrorize Canadian cities with guns and violence. These immigrant-returnees can start the proud work of rebuilding their countries, which have reached terrible states partly because there is NO-ONE to build and sustain them! Younger generations can then spend their time, energy, education and smarts doing useful, even honorable, things, instead of shooting each other (and others) up. This is the gift that immigrant-returnees can give to their alienated children.

Why $10,000? This is about what the average amount a person gets from Canadian welfare checks over the span of a year (it is probably more with many other amenities that are not directly attached to the actual check). Rather than hand out this free $10,000, year after year, to immigrant (which includes naturalized citizens - the criteria for whom can be worked out later) welfare recipients, the Canadian government can simply give these $10,000 to a certain number of "eligible" immigrants every year. The checks would be handed out in one installment to each eligible immigrant family. This would be the last check that such immigrants would receive from the Canadian government.

This would continue until immigrant numbers have been considerably reduced. It could be a five to ten year plan.

At the same time, the government should follow a strict policy of reducing immigration into the country. This also includes reducing the number of "refugees" who enter into Canada. People fleeing war torn countries can be provided with special countries of refuge near, even adjacent to, their countries of origin. Since wars and droughts are always temporary, as are even fascist governments, their refuge will be considered temporary. If that's not the case, then they can slowly be assimilated into the country of refuge, which should be a relatively easy task since these refuge countries are similar to their own. International bodies such as the UN, and countries like the U.S. and Canada can also help establish these protocols."

I often met with a shocked silence. But no-one has come out and condemned my suggestions.

The Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, said something very similar. Except his was based on crime prevention. After the shooting at the "block party" he said the shooters, and their affiliates, should all be deported. Uproar ensued. "These are Canadians!" "They were born in Canada!" "What will they do back in a country they know nothing about?"

This is what Ford said:

"I’m going to sit down with the prime minister and find out how our immigration laws work...Obviously I have an idea, but whatever I can do to get ’em out of the city, I’m going to. Regardless of if they have family or friends, I don’t want these people, if they’re convicted of a gun crime, to have anything to do with the city of Toronto."

I agreed with him.

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Thieves and Hypocrites

My original title to this blog post was "Canada the Convenient for the Hypocrite Immigrant." I edited the title to "Canada the Convenient," cutting out "hypocrite immigrant."

Since I was trying to make my words have the same short effect as "Toronto the Good," I stuck with "Canada the Convenient."

But, in reality, all contemporary immigrants are hypocrites. They cross thousands of miles to park their bodies and extended families in Canada, yet they have nothing good to say about the country. They are essentially thieves. They will take, steal, but leave nothing for Canada other than their failed cultures and histories.

So, I am even harsher than my original blog: Contemporary immigrants are thieves and hypocrites.

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Hijabed "Canadians" on Canada Day

Screen shot from CBC report "Canada Day on Parliament Hill"

This interview snippet starts at the 1 hour and 42 minutes point on the video, which is available here.

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These were hijabed "Canadians" at Parliament Hill for the Canada Day festivities (the one at the far right is a Sikh). They were interviewed by a CBC reporter, and each spoke in perfect, unaccented, English. The interviewer introduced them with: "None of you girls were born here, but you love to Celebrate Canada Day. Tell me about one of your favorite Canada Day memories."

There is great prestige in "not being born here," but these hijabed girls clearly spent a large part of their life in Canada, from their perfect, unaccented English. It looks like they immigrated here as very young children, and any associations with "back there" are just nostalgic imagery propagated by their parents.

Research has shown that second generation immigrants from non-white backgrounds are assimilating less into Canadian society than previous white immigrants. These second generation immigrants seem even more "ethnic" than their parents. Muslim girls are now frequently seen fully robed in Islamic clothing, which even their parents are not donning.

I don't think this means these younger generation of immigrants are any more attached to their homelands. I think their parents were much more cautious about exhibiting their true identities when they first arrived, and tried to blend in as much as possible with the rest of Canada superficially. But, they were inculcating and teaching their children that their true identities lie elsewhere.

Now that multiculturalism has won, these same families can send their children to the forefront, to display and maintain their original cultures. Muslims are no different.

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Little Mosque on the Prairie Cancelled, For Now

The current TV ads on the Canadian sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie are a little vague, implying that the series is going on a normal hiatus until new episodes begins next year. But the Calgary Herald calls this "hiatus" a "series finale" and even the CBC nostalgically heads a recent article with "Little Mosque says goodbye."

The Huffington Post is clearer, informing us that:

The groundbreaking CBC comedy is winding down in its sixth and last season, with the series finale set to air on Monday, April 2.

I've written several posts on this show, including this article back in 2008 in the American Thinker, where I observe:

Zarqa Nawaz' [the writer/creator of the show] goal of putting Islam and Muslims into the mainstream culture (as she puts it, although the subtle intentions of the show are to put Muslims above the mainstream culture, as I've pointed out) may be facing a setback. Ratings are down from the premier of two million viewers in January 2007 to about 500,000 in the latest poll in November 2008. But such low ratings have never stopped the CBC from maintaining ideologically appropriate programs, although they are mostly documentary, educational or news shows, like the investigative Fifth Estate, the current affairs The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, and David Suziki's "green" The Nature of Things. But, Little Mosque on the Prairie can certainly be viewed as a documentary/educational show in sitcom clothing. It is also ideologically appropriate in the multicultural mindset of the CBC programmers.

As I wrote, it was clear that the CBC was financially maintaining an unpopular program, at least in terms of viewership numbers. There have been recent (government) funding cuts to the CBC, which will prompt program cancellations and reduce program hours. So, clearly, any show that doesn't generate the necessary funds is in trouble. And such is the case with this show which pretends to promote (multi)cultural harmony yet is determinedly Muslim, as all things Muslim are.

Still, the CBC isn't cancelling Little Mosque on the Prairie because of cultural disharmony, and the aggressive inroads of Muslims, but simply because the show is no longer generating revenue. It tried to keep the show on the air for as long as possible. I don't doubt, though, that the ingenious fabricators of multiculturalism will find a way to bring back a similar show onto our small screens some time soon.

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Posts and articles on Little Mosque on the Prairie:

- How Canada's Little Mosque on the Prairie is aiming for our souls
- Little Mosque on the Prairie Still Going Strong
- Little Mosque on the Prairie, Canadian Version
- More Evidence of "Changes to Our Landscape"
- Stealthy Islamic Inroads Into Our Culture

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How Immigrants are Destroying Toronto (And Canada)

Minister Rona Ambrose (second from left)
surrounded by employees and volunteers from
Changing Together: Centre for Immigrant
Women Association in Edmonton [Alberta].

From the first two paragraphs of the article with the photo:

Edmonton− The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, announced Government of Canada support for a new project that will help end violence against immigrant and refugee women and girls, and held a roundtable with stakeholders involved in the project.

"This is an important collaborative project between Changing Together and the Edmonton Women's Shelter that can truly make a difference in the lives of immigrant and refugee women, who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking," said Minister Ambrose.

