Canada’s new Minister of Immigration is a former Refugee
This is an article from the New Delhi Times http://www.newdelhitimes.com/canadas-new-minister-of-immigration-is-a-former-refugee123/
By Tarek Fatah, Author and Columnist, Canada
On Jan. 10, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
made a decision that made ripples throughout the world. From Singapore
to India, to the BBC and beyond, the only news from Canada that made
headlines was about Ahmed Hussen, a Somali-born refugee who arrived on
our shores in 1993 and rose to become our Minister of Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship. For spotting talent and lifting a backbencher
into the Privy Council, I tip my hat to Trudeau. For hundreds of
thousands of African-Canadian boys and girls, Ahmed Hussen’s story is a
beacon of hope.
(Readers should know Hussen is a close friend, though we disagree on much.)
He first came to my attention at the
height of Ontario’s historic (and successful) fight rejecting the use of
Sharia law in family law arbitration matters in 2004-2005. On one side
was the mosque establishment and many Islamic clerics who had set up
quasi courts and appointed “Qazis” to invoke Islamic Sharia in settling
family disputes. Opposing them was a much smaller group of secular and
liberal Muslims – including yours truly – for whom this was a do-or-die
moment. We knew how the UK had let this happen many years before, only
to discover, too late, the Muslim community of Britain being held
hostage by Islamic clerics. At the time, Hussen was a Liberal staffer
with ties to then Ontario cabinet minister George Smitherman.
Along with another Muslim staffer, Hussen
helped us connect with Smitherman, where we made our case to ban Sharia
courts in Ontario. While Hussen supported our goals, he never crossed
the line to help us more than what was appropriate, transparent and
above board. That same year, the Toronto Star listed Hussen as a “Person
to Watch”. People were already noticing the lanky lad from Regent Park,
but I am not sure Hussen knew that at the time. When asked by the Star
if he had political ambitions, the future immigration minister said, “I
don’t think I could handle the life of a politician . . . I don’t want
to be front and centre.”
A community organizer in Regent Park,
when the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) tried to pigeonhole
Canadian-born kids of Somali ancestry as “Somali kids” in 2014, Hussen
led the fight against this paternalistic orientalism, denouncing
attempts by the board to segregate in the name of integration. He told
the TDSB: “Do you need to stigmatize and marginalize people to help
them? … In the name of ‘help’ you can actually do a lot of damage if you
don’t do it the right way.” Canadians concerned about the global and
Canadian rise of Islamism and jihad should be reassured they have an
ally in Hussen.
Here is what he told the U.S. Committee
on Homeland Security hearings in Washington in July 2007, in criticizing
the idea of treating terrorism only as a criminal offence:
“The strategy of Canadian officials as
they confront this phenomenon in my community has been to view this
serious matter only through the prism of law enforcement … There has
not been a parallel attempt to counter the toxic, anti-Western narrative
that creates a culture of victimhood in the minds of members of our
community.” Hussen is already showing his mettle. On Monday, he told CBC
News he was committed to bringing non-Muslim Yazidi refugees, victims
of ISIS, to Canada, a group that has been largely excluded so far.
Wellicht is mijn boekenblog ook interessant: http://dutchysbookreviews.blogspot.nl/l
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