The human rights fee just lately stirred up a useless argument over statutory vacations, and politicians were given in at the motion. Bah, humbug to all of them!
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In a couple of days, hundreds of thousands of Canadians from all corners of the rustic will accumulate with friends and family to mark Christmas, as they have got achieved for generations. And the ones folks who don’t have a good time will watch and be offering highest needs.
However you wouldn’t know that this is identical Christmas that best weeks in the past, politicians have been falling over themselves to give protection to as though it have been in some mortal risk. All as a result of a faulty paper printed via the Canadian Human Rights Fee (CHRC). In the event you overlooked it, CHRC scored a impressive personal objective when it printed an ill-conceived dialogue paper suggesting that statutory Christmas vacations are a type of non secular discrimination grounded in “colonialist” non secular intolerance.
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Media and political backlash was once swift. CHRC attempted to stroll it again, pronouncing the paper were misinterpreted, and that it by no means mentioned Christmas was once racist. However the genie was once already out of the bottle and there was once no placing it again.
CHRC opened a Pandora’s field with its deficient number of phrases, and blaming “misinterpretation” when issues blew up in its face wasn’t going to fly. It was once now not sudden that various politicians took the chance to grandstand and take a look at to create a “them and us” struggle over Christmas when none existed.
First out of the blocks was once the Quebec Nationwide Meeting, and shortly after, the Space of Commons adopted with its personal denunciation. The Conservative celebration then introduced a “Don’t cancel Christmas” marketing campaign, and others referred to as for December to be declared a Christian Heritage Month. It was once dizzying.
Fortunately for all folks, the sound and fury was once restricted. Maximum Canadians shrugged all of it off as a result of despite the CHRC take, and the bombast from politicians, Christmas vacations have by no means been a divisive factor. When I used to be a full-time creator on the Citizen, I might ceaselessly volunteer to paintings all over the Christmas vacations as maximum of my colleagues have been off celebrating. This was once by no means laborious or noticed as some more or less discriminatory observe. It was once by no means an issue, and lots of non-Christians I knew didn’t give the problem a 2d concept.
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And when Eid came to visit, which it did two times a yr, my editors would ceaselessly give me the day without work. If I wished extra time, I went into my time or holiday financial institution. I by no means concept the rest about it. It by no means crossed my thoughts that I used to be being discriminated towards as a result of I wasn’t getting a statutory vacation for Eid. After all, if any individual presented me two statutory vacations to have a good time Eid, I might take them. However I didn’t take a seat there pondering that the loss of statutory vacation for Eid was once a part of “systemic non secular discrimination.” For the document, non-Christians don’t begrudge Christians their statutory vacations to have a good time Christmas. It’s now not a hill to die on.
The Canadian Human Rights Fee created this hurricane and it will have to be informed from its sour aftermath. If CHRC sought after to open a countrywide dialogue on vacations for non secular observances, it might have achieved so with out resorting to provocative language. We may have that discuss at the execs and cons of any such transfer, and comply with disagree if it got here to that. However via framing the dialogue with regards to systemic discrimination, CHRC misplaced the argument prior to the controversy even started.
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The reality stays that non secular minorities in Canada benefit from the freedom to worship as they please, one thing they’ve achieved for generations. We must at all times recognize this, and chorus from careless speak about non secular discrimination. The human rights fee additionally must now not had been shocked that some politicians took benefit to grandstand and provide themselves as defenders of Christmas when no defence was once wanted.
It’s just right to look that Canadians paid no consideration and were given on with their busy vacation plans. So, within the spirit of goodwill that marks the festive season, right here’s wishing all those that learn this column, and Citizen readers at massive, an overly Merry Christmas.
Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. achieve him at nylamiles48@gmail.com
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