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The Thinking Housewife has an article on the Violence Against Women Act. She writes on violence between couples:

[M]ore than 200 studies have shown that women and men are equally guilty of verbal and physical aggression in the home. Domestic violence against women is extremely serious and women are injured and murdered by their spouses or intimates more often than men. But conflict is often initiated by women.

Many years ago, I worked for an immigrant agency. My role was a "counsellor" to assist new immigrants with integrating into Canadian life. After several years, I quit, cold turkey. Everyone was surprised. My "clients" as we called the people we gave service to, gave me good reviews. And I seemed to have had a modicum of success.

I quit because I felt that the kinds of immigrants I was seeing, mostly from Latin America (I speak reasonably good Spanish) and at that time many Somali and Ethiopian refugees, were not assimilating, and I didn't see them assimilating, into the Canadian society. Near the end of my post, I openly said that many of these immigrants/refugees should just return to their countries of origin.

During my years in the immigrant agency (early to late 1990s), new "women's issues" agencies started sprouting up to cull the government funds that were being allocated to women immigrants and refugees. Greedy and clever immigrant agencies discovered that there was money to be made on "violence against women" programs from these funds.

Now, a normal society would look at women as part of a unit of a family, either as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, etc. But these agencies focused solely and only on women. And since their whole approach was divisive, they only ended up taking care of divisive issues.

What more divisive than "violence against women?"

I would say that most immigrant/refugee marital problems are related to the difficult financial and social problems these families experienced. And added to that, many of the men were not used to having their wives in such prominent roles, and sometimes more superior roles (from learning the language faster to getting jobs sooner, etc.). I would say that the women also behaved less traditionally subservient and possibly more antagonistically, with their new-found confidence (and attention). If violence ensues from these changes (I cannot say from my experience who initiates the violence most of the time), the women have a myriad of agencies and shelters to run to, while the men are left bewildered, angry and of course targeted as criminals.

I've had at a few men (often the situation is to embarrassing to talk about for men) recount their ordeals to me in detail, starting with a psychological blockage that doesn't allow them to continue a normal life, to missing their children. They were also profoundly ashamed that they were now known as wife batterers. I never went into the "violent" situations, but it was clear to me that the men lost the most.

I would start saying to my colleagues that such "violence" is becoming an epidemic. Many of these families wouldn't be experiencing such turbulent family lives back in their countries of origin, where there were a myriad of cultural and familial checkpoints to make sure this didn't happen.

First there was the family as a whole. In Ethiopian families (I cannot speak for other families, although I would think the situations are similar), older relatives, fathers and grandfathers (and uncles) played tremendously important roles in making sure that families were as harmonious as possible. Complaining wives did have a say. And a wife who was battered was the most protected of them all.

But of course, situations wouldn't reach the "battering" level. Through strict religious, Christian, mandates families were regularly reminded of the importance of roles and hierarchies. Only two generations ago (my grandparents' time), wives would call their husbands by the formal "vous" (I cannot think of a better word in English). A rebellious wife had many advisers (female relatives, sisters, mothers-in-law, and her own mother) to help her through whatever she was reacting against. And she may be right, so either she found a way to convince her husband of her correct, and beneficial, revolt, or other sources were found, from and elder male relative to approach the husband to the local priest, who could act as mediators and advisers. If divorce or separation becomes inevitable, again every social and cultural channel was used to prevent this. Separation was often used (with the wife "travelling" to visit relatives until tempers cooled off) to stall and put-off divorce .

In the end, although such societies look like they are full of coerced, unhappy marriages, they actually have unions which develop mutual trust, and even love.

I always said that those percentages of real violence against women were extremely small. The large numbers that are being touted everywhere I think are one of those liberal, anti-marriage, feminist propaganda, where everything and anything can become "battery" or "violence." The more one can show the inherent evil of men, the more the world can run according to women's agenda, including doing away all that claptrap on hierarchy and the outdated "king of his castle" role of men.

And women are more equal than men, in feminist language. This has torn society apart, made children fatherless (often living with the mother and with another male member who is not their father), made single women and their children poorer, and impoverished men, who often have to supply their income to two families if they remarry (alimony always comes from the man, in this equal world of ours), etc.

And it is especially brutal to immigrants, both men and women. There was a spike in immigrant men suicides in the 1990s (amongst Ethiopians to be exact, since I don't know enough about how other cultures responded to this problem). Many of these women receive welfare or some kind of government assistance, and stay it for long periods. Children grow up expecting government "benefits" which must affect what they aspire for as adults. Etc.

So, my opinion (although it counted for more than that at my counsellor job since it was based on my observations and research) was that we should find ways for these families to stay together. In terms of Ethiopian families, it was to restore some kind of traditional, Christian element, of male hierarchy within the family.

This, I think, is becoming more and more difficult in multicultural Canada, so I still say that Ethiopians should start a "return of the diaspora" movement (I said this once with a group of people, and someone told me that many, from young Ethiopians born in the West, to older retirees, are actually going back in large numbers).

Dependency on the liberal set up hasn't helped. And often, the supporters of radical liberal agendas, like those who speak for "abused" women and who support dramatic solutions like breaking apart families, are often white liberal feminist women, who have found ways to keep their own marriages and families intact (well, I wouldn't want to go in with a magnifying glass, since I will most likely find a liberal, wimpy, feminist male), but are ready to sacrifice others as foot soldiers for their cause.

The less political, and often non-white, women working at the front desks of the immigrant women's support agencies often have stable and what look like happy families (I noticed this, and mentioned it several times at my job), but they promote these ideas of family separation often because it is their job, and they have to accept it to keep their their jobs. But at some point, they too begin to believe the propaganda they are spoon fed (not for them, of course - there's always a hierarchy of recipients in the accusations and realities of battered women). But, they are participating in the destruction of a society simply because they don't, and possibly cannot, say otherwise.

For the sake of liberal rearrangement of society, everyone becomes a pawn, or at least a propaganda soldier. Those at the very bottom of that hierarchy, a hierarchy that is clearly and hypocritically present in the liberal set up, often have the most to lose. And in the case of battered women, it is the women who have somehow been convinced to discard their husbands as abusers, and who have to live a life dependent on another hierarchical superior: a cold and faceless government agency.

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Signs and Symbols

[Photo by KPA]

The above photo is of a side street in the downtown core of Toronto, right next to a big supermarket. I had to rush to get my camera out to get the shot. It is pretty straightforward. The small church in the foreground gives a focal point for pedestrians and cars. Nearby is one of the many buildings that are rising up in the Toronto landscape. In this case, it competes with the little church. There are satellite dishes on the balconies of this high rise, and one is prominent in the photo. These dishes bring programs from around the world, mostly from Asia (India) and the Middle East. People these days don't even have to bother with watching English program television.

There's a Russian comedian (I can't remember his name now) who joked that he learned English by watching TV. Of course, he watched the action-packed detective series, and ended up talking like a thug or a cop. His other joke was that he also started speaking in Spanish, since some of the stations he could get without paying cable fees were in Spanish.

Still, he lived to joke about it, in English. I doubt these satellite renting immigrants of our brave new world would be able to (or want to) tell similar jokes a few years down the road.

Back to the photo. What struck me in a fraction of a second was the juxtaposition of the small hijabed woman, the tall man walking in front of her, the large contemporary high rise and of course the little traditional church.

