We have been recently reminded of the extreme danger of a state, political party or province using oppressive tactics to take control of a country when the Taliban forcibly took over Afghanistan.
This is a country where historically under the Taliban women had little or no control or say and were very limited in the amount of education they may or may not get. Girls had no say in who was chosen to be their life partner. The parents of both the bride and groom decided who they would marry, the age and even barter according to the dowry offered by the family of the bride, just like when we sell animals. A woman may never be treated equal to a man or allowed to make any major decision.
One of the oldest forms of oppression has been carried out by some churches and still is today. Some religions either frown upon or do not allow women to be priests, ministers or spiritual leaders of a church. A few churches even specify the race and colour of their spiritual leader.
We have recently been reminded of both religion and our country being involved in an attempt to eradicate entire cultures of our First Nations who had been living here for thousands of years before the “white man” even landed on the continent. I am very proud to say that members of my ancestor’s family worked with and helped Abraham Lincoln get elected as president of the United States and make slavery illegal.
We are reminded in history of Adolf Hitler trying to exterminate all the Jewish people. Hitler also made an attempt to have all the people of Germany have blond hair and blue eyes by selection. It took a world war, untold amounts of money and lives lost to stop his extreme attempt of oppression.
In our own country, we still often witness men being selected over women as directors or chairman of various boards. We also notice that the average wages paid to men are much more than to women doing the same work. Some of the more progressive and profitable corporations, farms and most effective boards now have women at the top.
In our own province of Quebec we have been subject to language being used by the provincial government to control its population. Only children with one or both parents educated in English may choose to attend an English school, even if it provides total French immersion classes. This gives access to well educated bilingual young adults to high paying jobs in the private sector and chances for advancement to many other provinces and countries. The uni-lingual French speaking graduates are limited to working within the province of Quebec and getting lower paying government jobs.
Many children, who were forced to attend French schools, later chose to attend English CEGEPS to not only prepare them for university, but allow them to network and learn English with their fellow students.
The provincially proposed Bill 96 will severely restrict the number of French students who can attend English CEGEPs and hence reduce the French students chances to get better, higher paying jobs.
By forcing more stores and businesses to work in French only, it will further restrict visitors, shoppers, tourists and companies from investing and coming to Quebec. Many corporations have already moved head offices with higher paid white collar workers out of the province, while leaving lower paying jobs in the province.
It is and will be even more frustrating for non-francophone’s to deal with the Quebec Government who control all laws, taxation and grants even if they are federally funded, and just complying to new rules.
Let’s not allow any of our politicians, provincial or federal to allow any of these oppressive tactics in what is globally recognized as the greatest country in the world.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
