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| Great White North |
| You can't kill women, town tells immigrants |
| 2007-01-30 |
| IMMIGRANTS who want to live in the small Canadian town of Herouxville, Quebec, must not stone women to death in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them, according to an extraordinary set of rules released by the local council. The declaration, published on the town's website, has deepened tensions in the predominantly French-speaking province over how tolerant Quebecers should be toward the customs and traditions of immigrants. "We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," said the declaration, which makes clear women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write cheques, dress how they want, work and own property. "Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to ... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc." Herouxville, which has 1300 inhabitants, is about 160km northeast of Montreal. Andre Drouin, the councilor who devised the declaration, told the National Post newspaper the town was not racist. "We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us, but we want them to know ahead of time how we live," he said. The declaration is part of a wider debate over "reasonable accommodation", or how far Quebecers should be prepared to change their customs so as not to offend immigrants. The Herouxville regulations say girls and boys can exercise together and people should only be allowed to cover their faces at Halloween. Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said the declaration had "set the clock back for decades" as far as race relations were concerned. "I was shocked and insulted to see these kinds of false stereotypes and ignorance about Islam and our religion ... in a public document written by people in authority who discriminate openly," he said. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 must not stone women to death in public But its ok to do it in the privacy of your own yard right? How about if a mosque wanted to rent a quarry for a little private stoning? Is that ok? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-01-30 22:33 |
| #7 By laying down the rules, they also eliminate the defense of ignorance. If some family circumcises their daughter, and it is found out, they it is only right that everyone in complicity know beyond any doubt that what they have done is a crime *before* the fact. It *stops* being cultural accommodation and becomes a crime, when they are informed about it. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-01-30 22:05 |
| #6 So if you outlaw killing women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them, etc. you're considered racist? A new definition of 'racist'. The old definition was 'someone who's winning an argument with a liberal'. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-01-30 21:23 |
| #5 Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said the declaration had "set the clock back for decades" So you prefer setting the calendar back 13 centuries instead? |
| Posted by: GK 2007-01-30 21:16 |
| #4 So if you outlaw killing women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them, etc. you're considered racist? Oh. So what are you considered if you allow it? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-30 20:53 |
| #3 The declaration is part of a wider debate over "reasonable accommodation", or how far Quebecers should be prepared to change their customs so as not to offend immigrants. I wonder if they'd be willing to make reasonable accommodations to not offend Americans, or even other Canadians. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-01-30 20:53 |
| #2 The following: "We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," said the declaration, which makes clear women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write cheques, dress how they want, work and own property. "Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to ... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc." elicited this reaction: Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said the declaration had "set the clock back for decades" as far as race relations were concerned. The proper reaction would be to say "OK, we're the newcomers here; we'll try to fit in". The improper reaction is to declare that asking you to treat women as human beings is "racist". |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2007-01-30 20:52 |
| #1 We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here Good for them. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-30 20:43 |