It is unheard of in previous eras to find hijabed Muslims nonchalantly walking down our streets. The tall man in front is so oblivious to these changes that he barely sees the woman just a few steps behind him. The church, although attractive and prominent, is actually spiritually dead. Inner city high rises in Toronto have become immigrants enclaves (with many immigrants receiving government subsidies to live in such places, and rent out satellite dishes). So, religion and culture have no clout now to combat one of the most virulent invaders of Western and Christian societies: Islam, and its twin supporters: immigration and multiculturalism.

Small hijabed women walk around city streets as symbols of this danger (or this invasion) and no-one as much as glances at them. In fact, they have become a protected group, they and their Muslim families, in the wonderful world of Canadian multiculturalism, where everyone is accepted, and no-one can say or do anything about that.

I should add that tall, white men are becoming a rarity in the downtown core, unless one travels further down to the banking and commercial area several blocks down (about a 45 minute walk from this street). Most of these men live with their families in affluent suburbs in the northern peripheries of the city. They simply travel to their offices by train, with the train station having direct links to an underground network of paths that take them to their buildings, they eat their meals in the smart restaurants in the area, they can shop for gifts (perhaps for a wedding anniversary) at the nearby Bay department store, meet their wives for dinner and a show at the theater district just a few steps away, then their day is done.

Who cares what is simmering beneath this pleasant surface?

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Beauty and the Beasts

Selena Quintanilla was murdered about seventeen years ago in 1995 by an angry employee, Yolanda Saldivar. I recently read that Selena's husband is writing a book on her, which reminded me of her songs and voice, which I've always liked.

The pathetic Jennifer Lopez, the non-singing pop star who is all over the place, starred in Selena (as Selena) in her break out movie role in 1997. She doesn't even come close. Lopez got where she is by riding on the Hispanic bandwagon. I think Hispanics should rally to remove this embarrassment (i.e. don't buy her music). I don't think she would have any clout, or presence, if not for "ethnic loyalty." Her clothing line is failing, and the indomitable Anna Wintour of Vogue had her black listed for a while after a disastrous Vogue photo shoot, where Lopez and her gang apparently took off with sample products that were meant just for the photo shoot.

This is not what Hispanics should be promoting.

In the tradition of the "Tejana" chanteuse, Selena Quintanilla sings "Tu Solo Tu."

I cannot find a good enough translation, so it's best to listen to her in Spanish (she also sang in English, but apparently not this song).


Mira como ando mi amor
Por tu querer
Borracha y apasionada
Nomas por tu amor
Mira como ando mi bien
Muy dada a la borrachera
Y a la perdicion

Coro:
Tu, solo tu
Has llenado de luto mi vida
Abriendo una herida
En mi corazon
Tu, solo tu

Eres causa de todo mi llanto
De mi desencanto
Y desesperation
Solo tu sombra fatal
Sombra del mal
Me sigue por dondequiera
Con obstinacion
Y por querer olvidar
Me tiro a la borrachera
Y a la perdicion
(Coro)

This is what Hispanics should be promoting.

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Jarvis Collegiate Update

In my previous post on my comments on the Toronto Star article "Jarvis Collegiate Teens hurling slushies and slurs in Gay Village" I wrote:

I think this type of "intolerance" will grow in Toronto, where the multicultural policy of Toronto, notwithstanding "integrated" high schools, actually favors group separation. The even more aggressive and violent Muslims (who are simply following the mandates of their prophet), who now make a considerable part of the Toronto population, will only increase these antagonisms towards any one and they feel doesn't follow their religious edicts.

The comments section of the Toronto Star article has several posters who say that the school has a large Muslim student body.

Here is danielmenardtoronto:

Drive by this school on a lunch hour and you will not see one, white Canadian boy or girl on the front lawn of this school. I attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute twenty three years ago and we were alot more respectful, you could at least find a few born and bred Canadians that stuck together and were raised with Canadian values and pride in our country, including respect and tolerance for others, that's how we were raised. Now you get people from other countries with other belief systems and cultural behaviours taking over and imposing thier aggressive and foreign behaviour towards others. I don't give a damn if you consider me racist, if racist is being proud of what Canada used to be and embracing the norms of decency, respect, intelligent dialogue and tolerance, than so be it. I'm tired of feeling a minority in my own country and I'll go so far as to say Canadian kids would not have done this to that man in the Village.

5AM says:

I have personally been attacked by a group of 3 Muslim girls (all dark skinned and wearing traditional head coverings), probably about 16/17 years old. This took place around the corner from the school earlier this month. They shouted "F-----" and hurled chunks of ice at my dog and I, then followed us for several minutes. This is assault and harassment, and clearly a hate crime. I guess in their culture this is acceptable. Toronto needs to wake up and see the deeper issue. This public school has a predominantly islamic student body. We can preach acceptance all we want, but their cultural and social education starts at home and at their places of worship. This is not a problem that is going away, unfortunately, I think we're just seeing the beginning of a cultural shift in the downtown core.

builder.M writes:

At least half the student population is Muslim. The odds of the perpetrator being atheist or Christian is all but 0%. Girls is hijabs, niqabs, and scarves are the norm. Violent homophobia is the religious law in all Muslim countries. The teens here are simply doing what they are taught at home and in the mosques.

sam villa posted the area's profile:

Riding Profile ....
25.8% Catholic, 22.0% Protestant, 7.6% Muslim, 4.7% Other Christian , 3.9% Hindu, 3.1% Jewish, 3.0% Christian Orthodox, 2.3% Buddhist, 26.8% No religion

I searched for the data that "sam villa" posted (without any references), and it is available in Wikipedia here, for the Toronto Centre demographics for 2001 (which is where the Jarvis Collegiate is located). Questions on religion are only asked every ten years, and the next were due for the 2011 census (the most recent census), but I couldn't find Statistics Canada's information on religious affiliations for 2011.

Instead, I found information from various sources on the projected growth of Muslims in Toronto between 1991 and 2001, and 2001 and 2017.

The number of Muslims in Toronto grew by 140% between 1991 and 2001 [Source: Statistics Canada].

Growth projected for Muslims in Toronto between 2001 and 2017:

From: 258,500 in 2001 (5% of the Toronto population)
To: 657,000 in 2017 (10.95% of the Toronto population)

With a 2.5 times increase of Toronto's Muslim population by 2017 (from their numbers in 2001).

[Source: Islamicpopulation.com]: 

These numbers are daunting. An almost tripling of Muslims over a 20 year period is no small number. The aggressive nature of Muslims, aided by host countries who seem ever-ready to fulfill their desires (and demands), will not abate, and will likely increase.

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Jarvis Collegiate

Jarvis Collegiate
[Photo by KPA]

[This is a long blog post. But most of the information is explanatory quotes from other sources, some of which I've reproduced close to their original length.]

I had meant to post on the Jarvis Collegiate a few months ago, and a recent post at Laura Wood's The Thinking Housewife reminded me of it.

A reader (Alan) at her site writes about a high school in St. Louis, which he starts with:

This is the story of a dead school in a decadent city.

