I really never intended for this blog to be so political. Honest.
Some issues really do need more exposure, though, & since I have this place to vent, might as well use it.
Racism continues to rear its ugly head in Canadian life. I'm ashamed of our current federal regime, led by Harper & his band of neoCons, and of everyone (including some of my own family) who voted for them. They're doing their utmost to ruin our country's international reputation, and sadly, they're succeeding all too well. I'm also ashamed that the opposition in Parliament has been so ineffectual in protesting against their actions. What we need most is for the opposition to coalesce so that their minority government is ousted & can be defeated at the next election. I'm not holding my breath, though.
Two major cases ongoing now:
Khadr was all of 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan, after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a USAmerican soldier, and has been interned in Guantanamo Bay for the past 7 years, awaiting trial for murder, conspiracy & support of terrorism.
This man deserves a fair trial, and as a Canadian citizen (born in Toronto), it should be in a Canadian court. After so long a denial of due process, our Federal Court of Appeal ruled that his Charter rights had been denied and he should be brought home. Our mean spirited neoCon government is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court, who have yet to decide if they will review the case. It's to be hoped they won't.How can this one man, who was 15 at the time of his alleged actions, be considered such a threat to our national security that it warrants an appeal to the Supreme Court to keep him incarcerated in a foreign internment camp? How can our elected officials continue to bully this individual in such an ugly way?
We have jailed mass murderers & other violent offenders for a shorter time than he has already served, in what is known to be dire conditions, where torture has been a factor in treatment of detainees.
A key quote from the above article: "In his decision, O'Reilly pointed out that Khadr is the last citizen of any Western country held at Guantanamo. Other countries have repatriated their citizens." I'm ashamed that Canada has not seen fit to do so, & continues to emulate the now (thankfully) defunct Bush/Cheney administration in their illegal & immoral acts.
Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a Canadian citizen, was stranded in Kenya for 3 months because embassy officials thought she didn't look enough like her passport photo & she was accused of being an imposter. It took her insistence on a DNA test to prove her identity and get them to back down. She is now suing our federal government (i.e. the taxpaying citizens) for their negligence & failure to support her. I hope she wins, even if I'm paying for part of the settlement.
There is at least one other Canadian citizen, Abdihakim Mohamed, who has been stranded, also in Kenya, for 3 years. Clearly, the staff of the embassy in Kenya need some serious retraining, at the very least. (The "diplomat" in charge has been recalled -- it's a start.)
It's no coincidence that all 3 of the cases here involve Canadians who are also Muslims.
And this from a regime that claims it is innocent of ethnic profiling. Appalling.
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Comments
But some officials in Kenya apparently have a habit of extorting money from travellers by accusing them of not looking like their passport photo and then expecting a bribe; Canadians visiting Kenya are likely to predominately be Canadians with some connection there, and thus are more likely to be Muslim and/or black. I think these facts adequately explain why the 3 cases of Canadians stranded overseas are black or Muslims, without any need to speculate about ethnic profiling on the part of the Canadian government.
I'm not sure how your comments about the Kenyan situation inform the issue -- this isn't about how Kenyan officials treat Canadian citizens on passport issues, but how Canadian ones do. And what does the fact that travelling Canadians are likely to have connections in the country they're travelling to have to do with anything?
I notice you don't address the Khadr issue, which is clearly in the hands of the current regime, and clearly related to his ethnicity.
Way to put this out there.
I didn't address Khadr or a lot of the other things you mentioned because, as I said at the top of my earlier comment, "I'm not trying to defend the government in general from these types of charges".
It does sound like we'll "have to agree to disagree" on some things, but I don't think that we necessarily disagree on as much as you think.