Real Freedom is Only for Those Who You Can’t See

Yesterday, Canada’s highest court ruled in some situations, Muslim women can wear the full face-covering veil called a niqab, while testifying in court, due to religious reasons.

The niqab provides only a slit across the eyes, allowing women wearing it to see, but fully covers the rest of the face.

Canada’s Supreme Court ruled narrowly in favour of allowing the Muslim woman to wear the full-face covering in an Ontario provincial court, as she’s the victim of a horrible rape.

One of the great things about being Canadian, is our acceptance of other cultural and religious beliefs. It’s also our greatest fault – because it doesn't work the other way ‘round.

For years, first responders have had serious reservations about serving Muslim women wearing the niqab. Be it a slight fender bender, a major car crash, a house fire, or – as in the case of the woman who won her right to wear such a garment in a public court of law – a rape case – the job of all first responders is to ensure the safety and security of all those involved.

This requires the ability to SEE with their own eyes the whole situation, including the faces of those affected.

There have been numerous reports from ambulance, police, fire and other first responders, where women in the niqab have refused to remove their coverings.

In at least three Canadian situations, paramedics were forced to wait until the women passed out from their injuries, so they could legally assist an unconscious victim, by removing the niqab, to perform necessary life-saving care.

In extremely oppressed cultures – and you can’t get much more extreme than covering your whole face – they don’t have the openness to accept other cultural or religious beliefs.

So when they come to an open and free country, and are told for their own safety and security, they must uncover their face so we can see them, they refuse.

However, they aren’t dumb – one might argue they are psychotically smart – because they not only hold true to their beliefs, but they use their new found free country’s laws to further those beliefs here. They cry about their rights and freedoms under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms being violated when asked to remove their coverings.

Freedom of all forms of expression – be it cultural, religious, or anything else – is the foundation of what makes this country great.

However, there is always a line which has to be drawn, even when freedom is concerned, for the public’s greater good.

And the public’s greater good isn't served by allowing people to cover their faces where either their own or another’s safety and security is at issue.

Wearing a full-face covering mask – which it essentially is, because it masks the identity of the person wearing it – shouldn't be allowed in any place where you interact with others.

We communicate so much through body language, and facial expressions, covering your whole face really does more harm than good. From signalling your intentions when four cars stop at a four-way stop sign at the same time while driving, to simply going into any store or bank and not being mistaken for a robber or a thief.

balaclava (a full-face sky mask), I’d probably be taken down at gun point by police. I could claim I was just wearing it to protect myself from winter’s chill – which would be understandable in a cold climate country such as we have here in Canada. 

However, I’d probably still be charged with mischief, as we Canadians know what is and isn't acceptable in our society.

So how come our nation’s highest court allowed something which isn't really acceptable in our society for a select few?

Happy Thanksgiving US of Eh?

Here in Canada, we've already celebrated our version of Thanksgiving, earlier in the month, while this week our neighbours to the south celebrate what we often refer to as ‘American Thanksgiving.’

Tourists from other continents coming to Canada and the States may not be able to see the differences between our two nations. We’re so similar, and also so very different – but most of our differences are ideological instead of cultural.

American’s have an enormous sense of passion and national pride in being American. Even most of those from other lands that become permanent residents fall in love with American nationalism.

In Canada, we have pride in our nation – if your parents were born here. Those from other lands talk about the benefits of living here, but always complain about how they miss home, and are just here so their families can have a better life. Often they move into pockets where others from their homeland settled, so they don’t have to participate in Canadian culture, society, or – sadly – with anyone that doesn't speak their language.

When people immigrate to the United States, they become Americans. They pledge allegiance to the flag, and swear they’ll uphold the values and laws of the land.

When people immigrate to Canada, they become hyphenated Canadians, many don’t speak either of our official languages (English or French) and although they live according to our laws, they certainly don’t embrace Canadian values, preferring to continue living as they would in their homeland.

When parents with kids come to America, they enrol their kids in American schools, and hope their children will realize the potential of the American Dream.

When parents with kids come to Canada, they intentionally move into areas where there are schools with other children from their culture. In many cases, they have special schools which are cultural-specific to their homeland, so their kids although living in Canada, are raised with the same values and beliefs back home.

Settled immigrants in the States that have made it for themselves, embrace the American Dream, and feel a sense of obligatory pride in helping other American’s realize that dream, hiring other American’s regardless of race or culture to expand and grow the American economy.

Settled immigrants in Canada lack a sense in being Canadian, and having only done business with others from their homeland, they only hire others of the same race or culture of themselves.

They take away jobs and opportunities for those who were born outside of their culture, which although it may grow their business, it harms the Canadian economy, and eventually may harm their business, which is in that Canadian economy.

Canada and the States are both highly prosperous, safe, democracies which both have a lot to be thankful for during our mutual Thanksgivings.

Though, being Canadian, sometimes I’m envious of my American neighbours  as it appears they have more to be thankful for going forward, because as more people come from other lands to our distinct countries, America grows as a nation, while we Canadians struggle to maintain a sense of nationhood.

Has Technology Created a Society without Faces?

I get a lot of emails – many of us do. Email is such an efficient yet invisible form of communications. There are so many forums on the Internet where we can communicate with complete strangers, never having seen their faces.

It used to be only on online chat forums that this completely faceless form of communications ruled.

But now I’m finding more and more people are willing to actually do business without ever actually meeting the person or persons they are to be working with.

I know the days are long since gone where you’d conclude a deal with just a handshake. But at the very least, that handshake gave you the opportunity to look your business associate in the eyes.

By not seeing the people we are conducting business with, we’re creating a very different society than what we have been used too.

Sure, there’s Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and the other social networks with their walls of faces. But even social networking isn’t real socializing in the real world. Though it may lead to that in some cases, for most of us on the social networks, we’ll never shake hands in real-time.

Email and social networking lacks the character in a person’s voice. There’s no body language to see if everyone really is on the same page. And there’s no small talk.

That’s the real loss. For years cultural anthropologists have told us we are social animals. We thrive in communities driven by many social interactions -- surrounded by small talk.

Small talk, water cooler chatter, even a simple smile and a warm “good morning” are all disappearing thanks to the faceless society of today.

It’s so easy to send off a quick email to a friend or colleague, asking about the wife, their kids or them – but do you really expect them to give you a detailed answer? If they do, do you respond with heartfelt sympathy or concern?

Usually not – email and social networking isn’t the forum for doing such things. If you were really concerned, you’d call and ask – but as our society becomes more digital and less personal, that phone is getting all the heavier to lift.

And that’s really very sad, tragic even, because it is the social interaction in life which makes life worthy of living.

There is an element of socializing in social networking, but rarely does it actually involve getting together in the real world, and actually talking. Just scroll through your friends, followers and fans on your social networks and count those you’ve met in person, and for most, it’ll be a very small percentage.

Sure, we have those funky characters called emoticons which are used to represent our feelings, but these can’t really replace the real thing. And we have live streaming video, using services like Google Hangouts and Skype, but even these aren’t the same as being in the same room, and sharing the same experiences.

And that is what is really missing from our technology driven world today – the sharing of real world experiences.

Although technology is bringing us all closer together, because we can talk, text, post, tweet and stream from anywhere to anywhere, technology is stealing away one of the vital elements of being life – human contact.