He continues:

Grover Cleveland High School was opened in St. Louis in 1915 in a building as massive and impressive as a castle. It was designed by renowned architect William B. Ittner. Today it stands closed and abandoned, a victim of decades of neglect and suicidal public policies.

This massive, castle-like high school building architecture apparently was part of the Canadian aesthetics as well. One particular Canadian architect, C.E. Cyril Dyson, was the designer behind seven of Toronto's high schools between 1890 and 1924. All these buildings still stand as high schools and are imposingly grand.

Although none have been neglected to the extent that Alan writes about the St. Louis school, I think there is another degradation taking place, at least in the one closest to my neighborhood, the Jarvis Collegiate. Here is some of the history behind the collegiate:

Jarvis Collegiate was originally founded as a private school, beginning in 1797. However, in 1807 the government of Ontario, then known as the British colony of Upper Canada, took over the school and made it part of a network of eight new, public "grammar schools" (secondary schools), one for each of the eight districts of Upper Canada. Jarvis was the grammar school for the Home District, an area covering much of the modern GTA. Its first name was the Home District Grammar School...

The original 1807 school building was a shed attached to the headmaster's house. Strachan [headmaster 1812-1822] raised funds for a new two-storey building, completed in 1816 on College Square, a 6-acre (24,000 m2) lot north of St. James' Cathedral, bounded by Richmond, Adelaide, Church and Jarvis Streets. In 1825 the school was renamed the Royal Grammar School. Later the name was changed to Toronto High School. In 1829 it moved to the corner of Jarvis and Lombard Streets. When Upper Canada College was founded in 1829 it shared a building with the Grammar School and for several years the two organizations were essentially unified. UCC eventually moved to its own facilities.

Jarvis Collegiate boasts some prestigious alumni, including:
- Sir John Strachan: Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, founded University of Toronto, first Anglican Bishop of Toronto, and headmaster of Jarvis Collegiate from 1812-1822
[Source: Toronto District School Board]
- Sir Ernest MacMillan: conductor of Toronto Symphony for 25 years
- Sir Allan McNab - Prime Minister of Upper Canada, 1854-1856
- Five mayors of Toronto
[Source: Wikipedia]

The Jarvis Collegiate Alumni Society website has fascinating photos from the 1907 year book. Students at the collegiate were male, until the first female students were accepted in 1872, "although double doors separated the genders until 1893" according to this website.

Here's a funny juxtaposition of events:
- 1975: first female principal
- 1976: first teachers' strike

Here is a website of class photos from 1982-2008. There seems to be an equal number of male and female students in the class of 1982, with the majority of students white (photos a and b). Asian (East Asian) females seem to dominate the class of 2008 (large JPG file here). Whites are barely visible in the 2008 class photo (barely present), and the photographer seems to have put the white couple and the tall blonde girl right up front deliberately to offset the non-white multi-culti mix of the school.

I've done a rough count of the number of East Asian females over the total number of students for the class of 2008, and I've come up with 28/108, which is roughly 26%. I'm sure the ratio is still higher for 2012, and I would also think that the multicultural count has also gone up.

The ration of whites to non-whites for the class of 2008 is 13/108, which is 12%.

I cannot find any recent (2000 and on), famous, alumni who graduated from the once prestigious Jarvis Collegiate. Wikipeida cites Olivia Chow, the leftist (lefty) New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament, as a "notable" alumnus from the 1970s. It makes sense that a Chinese woman (Chow was born in China, and speaks with a strong Chinese accent) is a contemporary prominent figure in Canadian politics. I've written here that the Chinese seem not to fare as well as anticipated (economically, educationally etc.) and are latching on to the grievance system set up by (and for) non-white immigrants. Chow is a leader in grievance politics. I suspect that many of the Chinese woman at Jarvis will follow Chow's lead as they enter the real, post-high school world.

Below is the is the image from which I've made the tally. The link provided has a larger image.

Click here to view larger image

The once prestigious Jarvis Collegiate stands ranked at 587/727 between 2009 and 2010.

The latest news from Jarvis Collegiate is just a year ago, as published in the Toronto Star on January 24, 2011. Below are extracts from the article:

Teens hurling slushies and slurs in Gay Village
[Jarvis Collegiate is right next to Toronto's "Gay Village"]

The principal of Jarvis Collegiate Institute said allegations that students are hurling slushies, shoes and homophobic slurs at residents of the Gay Village are being "treated very seriously."...

Paul Winsor, a local florist, was singled out by a group of about 12 students who soaked him with two frozen beverages last Monday.

The 49-year-old narrowly dodged an airborne chunk of ice as he chased the teens before they ducked into the school at Jarvis and Wellesley Sts.

"A slushie drink is one thing — it stains your clothes and hurts your pride — but when it escalates to chunks of ice, that’s dangerous," he said...

Winsor ran into a friend a few minutes after the slushie attack who’d been targeted with ice and been called ‘faggot.’...

But [Winsor's] not convinced the teens are motivated by hate.

"In my mind, it’s a bunch of teenagers behaving badly all around. I think it’s general hooliganism."

Anderson [a transvestite] disagrees...

"These kids promote violence by calling people ‘faggot’ and doing what they’re doing," [s]he said.

It is interesting to see the homosexual Winsor's tolerance towards his aggressors: "In my mind, it’s a bunch of teenagers behaving badly all around. I think it’s general hooliganism."

I'm sure these "hooligans" are a mix of the multicultural smorgasbord (reflecting the Jarvis student body) which homosexuals like Winsor would totally approve of. I wonder what he would say if a bunch of white kids had accosted him? White Nationalist, Far Right, Nazi thugs (hooligans sounds more forgiving than thugs)?

I think this type of "intolerance" will grow in Toronto, where the multicultural policy of Toronto, notwithstanding "integrated" high schools, actually favors group separation. The even more aggressive and violent Muslims (who are simply following the mandates of their prophet), who now make a considerable part of the Toronto population, will only increase these antagonisms towards any one and they feel doesn't follow their religious edicts.

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Chinese "Canadian" Lawyer who Defended Ernst Zundel is Running as a "Conservative"

Left: Peter Lindsay at Chen's press conference

Right: The photo is a 2005 shot of a Chi-Kun Shi
at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law
1984 alumni class reunion.

The man in the background of Shi's photo
resembles (greatly) Peter Lindsay.

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Every time I do a close scrutiny of Chinese in the West (Canada and the United States), I find a glitch. Often, it is their subtle, but hardly camouflaged, support for all things Chinese that I find troublesome. This means support for Chinese ethnicity in its broadest sense. There's nothing wrong with supporting your ethnicity, but the Chinese are getting bolder with this, whether it is to gain ethnic sympathy (as in: if you don't agree with us you're racist), or to subtly enter Canadian social, cultural and political spheres only to promote their ethnicity.

The answer I have for this is if the Chinese (first, second, third, tenth generation, or "new" immigrants) are unhappy with the unchineseness of Canada, then they have the real thing to return to: China.

My Canadian co-blogger at Small Dead Animals writes effusively about a Chinese- "Canadian" lawyer, Chi-Kun Shi, who is entering politics. Since my suspicion about the Chinese (in their various hyphenated or unhyphenated identities) will not abate, I did some digging about this possible political candidate, who is running as a "conservative."

