Avi's editorial in Times of Israel

Avi's editorial in Ottawa Citizen

O Canada: A Work In Progress

There is no place on earth like Canada – theland of the free. Canada is perfect for anyone seeking a life of relativetranquility, peace, freedom, equality and opportunity. That’s why more peopleimmigrate to Canada – 250,000 per year approximately – than almost anywhere else on theplanet. Canada is the second largest land mass on the planet, blessed withplenty of water and magnificent lakes, rivers and mountains. Its people areresilient given the harsh winters, yet caring, compassionate and mostlyrespectful of one another. 

Yet Canada continues to be a work in progress –having progressed and sometimes regressed over the last 150 years sincenationhood. We should celebrate but not be satisfied that our work is done. Ournational shame is our treatment of the indigenous community. Canada is a firstworld nation, but within Canada there are indigenous people who are worse offthan people living in third world countries. According to Scott Gilmore inMacleans, indigenous communities have an "unemployment rate worse thanSudan… and infant mortality rate worse than Russia."  

I was shocked to learn "there are 89communities without safe drinking water;" that "the murder rate isworse than Somalia's and the incarceration rate is the highest in the world;"and that "a child is more likely to be sexually assaulted than to graduatehigh school." According to an RCMP report, 1,017 indigenous women andgirls have been murdered in Canada between 1980-2012 – a homicide rate roughly4.5 times that of all women. How can this possibly be in our beloved Canada?

Our country is great, but it’s taking us awhileto reconcile with the past and fix the present. It was not until 2008 thatthen Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the dreadful residentialschool system that destroyed many lives. In fact, only last week onNational Aboriginal Day did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announce that thename of the building which houses his office would change from Hector-LouisLangevin – the architect of the residential school system – to the "Officeof the Prime Minister and Privy Council." 

While we are strong and free, this was notalways the case for everyone. It is hard to believe indigenous peoples – theoriginals on this land – were only given the right to vote federally in 1960. As difficult to comprehend today, the disturbing "Chinese ExclusionAct" was repealed in 1947 granting Chinese-Canadians the right to vote infederal elections. Fifty-one years after Canada's confederation in 1867 – the"Women's Franchise Act" was passed permitting all women to vote infederal elections. But it was not until 1929 that Canadian women were declaredto be "persons under law." 

Some Canadians certainly noticed and tried tobeat down the prevalent racism and inequality in this country. Canada wasforced into introspection when it signed the Universal Declaration of HumanRights in 1947. Our greatest achievement from a human rights perspective wasthat it was crafted by Canadian John Peters Humphrey – an opportunity forCanada to truly become the land of the free. The declaration was signed only ayear after most Canadians said they opposed Jewish immigration. Who couldforget that Canada would not give refuge to Jewish immigrants trying to fleethe Nazis between 1933-1945 and how it refused entry to the St. Louis, a shipcarrying 907 German-Jewish refugees in 1939.

The horrible internment of over 20,000 Japanesein 1942 and the continuous legacy of the "Chinese Head Tax" beginningin 1885 give us pause. Canada's consciousness began evolving when in 1971 theFederal Government introduced Multiculturalism as a policy of acceptance ofethnic identity. Things progressed from there. In 1977 the Canadian HumanRights Commission was established and in 1982 the Canadian Charter of Rightsand Freedoms was introduced.  

In 1985 people like Jim Keegstra could no longerpromote hate against Jews. Women were required to be fully integrated into regularand reserve Canadian Forces in 1988. In 1990 Sikhs were permitted to wearturbans while in RCMP uniform. In 2005 the Civil Marriage Act was passed makingsame-sex marriages legal in Canada and in 2006 the Prime Minister apologized inthe House of Commons for the Chinese Head Tax. Canada must still endeavour tocorrect the injustice of its indigenous population, and this began in 2008 withthe Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

For all of our gains, lately it feels like westill have to continue fighting to ensure Canada remains strong and free. Let’sproudly celebrate our birthday – and pray that "G-d keep our land gloriousand free."

Shabbat Shalom,

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Avi