Cultural Importation Incompatible With Canadian Values

"I wouldn't suggest this is some novel condition that we're suddenly grappling with."

"[While the question doesn't appear often in polls, it's not the first time widespread Canadian endorsement of the notion that] there should be a little more of the melting pot than the mosaic [has been expressed by a large proportion of the Canadian public]."

Andrew Enns, executive vice-president, Leger market, research and analytics 

Canada's inimitable prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is extremely fond of expressing a trite little message to critics that "diversity is our strength", despite the increasingly obvious fact that the very diversity with which Canada has invested itself through its hunger for more bodies to populate this vast geographic area so that the workforce can be increased and more productivity can be seen, at the very time when he has himself shut down the operations of energy extraction production resulting in vast  unemployment numbers and a lack of responsible exploitation of natural resources. 

 

In the process overseeing an immigration system that has brought in populations from countries mired in conflict, religious zeal, and cultural traits incapable of integrating into Canada's value system. Canada's very security and that of its various populations from China, India, Africa and the Middle East have brought with them ancient and more recent issues of victimhood and violence. Now, a new poll reveals the extent to which Canadians in general react to these issues of discontent and importation into Canada of religious and tribal aggravations.

Canadians of every colour and derivation responding to a Leger/Postmedia poll have expressed skepticism of the prime minister's little maxim, believing that, given their experiences, that while diversity can have its benefits, it also brings with it problems. Respondents to the poll in the majority endorsed the belief that new immigrants should be encouraged to accept "values and traditions" already established within Canada's culture. And at the same time, discard the cultural identity issues that are "incompatible with Canada's".

A mixed view of diversity's benefits was favoured by 56 percent of respondents who, agreeing that "some elements of diversity can provide strength", nonetheless supported the reality that "problems" and "conflict" can also arise out of diversity. Only 24 percent saw diversity as an unambiguous "strength", while 21 percent characterized it as predominantly "problematical".

51 percent of respondents agreed that Canadian authorities "should do more to ensure newcomers accept Canadian values", and a higher 55 percent endorsed the idea that the country's immigration policy be premised on "encouraging newcomers to embrace broad mainstream values and traditions", leaving behind beliefs "that may be incompatible with that". 59 percent of white Canadians endorsed the "Canadian values" need, while 46 percent of non-whites did so.

 

Of Caucasians, 23 percent endorsed the counter-sentiment that newcomers be encouraged to "maintain and promote their own cultural and religious identities", that was endorsed by 38 percent of non-whites. Large, disproportionately immigrant-led demonstrations calling for the expulsion of "gender ideology" from public school curricula took place two months ago expressing social conservatism among immigrant communities not always synchronized with the various progressive frontiers championed by Canadian authorities. To be fair, many long-time Canadians found little sympathy with the "gender ideology" sentiments.

More latterly, Canadian cities have been gripped by the phenomenon of regular rallies responding to the Israel-Hamas conflict, since the national survey was conducted after the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group invaded Israel to commit an endless orgy of sadistic savagery victimizing helpless Israeli civilians, raping girls and women, mutilating and killing children, women and men and foreign farm workers on farms, in towns and villages and kibbutzim.

The well-attended, and raucous, normalcy-disturbing 'protests' billing themselves as 'pro-Palestinian' have been organized entirely by Israel-hostile groups such as Samidoun, the Palestinian Youth Movement and Toronto4Palestine, all of them on record as approving of the October 7 massacres in Israel, and all calling for the total destruction of the Jewish state. In the process creating a violent, threatening, disruptive chaos.

A few hundred Pro-Palestinian supporters held a rally on the steps of the TMU (formerly Ryerson) Student Learning Centre at Gould and Yonge Sts. on Friday October 20, 2023. Photo by Jack Boland / Postmedia Network

These groups have spared no effort to bring in official speakers who espouse Islamist extremism and using the vocabularies of pro-terror rhetoric, including a speaker in Toronto calling for Hamas to maintain control of the civilian hostages it took into Gaza for concessions forced on Israel. In Montreal an imam leading a street packed with demonstrators called out prayers to "kill" the "Zionist aggressors". The opening question of the survey found 78 percent of Canadians harboured concerns "over how the Gaza/Israel conflict is impacting Canadian communities".

The notion that non-citizens should face deportation "if they publicly express hatred toward a minority group or support a terrorist organization" was backed by 75 percent of respondents to the poll. That is a policy currently pursued across much of Europe, particularly in Germany when last month German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to pro-Hamas rallies by stating his country should begin deporting ineligible migrants "on a large scale". In Canada, no mainstream Canadian political party has expressed similar solutions, as yet. 

 

A majority of Canadians, however rejected the basic tenets of "anti-racism" ideology -- now official federal policy --  which, through agencies like the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat, openly pursue the belief that Canada's institutions are "systematically racist", and can be redeemed only through "deliberate systems and supports" that favour select "equity-seeking" groups.

In particular, the idea that "certain minority groups should be given additional rights and privileges in accordance with notions of decolonization, anti-racism and equity", was rejected by 50 percent of poll respondents, with only 24 percent backing the program.