Chi-Kun Shi and her husband, white Canadian lawyer Peter Lindsay, worked together to defend holocaust denier Ernst Zundel several years ago. Lindsay's whiteness is significant, since the white liberal male is abandoning his own womenfolk and tying knots with Chinese women at unprecedented levels, at least here in Toronto. As I've written above, Chinese men and women, of any generational residency, or immigration status, or mix, will identify with their "Chineseness" first and foremost. Even Chinese/white offspring lean towards their Chinese ancestry.

Zundel is a virulent anti-semite, who instigates Jew-haters such as White Nationalists that plan for the destruction of the Jews. He was deported from Canada to Germany in 2005 (he acquired refugee asylum in Canada after being deported from the U.S. in 2003). Once in Germany, he was imprisoned for five years, and only released in 2010.

Why defend Zundel at all? The simple argument is that everyone needs a defense lawyer. The longer answer is that if Canadian law is able to discredit this one person because he is "different," then lawyers are necessary to defend those others who also don't fit in to the mainstream Canadian society, like Chinese, black, Hispanic, etc. immigrants. In the pursuit of equality, people like Shi are actually crucifying themselves. Many of these groups, and especially anti-semite brutes like Zundel, have no love for other races.

Still, it is interesting to look at the profile of these defense lawyers that take on these kinds of toxic cases. And Shi doesn't disappoint.

In a National Post article from February 2011, Stephen Harper visited Toronto's Chinatown to meet with a Chinese shop owner who made a citizen's arrest a couple of years ago. Shi is the lawyer defending this shop owner.

According to the Post, Harper's government is amending a bill to allow for citizen's arrests:

The owner or a person in lawful possession of property … may arrest a person without a warrant if they find them committing a criminal offence on or in relation to that property and (a) they make the arrest at that time or (b) they make the arrest within a reasonable time after the offence is committed and they believe on reasonable grounds that it is not feasible in the circumstances for a peace officer to make the arrest.

This, I think is a dubious and dangerous precedence. In the U.S. according to Wikipedia:

Each state, with the exception of North Carolina, permits citizen arrests if the commission of a felony is witnessed by the arresting citizen, or when a citizen is asked to assist in the apprehension of a suspect by police. The application of state laws varies widely with respect to misdemeanors, breaches of the peace, and felonies not witnessed by the arresting party. For example, Arizona law allows a citizen's arrest if the arrestor has personally witnessed the offense occurring.

American citizens do not carry the authority or enjoy the legal protections held by police officers, and are held to the principle of strict liability before the courts of civil- and criminal law including, but not limited to, any infringement of another's rights. Nonetheless many citizens' arrests are popular news stories.

Though North Carolina General Statutes have no provision for citizens' arrests, detention by private persons is permitted and applies to both private citizens and police officers outside their jurisdiction. Detention is permitted where probable cause exists that one has committed a felony, breach of peace, physical injury to another person, or theft or destruction of property. Detention is different from an arrest in that in a detention the detainee may not be transported without consent.

Under "Legal and political aspect", this same Wikipedia article expounds:

A person who makes a citizen's arrest could risk exposing him or herself to possible lawsuits or criminal charges (such as charges of impersonating police, false imprisonment, kidnapping, or wrongful arrest) if the wrong person is apprehended or a suspect's civil rights are violated. This is especially so when police forces are attempting to determine who an aggressor is.

The level of responsibility that a person performing a citizen's arrest may bear depends on the jurisdiction. For instance, in France and Germany, a person stopping a criminal from committing a crime, including crimes against belongings, is not criminally responsible as long as the means employed are in proportion to the threat (note, however, that at least in Germany, this results from a different legal norm, "aid to others in immediate danger," which is concerned with prevention, not prosecution, of crimes).

The two quotes I've bolded above, the first from the National Post, and the second from Wikipedia, are significant in this case:

a. ...if the commission of a felony is witnessed by the arresting citizen...(National Post)

b. ...make the arrest within a reasonable time after the offence is committed...(Wikipeida)

Chen made the citizen's arrest when the shoplifter supposedly returned to shoplift again. This assumes that Chen made the correct identification this second time around, and that he deduced correctly that this (possible original felon) was back again to commit the same crime, and not just to shop for fruits and vegetables. As the Wikipedia quote in the previous paragraph states, "Chen risk[ed] exposing him[self]...to possible lawsuits or criminal charges (such as charges of impersonating police, false imprisonment, kidnapping, or wrongful arrest) if the wrong person is apprehended or a suspect's civil rights are violated."

It is interesting that Canada is essentially taking on a radical approach in allowing individuals ("citizens") a larger role in policing their neighborhoods. Does this look like the infamous Nazi and Communist strategy of turning neighbors into vigilantes? Or, allowing "street" punishments to be meted out by civilians who intercept supposed perpetrators, or perpetrators-to-be?

Chen and his two aides tied up the shoplifter and locked him up in a delivery van until they got hold of a policeman. Chen was later charged with "kidnapping, carrying a dangerous weapon — a boxcutter — assault, and forcible confinement."

Setting aside the legal quagmire that Chen got involved in, he still cannot be denied a defense, although the prosecution's case is simple and clear. But what kind of defense lawyer would take on a case like this?

Shi comes to the rescue. But she doesn't simply do her lawyerly job, but has to add her own social commentary as well. From the National Post article above, Shi says:

"This is a bill that means a lot ot Chinese-Canadians because we are such a quiet lot,” she said. “It is one of the first times when Chinese-Canadians take a leading role in instituting social change.

I don't see the new breed of Chinese-Canadians as "such a quiet lot." In fact, Shi is a testament to that vocal and increasingly belligerent group, which takes advantage of the multicultural ("we are Chinese [fill in your favorite ethnic group here]), and demand a non-discriminatory, privileged existence"). And making appeals to government to make "institutional social change" reeks of the hard-line governments that Shi's ancestors fled in looking for a free country to live in. This does not a conservative make. If they wish to regress to their pre-immigration years, Shi and her ilk should go back to China.

When will Canadians like the blogger at Small Dead Animals foster a healthy skepticism about "model" immigrants, and do the mundane task of unraveling what really lies behind these stories and individuals? I think it is a desperate attempt to find these model immigrants, in the name of multiculturalism, and Canada's favorite hobby of rendering equality to all, that drives such commentators.

On a side note, Shi and Lindsay are now divorced (according to this source). But, it is hardly surprising that with the panoply of weird cases they took on (a virulent anti-semite, pushing for dangerous citizen arrest bills, etc.), their marital environment got tainted. I think, too, that there are larger possibilities for discord in inter-racial marriages. And the demure Chinese woman is actually a myth (as Shi shows us), which, coupled with feminism and multicultural supremacy, makes white/Asian marriages more vulnerable to discord and break ups.

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Immigrants And The Fate Of Canada

In front of the Eaton Centre

I wrote recently about a Ukranian woman (manager) at my job at Laura's who was wearing what looked like a Celtic cross, but who told me that it was "for fashion." I thought she was Orthodox, and told her we have a similar tradition of Orthodox Christianity. She made it clear that she doesn't believe in God, which shocked me a little. Funnily enough, she's been treating me "nicely" since.

