Intercultural Cities news release
Blog sweep Saturday morning turned up this nugget which feels like a barb directed at CAQ politics: Montreal has joined Intercultural Cities, a primarily European group that “supports cities in reviewing their policies through an intercultural lens and developing comprehensive intercultural strategies to help them manage diversity positively and realise the diversity advantage.”
La Presse’s Denis Lessard ponders the stress between Plante and Legault and what it means for the city.
Chris 11:35 on 2019-05-11 Permalink
Well, the list of member cities:
https://www.coe.int/en/web/interculturalcities/list-of-cities-by-country
includes a bunch in Moroco, a country where proselytizing for any religion other than Islam is punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment. I dare say quite a bit less intercultural than anything the CAQ has proposed.
Kate 11:40 on 2019-05-11 Permalink
That doesn’t mean that the feelings against proselytizing are held by everyone in those cities – in fact, connecting with a group like Intercultural Cities may be a way for them to try to instill a better spirit of mutual toleration.
Chris 11:41 on 2019-05-11 Permalink
Likewise here.
Kate 08:31 on 2019-05-12 Permalink
Further thoughts on this: is any visible presence of religious practice now equated to proselytizing for that religion? That seems to be how the CAQ and its supporters feel about it. I don’t take the sight of a hijab or a shtreimel, the presence of a cross on a church building or the sound of its bells to be religious marketing, but maybe some people do.
Chris 13:10 on 2019-05-12 Permalink
Maybe some do, I’m not aware of any polling. But I wouldn’t think so.
The Moroccan government seems to think so though, as Islam->Christianity converts have to worship in hiding. Their mere existence seems to be viewed as a kind of proselytizing against Islam. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/438j9m/house-churches-and-silent-masses-the-converted-christians-of-morocco-are-praying-in-secret
Kevin 14:18 on 2019-05-12 Permalink
Many of the speakers at the Bill 21 hearings seem to think that seeing/hearing something they don’t approve of is equivalent to a violent physical assault.
These people are incapable of conceiving of living in harmony with people who are not exactly like them. How sad.
Ian 13:49 on 2019-05-13 Permalink
Bonjour-hi writ large