By Jim Mauro
THUNDER BAY – VIEWPOINT – A recent news report outlined that a Toronto Police Officer had been arrested while he had been assigned to the Muslim liaison Unit. That got me to thinking about what other units might exist in Canada’s largest municipal police service.
There must be a Jamaican, African, Japanese, Chinese and Sikh Canadian Units. I am sure there is a Mexican, a Palestinian Canadian Unit and given the large number of Syrian refugees that Canada took, a unit for them. Locally, we have had a large influx of people from India. I assume plans are forming for a dedicated unit for this group.
Are we all fine with this? Divide people into groups by skin colour, or God forbid, religion, all in the name of alleged progress. Policing dedicated, not to the whole community, but to subsets by race.
Someone from Italy likely wants an officer who speaks Italian. I assume the same for people from Finland, Sweden, Germany or the Netherlands? Police now need to be experts in mental health, addictions, and homelessness and this is more of the same. Do police ever stop being the dumping ground for this alleged “progressive enlightenment”?
What are the top countries for immigration? WESTERN STYLE DEMOCRACIES, yet we continue to hear how we must change to accommodate. Why are we changing a society that most of the world wants to come to?
How exactly do these police units improve the safety of the community? We have become so divisive, our demands on police agencies so outlandish, that police are spending more time playing politics, instead of preventing crime.
Someone breaks into your home. Irreplaceable items damaged or stolen and the cost to you is in the tens of thousands of dollars. What is more important: that we caught the person who did it, or that we prevented it from even happening? But don’t worry, the officer who attends will have the same skin colour as you do. Doesn’t that make you feel warm all over?
And why should these “units” only apply to police. Would a person from east India not feel more comfortable with a physician from their country? Should we break down admissions to medical school based on skin colour, or religious beliefs? How about teachers, pilots, psychiatrists?
Should we identify the exact skin colour make-up in our country to have equal representation at Parliament Hill, Queen’s Park or City Hall? Why are the politicians not leading by example?
People bash western society while at the same time, most people who are leaving their homeland want to immigrate to western societies. Yes, our society had the help of different cultures and that should be recognized, while not fundamentally changing what was built over generations. Preventing any form of discrimination, yes absolutely but likely impossible for the foreseeable future. Making rules based on skin colour or religion, that’s where you lose me.
I think western democracies have two major attractions recognizing there are dozens. The first, a better life. The second in my view, the knowledge that democracies have become so scared, that we won’t push back at the non-stop demands for our society to change.
Elementary school teachers are predominantly female. Should 50% of the teachers be men? Do we divide further to cover off the skin colours of the students? Kids do not know about racism, but as a society we sure do a great job of teaching them that skin colour plays a significant role in policy decisions that some feel only divide us.
Should nursing have the cultural make-up of society at large? Judges, lawyers, carpenters, mechanics. How far do we go down this path? Have we improved the outcome of students or patients by instituting such a policy. Bricklayers are 99% men. Should we be forcing companies to hire 50%, women?
I reviewed what was readily available about black neighbourhoods policed by predominantly black officers. It did reduce the numbers of black people being stopped and created a slightly higher level of legitimacy/trust. Good outcomes. But no research was found that these initiatives reduced crime. Can we achieve the positives, without pushing more demands on police officers? I believe we can. But people who live in those neighbourhoods care about safety/security first, not the officers skin colour.
I understand why Police Chief’s may feel more community engagement is necessary, but it is meaningless at 2 am, when only two cops are responding to a weapons call. We have lost focus on what police should be doing, preventing crime.
We are all human beings, with frailties, hopes/dreams, challenges, and the wish to be happy. We spend so much time playing politics over group identity that we lose sight of other matters, such as safety, and more importantly, coming together as one. Most people I know, including people of colour, could care less about this stuff. But it does create lots of high paying jobs to challenge, argue, litigate, adjudicate and provide power to those who weaponize it for their own benefit.
Now I recognize given my “white male privilege” that I should burn in hell for even questioning these policies. But what are the exact signs that any of this is successful. And people wonder why Donnie was elected.
I fear this will never happen, but I for one would love to see Canada take this approach with immigrants:
Welcome to Canada. We consider Canada to be among the most beautiful and compassionate countries in the world. Here are a few things you should know about our Judeo Christian based society.
Our official languages are English and French with the province of Quebec having a unique place within our country. Our country has also embarked on a reconciliation process with indigenous people recognizing their long history and their role in forming Canada.
There is only one federal law process for the entire country, meaning a crime in Newfoundland, is a crime in British Columbia. We are not interested in changing our legal system but are willing to make it fair for all.
If your religion or other beliefs make demands of you that are different than exist here, that is unfortunate, but that is the Canada you decided to move to.
You are free to practice your beliefs but do not expect Canadian society to accommodate the practices of every culture that decides to move here. Our goal is to build one unified society based on common goals and ideals and we are happy you have decided to join us. We look forward to you being a part of this amazing society that was created by the generations that came before us.
I believe many Canadians feel the same way. But they remain quiet to avoid having the racism card thrown at them for asking questions or disagreeing with policies that appear to be driven by a highly questionable hypothesis.
I believe that continuing this path of divisiveness by skin colour, ethnicity or religious belief is foolhardy. We never seem to discuss the negative aspects of these initiatives. The west has given us scientific achievements, democracy, respect for minority rights and a way of life that people from all over the world want. This constant narrative, normally from the political left about how bad and oppressive western democracies are, is fuel, to try and change what they are, to something many may not recognize.
This foolishness is taking over Hollywood where a straight actor should not play a gay character. That does seem limiting to actors if you can only play the role which you occupy in real life. Jim Parsons played Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory and was rightly showered with awards. His character got married to Amy, but in real life, Mr. Parson is gay. Should he only be able to play a gay character?
Do gay actors have to publicly announce they are gay simply to obtain a role? Why is that anyone’s business? We could have been robbed of one of the greatest TV acting roles in history under the guise of progress.
Back to policing, the biggest impact on reducing crime is the deployment strategy of officers, targeting high risk locations and community cooperation. But there is little if any evidence that the skin colour of the officer assigned to an area impacts crime levels. And isn’t that what police should be doing, reducing crime?
Unfortunately, I see this country not as one nation, but with people trying to be anything but Canadian where people are slotted into their own particular silos. And we twist ourselves into knots to not offend anyone. How exactly do you build a unified society by dividing people into groups? By trying to be all things to all people, we continue down a path that divides instead of unites.
The government is about to push through new legislation around hate speech. This is what the Canadian Civil Liberties Association had to say about the legislation on March 12th, 20206.
“More than 40 civil society organizations, representing communities of various backgrounds, raised serious concerns about this bill back in the fall. They warned that its vague language could be used to criminalize peaceful protest and silence unpopular expression”.
If this goes through, we will be to blame, not the government. People protesting peacefully, possibly being criminalized because they have the audacity to question a policy or a law. In a democracy, asking a question, or disagreeing about a decision, a narrative or a new law, could be designated as a hate crime. How idiotic have we become?
And could someone, anyone, please tell me where the line is on hate speech, offensive speech, or freedom of speech because the lines seem to keep changing by the day. We need a list of words we can’t say and a list of words we have to say. Anyone volunteering to do up that list? Free speech indeed.
Just out of curiosity, who will be tasked to deal with the possible increase in hate crimes? Why the police of course. Just one more addition to the already ridiculous demands on this profession. Crime is not the priority. Making people feel good appears to be. Just a thought.
Note: It was my intention to write a future article on religion. Given the proposed legislation changes, I have no idea whether it would be labelled as hate speech.
