Leto

I just heard a talk radio debate between two muslims (hosted by John Oakley on 640 AM) who were talking about this case.

The woman was supporting the father's actions as the daughter was disobeying her father while under the age of majority (19 yrs old) and she said that wearing the hijab was mandated by the Koran. She did go on to say that the father may have gone a little overboard in his actions. But this was earlier this morning before the poor girl had passed away.

The man who was debating her, also a Muslim, was appalled at the way the Koran was being interpreted, and stated that the original intent for modesty in the Koran says that a woman must keep her breasts covered. Never a mention of the face or head. He appealed to the woman's intellect in trying put forth his position that the Koran is being mis-interpreted, or at the very least there is little agreement on various aspects of the scriptures.

The entire thing is sad to see. Now the girl is dead, and the father is in jail.


hmmm. I view this statement as simplistic (sorry, no offense). I have lived in the multicultural pluralism of Toronto for most of my life and deliberately chose to send my (admittedly polyglot) children to a downtown school that has an even mixture of blend of cultures (Tamil, Cantonese, English, German, Italian, Vietnamese, Pakistani & Indian) and religions. This is instead of an area, closer to my home, which is focused in a singular culture (my area would be predominately Italian, Greek or Philipino depending on the school).

They have Muslim friends who may have been born, or who's parents are from Pakistan, Hindu from Sri Lanka, Buddhist from Thailand, Catholic from India, Protestant from France plus the normal mainstream Canadian United Church or RC.

What I think is the trend that is disturbing is the establishment of what people are calling "ethnoburbs" which is where there is a huge agglomeration of one type of cultural community taking over a large area of town. For example (locals know these areas): Chinese in Markham, Pakistani/Bengali in Brampton, Tamils in Scarborough or St James Town and to a lesser extent, Jamaican in North York (jane/finch).

To me, this isn't multiculturalism. it's a form of ghettoization, where there is a lack of mixing, of the salad that is multiculturalism. So we get a homogenous soup, an island of the old world that is a departure from the basic cultural norm of the nation, and no attempt is made to integrate which is a basic tenet of multiculturalism.

The end result are cases where the immigrants from the old world try to keep the old world "happening" in the new world to such an extent, that they lose sight of the need to integrate.