But, what is strange, odd and unsettling about the sales girls at the store is that the majority are Iranian women. They have limited English, or if they do speak English reasonably well, they have strong accents which makes it hard to understand them. They also pass customers over to each other, despite a kind of honorary "next sales girl in line" type of system. I already complained about this to managers, and it has gotten a little better (our daily sales are recorded, so I had to be aggressive about getting this sorted).

I wonder, though, why the store at Eaton's has stacked its sales girls with Iranian women (these are not "girls" but mostly middle-aged women)? I think it is because they will put up with "anything." They will agree to being shuffled around the store, have their hours cut or increased according to the "whim" of the managers (although the managers assure us that it is a computerized prediction of customer volume), and they accept the "bad tempers" or rude interactions from their bosses. Most Canadians will not put up with this.

I think that sales are pretty low at the Eaton store. I think these low sales have to do with the low quality of service these sales women provide, especially their lack of English. Also the majority of customers who browse through the store are those who wouldn't be able to afford Laura's merchandize, and go to the cheaper stores to actually buy items. They are mostly non-white immigrants. The customers who buy anything are mostly white women who come in knowing exactly what they want, and they don't require much sales assistance.

I think the Laura store at Eaton's is maintained on the good sales of the other Laura stores (there are three or four of them in the city). And closing a Laura store in a busy and popular mall like Eaton's wouldn't do Laura's image much good.

Ironically, I've been repeatedly making high sales, hitting a record high one day which gave me a weird "high five" from one of the managers.

A few days ago, a male customer told me he was looking for something for his wife's birthday. Something about him didn't look right (to discriminate, he didn't look like he could afford the $500 coat and $300 evening gown he was "planning" to buy). He was also carrying a large backpack (somewhere to put the goods?). I kept an eye on him and would surprise him around some corner (so he knew I was behind him). Finally, he dropped everything and just left the store (and I had to clear up after him). I think he was a shoplifter (shoplifting is about $75/day, apparently). I mentioned this to another sales girl, and her descriptions of a customer and his mannerisms a day or so earlier were very similar to mine. I reported all this to a manager.

But none of this seems to register with the managers. Like I said, I think the managers are simply used to treating the "Third World" sales girls badly - there are no white women working there, except for a new Australian immigrant sales girl, a woman who mostly comes in to design the window displays, and an older woman in her sixties who is there for the "senior" customers. The other sales women are a smorgasbord of multicultural Toronto: Chinese, Nicaraguan, Mexican, Indian and of course Iranian. The managers are: a black woman, a Tibetan/Indian with a strong Indian accent, and the Ukrainian woman with a strong "Russian" accent. The general manager is a Mexican woman (also with a strong accent).

These lowered sales put everyone on edge. Customer "grabbing" is high, especially from neophytes like me (by the seasoned Iranians), and managers have short tempers out of frustration to maintain the higher sales expectations from head office. Customers are also short-tempered and irritated by the pushy sales tactics the sales girls have to pursue (under orders), although I think it is also the general demeanor of Canadian women, who are hard to please but quick to anger when not being served.

Perhaps this is a glimpse of Toronto's future. Immigrants of different ethnicities will stick with their own kind. Fewer of them will feel compelled to learn good, or even perfect, English since they live, work and socialize in segregated environments (even within a more multicultural environment like Laura's). They will discriminate against others, other immigrants and Canadians alike, partly due to their own isolated, self-sufficient communities, and partly because they really are different (and some will think better) than these others. Simple cohesive efforts like selling clothes will suffer, since there is no joint community (or group) that will work together for the better of the community at large, such as the business in Laura's. Wealth will suffer, and Canada and its citizens will progressively get poorer. Cultural and other societal gains will suffer and diminish. White Canadians who can afford to will leave for the outer suburbs while poorer whites will have to wade through all these cultural and societal upheavals (paradoxically, inner-city Toronto is largely white, but I think that is guided by expensive real estate. Here is a more comprehensive map showing this trend in 2006). But at some point, there will have to be some kind of decisive retaliation (war, splintering-off of Canada?) by whites, and some non-whites who genuinely understand what is going on, to restore what is lost or has changed.

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Have a Little Fun with Diversity

Here's a funny (as in coincidental/synchronous) post over at What's Wrong With the World, my co-bloggers on Jim Kalb's "Other Trads" list. Jeff Culbreath, who is part of the team of bloggers at WWWW, writes:

I'm back in the job market, having just resigned from a company whose ethical problems were too numerous and systematic for me to avoid complicity. If you have any openings where you work, please let me know.

Then, he writes about his application experience, specifically for a company called Ecolab:

Anyway, I just applied for a sales management position at a company by the name of Ecolab. I should have read their website first. They're really into diversity and inclusion. Here's a list of their "associate affinity groups":

The list from Ecolab's "associate affinity groups" link starts off with:

A WORLD OF TALENT. A CULTURE OF GROWTH.
At Ecolab, we believe that the success of our associates and the success of our company go hand-in-hand. We are committed to a culture that fully leverages our associates' talents by promoting an environment where all people can make a difference, be heard, be supported, be developed, and be rewarded for their contributions.

Then Jeff ends with:

Sounds like a diversity huckster's paradise, doesn't it? Not that I'm expecting a response from the HR manager, but if by some horrible mistake she (it's always a she) calls me in for an interview, I think I'll go just to have a little fun with her...

He's at least humorous about his call. I suppose my experience applying for a sales position at a clothing store could be funny.

I was interviewed along with a non-English speaker (well, that's how I would judge her if I were shopping in that store, since her English, in her heavy Indian accent, is incomprehensible), who was running around the store like a chicken with its head cut off, with a couple of desperate pleas for help from me, her competitor!

Although I fit in the "diversity" look, "diversity" seeking people are often startled when they meet me and converse with me. I.e., I don't go on about "diversity" and I don't expect anything from "diversity." I think this is what happened at the clothing store, hence my surprise at getting the post. But, I think the managers are more clever than I give them credit for, since my presence will attract (for a while, anyway) "diverse" clientele.

The "diverse" new colleague who came on board at the same time as I did can also benefit from me, another "diverse" new person. We can learn the ropes together. Translated, this means that I can (will) coach her on store etiquette, names of products, customer service (i.e. translations for both her and her customers), etc.

So, I could surely concoct some Monty Pythonesque episodes with my interactions between her and the customers, and between us two, since, like Jeff and his Ecolab interactions, I could have fun with her.

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Laura's Fashion

This morning, I went for a job interview at Laura's, a clothing store in the Eaton Center. It was my "second" interview, so I was pretty optimistic that I'd got something (a few evening shifts for the Christmas season?). I went about fifteen minutes early, but had to wait an extra fifteen because the woman being interviewed with me was late (forget about showing up early to start the interview on time...). Then we sat around for another ten while the interviewer got the paperwork together. I was surprised when this woman showed up. She was there at my first interview, and spoke in an incoherent Indian accent. During that interview (we did it together), she kept talking about how she was a "newcomer" and a "new immigrant" (repeating her sad state of affairs in as many ways as possible) and "in my country, this is what we do" etc. The interviewer (a black woman) kept giving her encouraging comments like "good job, good point," etc. Still, I thought for sure she was out. After all, one of the requirements of a saleswoman is to assist the customers that are here and now, not a faraway there.

