"He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not, is a slave". ~ William Drummond

In Rimouski, Micheline Bélanger used his turn to speak at the hearings. “When I’m in Montreal, I don’t feel at home when I see these veiled women on Côte-des-Neiges and Côte-St- Catherine.” I feel like I’m in Saudi Arabia, and I shouldn’t. This is my country” he exclaims. Retiree Aimé was in St Jerome to denounce what he saw as an overrepresentation of kosher items in his local grocery store. “When I eat, I want quality, not the benediction of a rabbi.

Comments like these are coming with much more frequency these days, and not only in Quebec. In Vancouver, über-manager Bruce Allen, who will be co-producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, declared “Canada has rules.” “If you’re immigrating to this country and don’t like the rules that are in place, then you have the right to choose not to live here. If immigrants don’t like it, we don’t need you here”. In Mississauga an Islamic high school was vandalized twice in August. The Abraar School in Ottawa was torched on the first day of Ramadan. In Calgary in September, three potential jurors in a murder trial of an alleged Muslim hit man were excused after they admitted they may be biased against the accused because of his religion.

The issue behind the incendiary comments seems to resolve around the question of “reasonable accommodations” of cultural and religious minorities, and just where the limits should be drawn. When asked in a recent SES poll on reasonable accommodations conducted for the Institute for Research on Public Policy, “Is it reasonable to accommodate religious and cultural minorities?” a mere 18 per cent said yes. On asking how many thought immigrants should adapt fully to culture in Canada, the response was 53 per cent. When it came to accommodating religious and cultural minorities in public places, such as schools, hospitals and government buildings, 37 per cent said there should be no accommodation at all, 6 per cent advocating full accommodation. As for accommodation in the workplace, 45 per cent said there should be none, while only 4 percent agreeing with full accommodation. The poll further reveals that just 24 percent of those with a university education saw accommodation as reasonable, while 50 percent said immigrants should integrate.

It seems that Canada’s middle class is the least at ease with the idea of accommodation. Roughly 64 per cent of those earning between $40,000 and $49,000 believe it is up to immigrants to fully adapt to Canadian culture. Another countrywide poll from the Association of Canadian Studies suggests Canadians believe conflict between Christians and Muslims will eventually overshadow the country’s long-standing quarrel between the English and French. I for one am inclined to agree.

So, I ask… Just how much of our Canadian culture and customs are we willing to accommodate? Should we as Canadians do more to accommodate immigrants, or should they accommodate us? My answer would be the latter of course. Having lived quite a number of years in Brampton, one of the biggest multicultural cities in Ontario where Muslims are quite dominate, I believe we have become way too accommodating with regards to immigration. I have seen the adverse effects of a community overrun by domineering Muslims as they take over our schools, our streets, our communities and our jobs. Between 1991 and 2001, Canada’s Muslim population has doubled, making Islam the fifth biggest religious faith in the country, and the second biggest in every major Canadian city except Vancouver.

On the whole, it would seem that we (or should I say our fearless leaders), have bent over backwards to accommodate new immigrants and to what loss? How much of our Canadian values and culture do we have to accommodate to these new immigrants and what will be the outcome? Are we now seen as bigots and racist because we want to hold on to our Canadian values and culture? I often wonder just how accommodating as Canadians we would find, if it were us living in the Muslim world.