Immigrants Here And There

Quebec recently released the so-called Bouchard-Taylor report on 'reasonable accommodation'. It deals with how immigrants are fitting into Quebec society (gosh, it almost sounds like I'm talking about a separate country) and what changes can be made to improve the situation.

The report emerged out of an incident where a small town in rural Quebec set out a list of values that they expected citizens in the community to live by. The list was seen as an attack on Muslim immigrants.

Anyway.

One section of the report contrasts the Quebec immigrant situation with that of European societies, and why Quebec's problem is much less drastic.

Certain European countries are facing serious problems linked to the emergence of underprivileged urban zones, which are inhabited by under-qualified populations
and are the hub of tensions that are exacerbated by a keen sense of injustice and rejection. Mistrust and resentment obviate the potential benefit of social programs that are initially well designed but often poorly received by the communities for which they are intended. Gestures of discontent and revolt irritate the more privileged classes and undermine the majority's goodwill (it becomes hostile to the search for solutions). Against this backdrop, strong xenophobic right-wing movements flourish. The situation in Québec is much different, in at least four respects:

(a) Marginalization factors exist in Québec, but they are not of the same magnitude as in certain European countries. We do not observe in relations between immigrants and the host society a comparable level of tension and socioeconomic exclusion. Furthermore, we must do everything possible to avoid a downward spiral in this respect.

(b) Over 60% of the immigrants who arrive in Québec are selected in light of
their occupational and linguistic skills, with the result that they are generally better educated than the average member of the host society. This is a far cry from the situation of under-educated immigrant populations in certain German and Dutch cities or in certain French suburbs.

(c) A number of immigrants come from the middle class and thus share in many ways the lifestyle of numerous Quebecers.

(d) Immigrants in the European countries [as opposed to Quebec] are often the nationals of former colonies … To all of the other grounds for alienation must be added the painful recollection of colonization and exploitation.

I consider that last point to be pretty marginal in importance. To me, what this section of the report says is basically the point that I've been repeating on this blog for a year (not that I think the point is brilliant or original; I just think it's something we take for granted in Canada): it's not an easy task to get across the border into Canada. You either have to cross an ocean or cross America--a task made particularly difficult since 9/11.

This means we get a pretty big say in who our immigrants are, and we get to pick the educated, middle class sort. Europe doesn't enjoy this convenience.

There's a part of me that feels guilty about this, like we just get to pick out the cream of the crop for ourselves and leave the poor people where they are. But it's not like immigration to Canada is a human right; we have to be realistic about this. And it serves nobody's interest to create the kind of environment in, say, the suburbs of Paris, where impoverished Africans pack themselves like sardines into apartment buildings that should be condemned by all rights. And it's not like we do immigration well right now; the current backlog of immigrant applications to Canada is massive.

Still, it all somehow seems unfair.


(hat tip to Jon Kay)

April 2 - Biking Tuscany

We got on the train at 4:30 pm in Rome. The trip to Florence took an hour and a half.


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Pictures taken out the train window...






...and our first look at Florence:



Florence (Firenze in Italian) is a world away from the hyper, dirty streets of Rome. This city has more of a small town feel to it--if you can ignore all the tourists.



We walked through the center of the city to get to our hotel. Here's just a glimpse of the eccentrically-coloured Duomo that towers over its surroundings. It's a very famous cathedral, but more on that in the next post.



Our hotel was quite pleasant and the staff were extremely friendly, even if they didn't speak English very well! Here's the view out our balcony.



After finding a great little restaurant nearby, we hit the sack.

The next morning we walked out along the Arno River to get to our meeting point for the bike and wine-tasting tour we signed up for.




We got picked up in a couple of big white vans. We drove up and out of the city into the Tuscan countryside, reknowned for its endless rolling hills and vineyards. The girls driving us were both Americans, one from California and one from Michigan. They were good company.




Our destination was a castle. I can't recall how old it is now, but it's pretty damn old. It's used today as a winery and we got a tour of it.




Our tour guide was a Scottish guy named Andy. He and a friend just decided to start up a biking tour a few years ago and operate the whole thing on their own. I like that sort of thing.






Ah yes, the wine. There was a lot of wine. We bought ourselves a bottle of a particularly delicious red wine for the whopping price of 4.60 euros.



And then we hit the bikes.



There were about 12 people in our group, which was a nice size. Most of them were Americans, although there was one Chinese lady who was crazy. There was one other Canadian, a female hockey player from Edmonton who was travelling while working in a hockey camp in Austria.








We stopped for lunch in a local restaurant. There was a LOT of food!



And then back on the bikes for another long ride.



Near the end of the trip was a gigantic hill. The guides warned us that it was really long and really steep, and that if you felt tired at all you were advised to take the van up. Screw that, I said, and went for it.

It almost killed me--seriously--but I made it up.



After the bike tour was over we got dropped off at a little garden area that overlooks the whole city. There was a replica of the famous "David" statue; the real one is in a Florence museum.





I told you that cathedral was big.




[NEXT FLORENCE POST]

April 1 - Rome On Foot

Our last day in Rome. Armed with a self-guided walking tour, we hit the streets.

I took pictures of various sights along the way, particularly palaces and Egyptian-style obelisks. I don't remember what many of them are now, but I'll jump in to give you the low-down on the significant ones.







This is the Trevi Fountain, a popular tourist sight. It's a huge Baroque-style fountain, built in 1629. Tradition has it that you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain as you walk away; this ensures a return to Rome.

(We kinda visited at the wrong time of day, there's a large shadow going across half the fountain. It's apparently really nice to see right at dusk as it's all lit up.)






The famous "Spanish Steps", which were actually built by the French in the 18th Century. During the summer they're decked out with flowers and foliage and such, supposedly quite nice.





For the life of me I can't remember the name of this Piazza...I think it's the Nuomo or something like that. At any rate, it's sort of the old town square/marketplace. Today it's a very pleasant-looking place, framed with a palace and stately apartment buildings. The square also has two fountains adorned with odd statues.








This is...er, never mind. I was going to say it was one of Rome's top attractions, but what with the Colosseum, Vatican City, Roman Forum...the city's just got too much!

Anyway, this is the Pantheon. It's been called the best-preserved building of its age in the world. It was built in 125 AD as a temple. It's also considered a masterpiece of ancient architecture, with the gigantic dome roof open in the center to let in natural light.








This enormous monument is to Vittorio Emmanuelle II, the guy who reunited modern Italy. It was built recently, only completed in 1935, and was controversial because (like the road built by Mussolini), it cut off part of the ancient ruins near the Forum. Today it contains a museum on Italian reunification and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a WWII monument.

It's really big.







We ended at the site of the Circus Maximus. This was the sporting stadium in ancient Rome, accommodating up to 250,000 spectators for its chariot races.

Today you can see where the track used to run, but it's just a huge open park used for concerts and public gatherings (when the Italians won the World Cup of Football in 2006, it's estimated there were 700,000 people packed in here!). In the background are the Palatine Hill palace ruins.




And that did it for our Rome trip. We boarded the train for Florence at 4:00.