So, I was surprised, and a little shocked, when she showed up again today. As part of the interview, we did an "add to this piece of clothing to make it a complete set" exercise. We got a pair of grey pants and a camel colored coat and were asked to work with each separately. I thought speed was part of the exercise, so I finished both in about fifteen minutes. The Indian woman was still roaming around the store, so rather than sit and wait, I looked through the merchandise. While I was doing this, she kept coming up to me asking where to find things. I didn't know where items were either before I started the exercise, and had done a quick survey of the clothes at the beginning of the exercise - they were pretty logically set up by color scheme. So, I either ignored her or said I didn't know. This time, I was sure she was out.

Not so fast. She was asked to come in on Monday and Thursday afternoon, as I was, to which she responded that she couldn't make it on Thursday because she was taking classes. Then her time got changed to the morning.

After all this was over, we saw the store's General Manager, whose title we knew only after she gave us information about the I.D.s and other papers we needed to bring in. I actually thought she was another shop assistant, and wasn't paying her much mind. Her manner was ingratiating, and she also had a strong (Iranian) accent.

As I left the store, I began to understand why the saleswomen were all non-English speakers, some with heavy accents. I'm sure this GM had quite a bit to do with the hiring decisions, as did the black woman who interviewed us (who never gave us her title).

I always have trouble having my questions answered correctly whenever I come to this store, mostly from the accented saleswomen who range from Mexican to Iranian. None has ever helped me with my questions on garment type, pairing items together, or simple questions about where to find things. I realized that they really didn't know much about "add[ing] to this piece of clothing to make a complete set." There is a Polish woman whom I seek out, who has a better understanding of English and of the clothing.

This is multi-culti Toronto at its best. My assessment is that through discreet affirmative action and some Human Resources decision to hire heavily accented "new" immigrants, these women ended up in this relatively mid-level store without much talent or expertise. But I think it is more clever than that. By assembling these heavily multicultural women, some of whom sound like they just "came off the boat," the store's managers probably think that this can attract similar shoppers, even if they have to trek downtown from their immigrant enclaves in the northern outskirts of Toronto. I think I was also part of the multicultural scheme, and that I would help this fellow immigrant interviewee who speaks no English during her time of distress (team work was considered #1 during the interview).

But the reality is that Laura's doesn't attract those kinds of shoppers, who are probably more at home with the down-priced merchandize from Wal-Mart. Matching a deep brown wool coat with a forest green silk scarf is not at the top of their fashion (if they even use that word) list. A grey, polyester waterproof coat of synthetic insulation, with a knitted acrylic scarf would fit their requirement for battling the Canadian winter which they dread so much (all non-white immigrants, even several generations down, have this irrational fear of winter).

So, for all their attempts at inclusiveness and multi-culti hiring practices, this particular store (and probably all of Laura's branches) will get the usual white customers, many of whom know what they want and avoid these odd, accented saleswomen, and find their own items. They would be too polite to complain for fear of being called racist. That's how I used to shop, anyway. I did a small survey of the clientele in today's interview, and yes, they were of the demographic I would expect, independently going about their ways without so much as glancing at the saleswomen.

Fortunately, Laura's clothing quality hasn't gone down. I think this will continue to happen, despite the efforts of the stores' "brains" to adjust the stores to what they think is appropriate for Toronto, and Canada.

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Canada: An Amalgam of Mediocrity

Please excuse the length of this blog. It is a descriptive piece, although I do get into some analysis and my perspective near the end.

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I started to write a positive review of the National Ballet School and its buildings, but I needed more information and had to return to the site to find out more. And that's when I changed my mind about the positive review, and decided to write it with the negative stance that I had tried to ignore in my initial observations.

The complex takes up two areas of downtown Toronto. See the map below:


There is a mixture of old Victorian buildings and modernist (postmodernist) glass boxes. Many of these buildings are named after former National Ballet dancers or philanthropists, and I wanted to get their names and contributions right, so I went to the sites for more information.

The first time I went to ask about a building called "The Shoe Room" I was met with an administrator who took my questions as some form of KGB interrogation, and made it clear she wanted me out as soon as possible. I reacted strongly, and said I was merely a Toronto resident interested in the culture and arts of the city. I left forgetting to get the most important information, which was on the ballet shoes left by famous (at least by Canadian standards) dancers on display at The Shoe Room.

Then I went next door to the glass high rise and asked more questions. This time, I was voiced my surprise that so many buildings make up this school, and asked about the name and function of this particular building. The front desk woman responded in the same rude, dismissive manner. And that is when I lost my temper. She backtracked and said that they have to "protect the girls," an insulting answer which implied that I was out to get these girls, like some pedophile child molester. I left perplexed at this behavior.

I went around the corner to the adjacent complex of buildings on Maitland Street (see map above) to find out more about the names of buildings and architectural styles in this complex. The woman there was more obliging, but she was not part of the NBS, having rented out the hall for another function.

I went next door to yet another NBS complex, and once again, the woman at the reception made it clear without mincing her words that this was the "girls' residence" (are there no "boy" dancers, and where do they stay?), and that I had to leave. Again, I was labeled a potential pedophile in no uncertain terms.

I took photos of this building, and decided to find out the information online. But that wasn't much help, so I decided today to finish off this project I had started to find out more about this important cultural center, close to my home, and which I pass by almost daily.

This morning, I reluctantly set off again to fill in the missing gaps.

I asked once again the woman (another one, this time) at the reception desk at the high rise complex my usual, simple questions: name of the building, and function of the building. The woman responded in the same rude and dismissal manner as all the others. Then I said (paraphrasing): "Look, Madam, I am asking simple questions about an important cultural center. There is no need to speak to me in that rude manner." Then, having nothing left to do, the women said, "You have to leave the building please." I was expecting some reaction, so I said, "I will tell everyone I know not to come to the National Ballet school, that the dancers are not all that good, and the shows are not worth their price. And to my non-Canadian friends, that Toronto is an unfriendly city and not worth the visit ." I said this in front of young dancers coming in for their classes, loudly and clearly. Then I left.

I was followed by a "security guard," a dark-skinned Third World immigrant who is participating in this subtle policing that is becoming common in Toronto these days. I told him that I did nothing wrong, but he replied that he didn't think so. "What have I done, then?" I asked. "You cannot take photos of the girls," came that odd reply. By this time, I was really furious, and told hem that he can go back inside to his stupid little job. He lingered, watching me. I could have called out "pervert on the loose" and found a real policeman.

Still, I had set out to do more than getting entangled with this bizarre situation. So, I went around the corner to verify information about the school's other complex. Another dark-skinned, Third World immigrant had been sent out to "keep an eye" on me. I gave him a scornful look, took my photos away from the "property" of the school, and left.

Here is the email I sent to a "to whom it may concern" in the "contact us" page of the NBS website (a generic box to fill in and submit):

To whom it may concern,

This morning, Sunday October 23 around 10:30am, I was at the National Ballet School, inquiring about the school, and the various buildings that make up the school.

