Blog||noussommes.ca

« J’ai quitté les dunes de sable pour trouver les dunes de neige » témoignait Sidi Mohamed Ould Hartane, conférencier à l’occasion de la journée culturelle de la Mauritanie. La Communauté mauritanienne au Canada avait organisé le samedi 15 novembre cette après-midi pour faire découvrir son pays aux habitants de Montréal mais aussi pour réunir sa communauté à l’auditorium de Verdun. Une exposition, dégustation de thé mauritanien et des débats ont rythmé les moments de partage entre les différentes communautés.

Moussa Guene, président du Regroupement Général des Sénégalais au Canada, était venu rencontrer la communauté mauritanienne. « Les sénégalais sont très proches des mauritaniens, il était important que je sois présent ce jour-là. »

« La communauté mauritanienne est en train de s’intégrer. C’est une population jeune et active mais qui rencontre des soucis d’embauche due à son manque d’expérience nord-américaine. Mais le Canada offre beaucoup d’opportunités. », indiquait Hassan Ahmdane, premier conseiller chargé des affaires administratives et financières, venu spécialement ce jour de l’Ambassade de Mauritanie à New York.

Plus d’Ambassade à Montréal

Le Canada ne possède plus en effet, depuis l’année dernière, d’Ambassade à Montréal. Un Consul honoraire a été nommé et fait aujourd’hui office d’Ambassade à lui tout seul. « Je suis un Canadien à qui la Mauritanie a demandé de la représenter. J’émets les visas, les visas de transit, je m’occupe de la validation des dîplomes. », explique Bernard Colas, consul honoraire de la Mauritanie à Montréal.

Si la CMC se dit apolitique, les tensions sont apparues lors d’un débat lancé sur « L’État de droit, la démocratie et le développement économique. », la Mauritanie ayant vu un coup d’état survenir dernièrement le 6 août dernier. Plusieurs participants ont regretté que ne soit pas abordée la question de l’intégration des Mauritaniens au Canada. Selon le président de la CMC, Ahmed Salem Ould Sidi, il s’agissait d’une question technique : « Nous n’avons eu des absences de dernière minute », explique -t-il.

Peu de discussion sur le « plan global d’intégration des personnes immigrantes et de valorisation de la diversité », présenté par le 29 octobre dernier par Yolande James, ministre de l’immigration et des communautés culturelles. Ce plan prévoit entre autre la signature d’un contrat qui visera à faire respecter les valeurs québécoises. C’est « une bonne chose » pour Ahmed Salem Ould Sidi qui considère que « la religion est entre l’individu et son dieu. »



La communauté mauritanienne est en très grand nombre à Verdun selon Alain Tassé, Conseiller municipal de l’arrondissement. « J’ai appris beaucoup aujourd’hui. Il y a beaucoup de communautés africaines à Verdun. J’ai d’ailleurs mis en place une politique de gestion de la diversité culturelle. », explique Alain Tassé, également Président de la Commission de l’urbanisme, de l’habitation et du développement communautaire de l’arrondissement de Verdun.

Canada is a hot destination for immigrants.

We now greet more than 250 000 newcomers every year in this country, and those numbers keep increasing more and more. Immigration is changing the face of Canada and giving this beautiful destination new colours and flavours. But who are those individuals, what is their take on this country? We want to know!

Our WhoWeAre project is aiming to give a voice to all those immigrants (as you can see on the immigrants’ video page), but we also want to share with you our advices on the immigration process and how to get settled in Canada. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so we at WhoWeAre have decided to prepare for you 25 articles on How to Immigrate and Get Settled in Canada! Over the following weeks we will unravel those articles for you. Of course, we would love to hear about you and your needs. If there is something you would like to discuss or hear about, or if you simply want to add your input to the debate, we highly encourage you to do so. Leave us a comment or get in touch with us through email! Our first article will be up soon, so stay tuned.

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We Canadian are fortunate enough to live in one of the most progressive nations on earth. But we too often  forget our racist past and present. Not unlike America or South Africa for that matter, too many of the marginalized in this country suffer an unspeakable existance, a kind of apartheid, I dare say.

First Nations communities come to mind when we think of poverty-stricken minorities and segregation - So many on Canada’s reserves live in third world conditions. But the Video above speaks of a lesser known chapter in Canadian history - that of Africville, a slum where hundreds of Black Canadians called home until the city demolished it in the late 1960’s. This video is a chilling account of life in Africville.

httpv://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=OhobvsUuogI&feature=related

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ozF9QDJms

One of the most poignant segments on television is “Coach’s Corner” with Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada. During its telecast Cherry takes time to solemnly display pictures of dead soldiers to honour their memory. It’s a long, few moments of reflection that makes one wonder how Afghanistan has become our Vietnam minor. As we watch, the inevitable question for many becomes: “Why are we there?”

Originally, in the aftermath of 9/11 in 2001, the international purpose was to free Afghanistan from the Taliban thus freeing it from harbouring terrorist organizations like Al-Quaeda and to capture the ever-elusive Osama bin Laden. The Canadian official objective of the mission was to defend our national interests, assume a leadership role in world affairs and help rebuild one of history’s most notorious failed states.

If the task of Operation Enduring Freedom in the aftermath of removing the Taliban wasn’t daunting as it is, the United States decided to shift focus away from Afghanistan and into Iraq in 2003 thus leaving Afghanistan extremely vulnerable to a rise of Taliban activity; which is exactly what has transpired.

As this video clearly shows, there are always unintended consequences to military action; especially in a region with a complex geo-political past such as Afghanistan. The issue isn’t if we can defeat them in a traditional military fight, the issue is if we’re willing to fight a long, protracted war to quell, if not outright defeat, the fanaticism that fuels the Taliban forces and its ideology.

Pressure has grown on Prime Minister Harper to pull out of the mission. However, Canada has pledged its commitment until 2011. We have to carefully weigh the implications if we’re to ever pull out before this time frame.

It remains to be seen what the United States will do in Afghanistan once the new administration under President Obama in 2009.

Whatever the decisions, it won’t make dealing with Afghanistan any easier.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

On the day of the American election my Facebook account was flooded with reminders and invitations to election events. My coworkers made plans to cut out of work early that day to gather at house parties to watch the election coverage. Election parties? Really? I don’t know anyone who hit the party circuit for the Canadian election a couple weeks ago.

I do realize that I’m comparing apples and oranges here. Our own election was poorly timed and widely opposed by most Canadians. Our celebrities didn’t upload clever YouTube videos to encourage young voters. And while This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a great show, it doesn’t exactly pull the same numbers as Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL . Oh, and then there’s Barack Obama. As in, we don’t have anyone like him. Not even close. It’s no wonder we’re fascinated with him. He’s young, attractive, a powerful speaker and he’s endorsed by celebrities. And then there’s his politics. We like his politics, don’t we? Sure we do! He’s the opposite of George Bush, right? Good enough.

Now, I don’t mean to be glib or to be a killjoy here. Most of my friends are still basking in the afterglow (re: hangovers) from Tuesday night’s revelry, and although I’ve heard a lot of gushing about the new president, I haven’t really heard much talk about what this might mean for Canada. Don’t get me wrong; I am personally very hopeful that President Obama may usher in a new era for the United States. And that’s can be a very good thing for Canada. We all know that what happens in American doesn’t stay in America. I just think it’s time to put away the Obama party hats in favour of critical thinking caps.