[Eric]

"Race" is a tricky issue, and it is one that all countries which can be termed "desirable places to live" are facing. In Canada, everyone apart from the First Nations comes from somewhere else. Yet Canadians are aware (those that think are anyway) that over the decades ... we are too young a country to think in centuries ... a uniquely Canadian culture has grown up. We have reached the point at which Canadian governments are about to make entry into this country as a landed immigrant (one step below citizenship, or, the first step towards citizenship) more difficult, and to argue for a degree of conformity to a loosely defined "Canadianism." In other words, there are certain things a new immigrant would have to give up. For example, the Federal govt. is about to pass a law whose effect would be that Muslim women will have to remove their veils in order to vote in Federal elections. The argument is, and it is one that I agree with, is that all Canadians who vote have to provide the election officials with photo id. In other words, they have to show a "face." This is seen by some as an attack on Islam, by others as a reasonable conformity to the law of the land. As an aside, most Muslim leaders agree that it reasonable and have no problem with women showing their faces to a female election official. The province of Quebec, however, does appear to be taking things a lot farther. They already have laws which require all public signs to be in French only, and laws requiring immigrants to send their children to French-only schools. They wish to protect a unique culture, a large French-speaking enclave in a largely English-speaking country. They don't believe, nor do most Candians, that this is racist. The message seems to be: "Living in Canada is a privelege; fit in or f*** off."