I was met with a hostile receptionist, who wanted me out of the building as quickly as possible.

When I confronted the middle-aged woman about her rudeness, she called security, and threatened to "call the cops."

Her response was rude, unexpected, and unacceptable. I told her as such.

This caused her to tell me to "leave the premises" or otherwise she would "call the cops."

I left, with a security guard hovering behind me.

Please take care of this situation, namely the behavior of the receptionist. I expect an apology from her.

Please let me know of the outcome of your investigation, since I intend to take this incident to whatever level required in order to have an apology from your institution.

Kidist Paulos Asrat

I was serious about the quality of the school and of the ballet company. It is a second tier performance group, and even Baryshnikov, who defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1974 and was given asylum in Toronto, preferred to leave for the United States, joining the New York City Ballet and on to a prestigious career post-Soviet Union.

Currently, the ballet has a foreigner as a principal dancer, but this happens to be a Chinese-trained female dancer. I doubt that any American ballet company would want her. Imagine watching Swan Lake performed by a Chinese dancer? How are these young NBS dancers, guarded so strongly by these women as though they have brittle bones that could break at a glance, supposed to reconcile the story of Swan Lake with a Chinese face? How is that "protecting" young Canadian dancers?

I tried to find out about more about the Chinese dancer, Xiao Nan Yu. Whether she was married to a white Canadian as is becoming the norm here in Toronto, how she got into Canada in the first place, etc. Here is an excerpt of her biography from NBS website:

Born in Dalian, China, Xiao Nan Yu trained at the Shen Yang School of Dance, the Beijing Dance Academy in China and Canada’s National Ballet School. She joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1996 and has been a Principal Dancer since 2001.

Here are photos of her from the NBS site. Note her aggressive expression. And her official portrait at the NBS website shows a hard glint in her eyes, the triumphalist Asian behavior that I'm observing in Asians (here are my blogs on designers Wang and Doo-Ri). Here is Yu dancing the role of Odette in Swan Lake, an Asian face in a Western role.

I searched for her family background, since she has photographs of her with an Asian-looking daughter on her NBS profile. I was actually looking to see if she married a white Canadian once in Canada. But this website briefly mentions her marital situation:

Xiao Nan Yu, principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada, and her husband Shuang are the proud parents of a baby girl named Ava, born in November.

The daughter is given the convenient English name of Ava (as in Gardner?!). Yu may not have her "Canadian" life, but she will make that easier for her daughter, including making it easier for her to nab that white Canadian husband.

Part of the ballet school houses the training rooms for the young dancers. These training rooms are in the taller building made of glass, and the students practicing, rehearsing and training are in full view of pedestrians below.

Is this the way to "protect" young girls, who can be the prey of lurking (real) pedophiles and sex criminals watching and waiting from below?

Here's what the NBS informs us about one of the buildings, The Margaret McCain Academic Building:

8 academic classrooms; laboratories for computer, science and photography studies; art studio; audio-visual room; music room; ESL room; and study rooms.

Is the ESL (English as a Second Language) program for those potential Chinese dancers?

Barely visible on the taller highrise is:

The choreography of the opening scene of The Nutcracker...in the suspended frit glass of the south pavilion facade in Benesh notation.

What kind of designer would put illegible (comprehensible is another matter) scribblings on a glass panel? The script is too small, too faint and too high up to be noticed by people below. A waste of an idea, and the money that went into the clearly elaborate engravings.

Sculptures of a swan and a cherub are at the front entrances of a couple of these buildings. The title for this series of sculptures of swan and cherub in various poses is "Desire." One of my question for these hapless receptionists was, "why desire?". Having received no answer, I can deduce that the swan desires the cherub. So who's the pedophilia now! In fact, all the other works of Tom Dean, the sculptor of this series, are dark and macabre. Here's one titled "Sloth" displayed at the Edward Day Gallery. Here's how the gallery describes Dean's work:

In Dean’s The Peaceable Kingdom, serene beasts coexist in a precarious sensual paradise. The leopard lies with the goat kid, the sow and the anaconda are in love and the child and the bear are intimate. But it could collapse in a moment into sex and violence as a demon beaver leads berserk rats into paradise, and a giant vulture waits patiently to pick up the pieces.

And from the brochure that I managed to pick up at the NBS glass structure during my first visit there, this explanation:

Collectively entitled Desire, Canada's National Ballet School's striking suite of bronze sculptures by Toronto artist Tom Dean is rife with enough meanings to inspire a Grade 12 essay...[T]he artist sees his five pairs of life-size sculpted Mute swans and putti (cheeky boy babies of angelic appearance) as representing "the freighted relationship between maturity and youth" or, as teachers like to say, the "mentor-student" relationship.

Freighted relationship between maturity and youth? "Student-mentor" relationship? Between a swan and a cherub? I should add that along with pedophilic connotations, there is an element of zoophilia in Dean's imagery (and life?). I wonder if he's a homosexual? Andy Fabo, the author of the Canada Council for the Arts gushing write-up for Dean linked to in my previous sentence, is certainly part of Gay Toronto.

Finally, the head architect of the firm that designed the building (if one goes by the name sequence of their firm, and the distanced stance of the man on the far left), is an Asian. A final knot that ties together Asian triumphalism with mediocrity, and the West's infatuation with all thing Asian.

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I was looking forward to showcasing some of Toronto's cultural buildings. I wondered at the rude behavior of these women. I think it is surprise at a non-white person showing interest in high, Western, culture. Third World immigrants are not supposed to act "white" and have interest in ballet, opera, concerts, art and architecture. They are supposed to stay in their quaint, exotic enclaves, practicing their quaint, exotic culture (as far away from us as possible), leaving us only safe vestiges of their colorful clothes and spicy (not too spicy) foods.

But, I showed up in my Western clothes, dressed in a salmon/tan coat with matching tan hat and scarf, and white woolen gloves, looking far smarter than the white liberal Third-World-wannabes that roam our streets in their ugly clothes, and middle-aged women (like the receptionists at the NBS) in sloppy pants and shapeless sweaters who would put to shame their grandmothers who took such care with their appearances. That triggered their wrath. "How can a Third Worlder look better than us?" I really think is their rage. At the end of the day, for all their talk of "equality," they simply want these Third Worlders under their thumb, looking pathetic (and worse, and worse off, than them), begging for crumbs. That way, they can pour on them all the "good will" that they can muster, and feel good about themselves. And let's not forget the conveniently located exotic restaurants where the food is not too spicy, where they can "participate" in all the wonderful (at a distance) cultures of the (Third) world.

As I understand it, the benefits of multiculturalism are that the sterile white-bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain get some great ethnic restaurants and a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony that lasts until two in the morning. [Mark Steyn on Canadian multiculturalism.]

I don't agree with Steyn's "sterile, white-bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain," but for whatever reason, ethnic foods and "exotic" lifestyles have caught the attention of these people, and they are willing to discard their sophisticated cultures for humus and tacos.

Architecture, art, culture and society have converged to give us mediocrity. And Canada is the perfect example of this amalgam.

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