Canada's Multiculturalism - Worth Defending | Amira Elghawaby | TEDxOttawa

Amira Elghawaby, a human rights advocate and journalist, shares her experiences growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and drinking the multicultural kool-aid. While she found it in abundant supply in her youth, she finds its running dry now. She argues that each of us should become diversity champions and help renew the supply. The goal? Promoting inclusive communities for all. Follow Amira on Twitter @AmiraElghawaby Amira Elghawaby is an award-winning journalist and human rights advocate. Along with frequent appearances on Canadian and international news networks, Amira has written and produced stories and commentary for CBC Radio, the Ottawa Citizen, the Toronto Star, the Literary Review of Canada, and the Globe and Mail. Amira spent five years promoting the civil liberties of Canadian Muslims as human rights officer and later, as director of communications, at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) between 2012 to the fall of 2017. She is currently involved with several initiatives to promote civic engagement in diverse communities, including as a founding board member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, the Silk Road Institute and as an advisor to the Muslim Fellowship in Toronto. Amira obtained an honours degree in Journalism and Law from Carleton University in 2001. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

Пікірлер: 168

  • @adotholland22
    @adotholland223 жыл бұрын

    multicul will never work out.

  • @fxpxc
    @fxpxc3 жыл бұрын

    Canada is NOT a land of immigrants. The more apt description would be to say that It is a land of extended-stay expats, at this point. Honestly, as an immigrant, acquiring Canadian citizenship felt just like getting a Costco Membership. I think that there is something missing when I think about a sense of Canadian national identity. What is it? What makes people feel Canadian? If you want to experience Canadian multiculturalism, just visit any major international airport around the world and that about sums it up. There is nothing that allows to me "feel Canadian". It is a franchise model of multiculturalism. Domino's Pizza pretty much. There is no real mixing between groups. The European-descent are doing their own thing. The Quebecois have their own little ethno-nationalist state. Indo-Canadians doing their own thing. The Chinese doing their own thing. And so on. There may be some intermingling but honestly minimal, even in cities like Toronto or Montreal. The whole immigration/multiculturalism has been promoted, branded, marketed, etc because the capitalist class of Canada - the ones that are really running the gig - need new people as if they were running human farm.

  • @thegreatergood8081
    @thegreatergood8081 Жыл бұрын

    The last time I was in Toronto, it didn't feel like a vibrant melting pot of cultures. It felt more like an international economic zone. The Indians, Pakistanis, Jamaicans, Africans, Whites and Chinese pretty much stick to their own enclaves. I didn't get a sense of shared Canadian-ness.

  • @larrydavid5650
    @larrydavid56502 жыл бұрын

    No it’s not.

  • @TSSIII
    @TSSIII

    The question is does she support other cultures or just her own?

  • @Strange9952
    @Strange9952

    Look, I understand your struggle, but this is MY CULTURE

  • @assoichinan
    @assoichinan4 жыл бұрын

    No one should be treated as a second zone citizen. Thank you to all the allies. Merci

  • @wpantus8544
    @wpantus85444 жыл бұрын

    For what I learnt , multiculturalism its abt equality between men & women after living 3 decades in Canada. I hope Canada can achieve real equality & everyone see themselves as Canadian.

  • @fatimaahmad8702
    @fatimaahmad87024 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for sharing your story. I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. Just like you, I rarely faced Islamophobia. People were accepting and I had amazing teachers. It is because of the support and passion of my teachers, that In sha Allah, I will be graduating as a teacher in April. However, as an undergraduate student, I came to realize just how much Islamophobia was prevalent in Canada/Quebec. Today, I cannot even teach in Quebec because I wear hijab. It is exactly when the gov't turns your back on you, that inclusion becomes more difficult. It is time we raise our voice and do something about it. Just like you did. :)

  • @wdourou
    @wdourou4 жыл бұрын

    Beautifully delivered message!

  • @Leesoldier12
    @Leesoldier122 жыл бұрын

    God I can't wait until we get rid of Trudeau

  • @drakebell6784
    @drakebell67843 жыл бұрын

    Free speech trumps your right not to be offended, Amira. Stop destroying Canada from within.

  • @CanadaMath
    @CanadaMath

    In 2004 I wrote a somewhat famous article called 'Top 8 reasons not to immigrate to Canada'. In short, the Canadian authorities tried to destroy my life. They made it so that I could not be employable in Canada. So I moved to the U.S. in 2005 and then some years later I moved permanently to the Philippines. I am happy that so many years later videos like yours are saying essentially the same things that I did. I was ahead of my time. I will never go back to Canada. Not to live, not to visit, not even a connecting flight. Too cold, too expensive, taxes are astronomical, no culture, no freedom, no jobs, no opportunities, only modern slavery, worst healthcare system, unbearable political correctness, crime infested/drug infested, xenophobic people, too depressing. It has become a North Korea style dictatorship in the western world.

  • @johnq2068
    @johnq20682 жыл бұрын

    Sorry, when muslims complained and forced a Christian teacher to remove her cross you started a religious cultural battle. You don’t like the cross well guess what, what’s fair is fair.

  • @fernandbaribeau5298
    @fernandbaribeau5298 Жыл бұрын

    elle ne fit meme pas l'effort de comprendre les Québécois...alors qui est-elle pour nous juger?

  • @coolcatdozzit6482
    @coolcatdozzit64823 жыл бұрын

    Mulitculturalism in Canada is a sham and has FAILED. I am a mixed race person, born and raised in Canada, who has come to realize over the years through experiences at work and (and out of work-) socializing that, Multiculturalism has NOT created a pluralistic democratic minded society open to change and adaption, but one that still revers - celebrates each singular ethnic identity above else .

  • @dextrosebizarre
    @dextrosebizarre Жыл бұрын

    She's right when she says that hate crime come from fear and ignorance. But people like her rarely have the courage to ask this simple question: Why do so many people fear Islam? I can't recall how many attacks happened in mosques in Pakistan and Afganistan because there are so many. How many Shiites and Sunnites kill each other in Irak and elsewhere? What Islamists say about homosexuality? What do Fundamentalist say to woman when thay wear a mini-kirt in the street? So, I'm not surprise if some people have harsh words for islamic veil because they associate the veil with fundamentalism and his bad sides. In the same way I would understand if some Africans have bad words for me in Africa as a white person because of the colonial past, I would understand if some Canadian have bad words for me if I wear the hijab or the islamic beard. By the way, I spent few months in Morroco, and my Marrocan friends were scared of fundamentalists there. So, no surprise if Canadians are also scared.

  • @plenghan
    @plenghan Жыл бұрын

    Non au Multiculturalisme, le Canada doit rester debout devant cette mauvaise influence qui essaye d'effacer notre indentité

  • @adamcaul
    @adamcaul2 жыл бұрын

    Multiculturalism is failing all of us