The 60s were know for many things, mostly drug experimentation and LSD, but in Canada it was the beginning of the inclusion of French as an official language in law. Tensions between English and French in Canada have always been there and this effort was meant to appease the culture and mend misgivings. Soon after, Canada’s multicultural promotions began with the official policy being announced by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on October 8, 1971. The policy allows citizens to practice their religions and keep their identities without the fear of official persecution which some thought would make Canadians more willing to accept different cultures. By 1984, it had also morphed into Affirmative Action which became law in 1986. “The purpose of this Act was to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability and, in the fulfillment of that goal, to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities by giving effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences.”
It is that latter sentiment that resulted in hire by culture numbers programs throughout Canada – especially in the Federal Government. Qualifications be damned, the scales had to be made “equitable” and so began decades of inequitable employment to correct what was seen as inequitable to begin with. How it ever made sense to attack discriminatory problems by discriminating may perhaps only be discovered in a mushroom cloud. The tragedy of the policy was furtherance of the divide it sought to remedy. People recognize when employment is attained as a result of a program and not merit which produces distrust, hard feelings, and lack of acceptance. In the end, the program self defeating in that it results in more prejudice. Equally tragic is the loss of a more competent and qualified work force as many are only there to fill a quota, appease the wrath of government sanctions, or receive the benefits of compliance. Despite the US counterparts recognizing and taking action to combat this problem, Canada plunged head long in and expanded it with total disregard to consequence.
According to Wikipedia, “Discrimination is the unfair treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group, such as race, gender, age, or religion. It involves making prejudicial distinctions that lead to unequal opportunities or privileges for different groups.” The Canadian program unapologetically does just that… making distinctions to create unequal opportunities based on all of the above. A prime example can be seen with the Manitoba government which has clearly chosen to openly discriminate in their Energy Rebate program singling out Indigenous https://efficiencymb.ca/my-home/indigenous-offers/ and Metis https://efficiencymb.ca/my-home/metis-energy-offers/ to receive benefits denied to all others. Disadvantaging some groups in favour of others is exactly what discrimination is. It is undeniable this practice should be unacceptable and terminated unless one wishes to go into the realm of the absurd and offer every ethnic group it’s own special energy rebate program. This should have been cause for outrage, yet simply due to social propaganda campaigns favouring this behaviour it has gone unchallenged with much Federal support. The Fraser Institute article https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/an-avalanche-of-money-the-federal-governments-policies-toward-first-nations, points out what has long been obvious to many. An exorbitant amount of money spent with negligible benefit to the intended recipients except to foster further divide in the county in the name or reconciliation or anti-discrimination. There are many groups that could lay claim to unfair treatment in the past but reality is that is not where we live nor should it be.
In a similar style of government, Liberal MP Marc Miller is moving to limit religious free speech opposite to the 1971 Trudeau policy which was to allow allows citizens to practice their religions and keep their identities without the fear of official persecution. Strangely, he only targeted one group. It certainly appears discrimination abounds today maybe even more than ever despite it taking a different form. Some have called it reverse and many see the targeted nature of these policies but the fact remains they fall under the definition of discrimination as listed by Wikipedia and the dictionary. It is text book man made rules to combat issues inherent to the human condition and since people are flawed, the rules imposed are too. Some say people are generally good, but history shows the opposite. People cheat, lie, and exploit whatever they can in the absence of a higher power – exactly the outcome we have witnessed since the dawn of time. Some take advantage over these policies using them to thwart others and gain in monetary ways and many inevitably end up in some form of politics to promote more of the same.
How bizarre people like Marc who are desperately trying to remove the words of the Bible miss the reality the solution lies therein. Jer 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is the root of the issues government has been trying to address The solution isn’t in man made regulations and laws. Mat 22:37 “Jesus said unto him,Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Without Jesus, none of that is possible but with Him it is. In His word we find truth. We find righteousness and justice. Not man’s justice, but Gods. It is His word that contains the principles and statutes that our forefathers all knew and used to establish the country in the first place and it is because we have thrown it all away that we have the hopeless mess we see today. Anything good comes from Him and we would be wise to repent, fall on our knees, beg forgiveness, and follow God’s ways. If not, we need only look at books like Ezekiel to see where that leads.