DIE: Diversity, Inclusion, Equity

"To sit here and talk about facts and figures and then walk into the classroom tomorrow and say 'Canada is just as bad as the United States', I think we are doing an incredible disservice to our learners."

School Principal Richard Bilkszto, Toronto & District School Board 

"We are here to talk about anti-Black racism, but you in your whiteness think that you can tell me what's really going on for Black people?"

"At least [the U.S.] had a fighting posture against at least the monarchy, here we celebrate the monarchy, the very heart and soul and origins of the colonial structure."

DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson, CEO, KOJO Institute

"[Thanks to the KOJO Institute for] modelling the discomfort administrators may need to experience in order to disrupt [anti-Black racism]."

Toronto & District School Board Superintendent

"Based on the information on file, I am satisfied that the conduct of the speaker ... was abusive, egregious and vexatious, and rises to the level of workplace harassment and bullying."

"[The DEI trainer intended to] cause reputational damage and to] make an example [of the principal."

Worker's Compensation Board

A Toronto District School Board sign is shown in front of a high school in Toronto. Photo by The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

There seem to be few public schools and academic institutions in North America currently that haven't been invested in workplace diversity, equity and inclusion training; sensitivity awareness by 'white colonialists' to the 'lived reality' and historical colonialism of typical 'white supremacists', a learning issue that has extended to businesses and governments in this age of progressive wokeness. Richard Bilkszto, a principal with the TDSB, is suing the board for its failure to defend him during a hostile DEI training session.

 

Mr. Bilkszto has a 24-year career as a principal behind him. He is quite aware of the responsibilities incumbent upon the teaching profession, relaying to young students the fundamentals of a good education in the primary subjects of exposure; language, geography, history, science and economics. He previously taught at an inner-city school in Buffalo and is well versed in how Black and white students were treated. He took offence at Canada being singled out as the greater harbourer of racism.

For her part, Ms. Ojo-Thompson set out to teach the class she was addressing of education administrators that Canada's status as a monarchy represented a marker of racism. The British monarchy, in fact, outlawed slavery long before the U.S. did, and Canada itself had very few Black people held as slaves. The Underground Railway from the U.S. to Canada was a conduit to safety. It can be assumed that this DEI educator either was ignorant or chose to bypass the historical fact that African tribes were heavily involved as slavers.

She is the chief executive of an enterprise with clients in public institutions with listed clients that include the RCMP, the government of Ontario, the CBC, a number of universities and the federal government itself, enjoying service contracts in the interests of instilling a higher sense of sensitivity in employees to Black victimhood. In this instance, Mr. Bilkszto responded that racism is real with a need to improve the situation but that Canada remains a fairer place than the U.S., belying the trainer's contention otherwise. 

Another training facilitator with KOJO who was present at the session told Mr. Bulkszto "if you want to be an apologist for the U.S. or Canada, this is really not the forum for that". To which Ms. Ojo-Thompson added by instructing the class that "your job in this work as white people is to believe", not to question.

The day following this exchange of opinions, Mr. Bilkszto was berated by his supervisors about his "male white privilege" and "fallout" from the training.

In a follow-up training session, trainer Ojo-Thompson referrered to the principal's comments at the previous session as an example of "resistance" that supports white supremacy, explaining that his reference to "facts" represented an effort to derail the conversation and discredit her words. She encouraged everyone present to push back when they see others being "accosted by white supremacy".

The Toronto School Administrators' Association and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board supported Mr. Bilkszto's claim for workplace harassment leading to sick leave, calling for an investigation into the incident, though no investigation was initiated. However, the worker's compensation board awarded loss of earnings benefits for chronic mental stress.

The Toronto & District School Board itself is now under mental stress, since it decided in turn to issue a statement of claim against the KOJO Institute, alleging the DEI consulting firm was negligent, in breach of contract by humiliating, harassing and defaming their staff principal. Although Mr. Bilkszto, a contract principal, returned to work following six weeks of sick leave, he was not reinstated to the position he held prior to the DEI confrontation.

His work with the school board has been curtailed and another contract for a principal term was revoked. He is now seeking $785,000 in damages. It is clear that the school board, fearing they will be held liable for the hefty damages against them, will sue for a like amount from the DEI consulting firm to cover their liability.

But the court filings for these lawsuits render a birds-eye view of relentless workplace DEI training, that relies on coercion and ridicule to ensure that employees are forced to accept a litany of charges of racialist, ahistorical contentions. Any who fail to appropriately submit to the charges might find themselves being ordered to attend re-education sessions.

KOJO Institute is a leading consultancy that partners with organizations to unlock their potential by navigating the challenges connected to equity, bias, diversity, inclusion anti-oppression and anti-racism.

For over 20 years, KOJO Institute has designed scalable transformation frameworks that cultivate employment equity, cultural change, education and organizational development that drive positive social and business outcomes. Inclusive Change Drives People We deliver innovative solutions that achieve equitable outcomes, improve culture, and produce transformational results. KOJO web page Kike Ojo-Thompson, Founder & CEO