My bilingual blog offers a wide variety of topics, including: my random thoughts; human relations; traveling pictures; running marathons; policy and politics; art and arts; chilling out with family & friends; and other aspects of life in Canada.
As they set sail from London to the distant shores of America in December 1606, the men and boys onboard the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery surely expected the best from their adventure. They’d establish a British settlement, find gold and silver, a passage to the Orient, and, perhaps, the lost colony of Roanoke. The explorers, funded by a group of London entrepreneurs called the Virginia Company, could not have anticipated the fate that actually awaited most of them: drought, hunger, illness, and death.
Their journey started off as badly as it ended. The three ships were stranded for weeks off the British coast, and food supplies dwindled. Over the course of the voyage, dozens died. But 104 colonists — many gentlemen of privilege, but also artisans, craftsmen, and laborers — survived to reach the shores of Virginia. On May 13, 1607, they decided to make landfall on the swampy ground of what was then a peninsula (and now an island) along the James River, some 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Within a month the settlers had constructed a triangle-shaped wooden fort, for protection against the Spanish, who did not want the British to establish any kind of foothold in the New World.
The settlers of the new colony — named Jamestown — were immediately besieged by attacks from Algonquian natives, rampant disease, and internal political strife. In their first winter, more than half of the colonists perished from famine and illness. Eventually, more colonists and new supplies were brought from Britain, and, despite a fire that wiped out the original fort, the settlement found some stability under the leadership of Captain John Smith. Smith, with the help of Pocohontas, daughter of the Algonquian chief Powhatan, managed to broker an uneasy peace with the natives before leaving the colony and returning to England in September 1609.
The following winter, disaster once again struck Jamestown. Only 60 of 500 colonists survived the period, now known as “the starving time.” Historians have never determined exactly why so many perished, although disease, famine (spurred by the worst drought in 800 years, as climate records indicate), and Indian attacks took their toll. On June 7, 1610, Jamestown’s residents abandoned the hapless town, but the next day their ships were met by a convoy led by the new governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Lord De La Ware, who ordered the settlers back to the colony.
In 1612, John Rolfe — who would later marry Pocohontas — began to grow tobacco, finally giving the colony a cash crop and hope for survival. The first representative government in the New World was convened in Jamestown in July 1619, the same year that African slaves — then indentured servants — were first brought to America. Jamestown was the capital of Virginia until 1698, when its statehouse burned down. The following year, the capital moved to Williamsburg, and Jamestown began its slow decay ....
"THE PILGRIMS"
(My interpretation of the story aired on WPBS Watertown, New York on 2015-11-24)
Btwn 1630-1651, William Bradford led the pilgrims at Plymouth in an attempt to build a spiritual community in New England where they would live in peace and flourish. But when the Mayflower sailed away, they were left on their own.
Facing the harsh weather, raiding pirates, Indian attacks, dwindling food, fatal diseases, and other misfortunes, many perished and the remaining population barely survived. But a strategic alliance with some of the natives enable them to learn new skills and knowledge to live off the land and fight off hostile tribes.
Unfortunately with the arrival of new colonists at Plymouth and the establishment of new colonies along the eastern seaboard, starvation, conflicts and raids eventually took a strong toll on the relationship btwn the white men and the natives. By the time the Indians tried to eradicate the colonists off their ancestral land, it was already too late. The colonization of North America was unstoppable.
Williams Bradford's dream of a spiritual community and peaceful co-existence with their Indian neighbours did not materialize in his life time. Ironically, it was the survival news of the Plymouth pilgrims that opened the food-gate to the New World.
So without present day political bias, let's take a minute to absorb the story of the pilgrims and reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving on Nov 26, 2015.
Attachment: A page from William Bradford's hand-written journal that had been lost for over 100 years, then was found in London, and eventually returned back to Boston.
Don't read this aloud at the supper table unless you are with Chinese relatives, in which case, the challenge is to restrict the conversation to sheep penis
Btw, the Chinese euphemism for animal penis is '鞭' that means 'whip'. Go figure!!
On a serious note, the traditional but outdated practice of eating endangered species, or parts thereof, must be banned. Tigers are going extinct when they cannot reproduce !!!!!
Updated 20121102 (Thank you for the info, Space !!):
Video and text below from YouTube:
石碣袁崇煥紀念園是當地村民多年前在袁的故居舊址上修建的，其中一座袁崇煥騎馬躍前的雕像基座上，鑲有一塊金色銘牌，上面刻有一句據稱是袁帶兵打仗時的口頭禪：「掉哪媽！頂硬上！」下配英文繙譯「 FUCK HIS MOM！ HIT THE HARD！」旁邊還有一段中英文解釋，意指「頂硬上」是袁當年保護京城的主旋律，而「掉哪媽」是罵昏君的助語詞。
經過此役, 母親身心健康大打折扣,在她出院前和後,我都有和家人、医生、護士、物理治療師、渥太華社工、老年癡呆症協會外勤員、街坊房屋協會協調員等討論,他/她們的專家意見是: 在她未完全失去基本獨立能力之前,应用Aging In Place 的概念,儘量讓老人在家安享餘年,延遲入院,減少生活環境轉變帶來的壓力。 母親自己也常对我說: 『入院d人好快就死!』 有鑑於她住処有社工及護士協助,而我処又離市中唐人亍遠,所以暫時來說,她留住在現址「長者柏文」老家是最好的選擇。 Reference: 請參讀 Aging In Place
This is a photo I took during the Italian Week Festival in Ottawa on June 19, 2012.
The fair ground was filled with both adults and young kids (incl this young-at-heart ;). I spent time listening to the street bands playing and ppl partying on Preston Street.
I had a heck of a great time and never left till way past mid-nite !!!!
Photo Credit: Chinese Canadian railway workers http://www.ccnc.ca/toronto/history/info/info.html
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Disclaimer: I have not modified any of the English/Chinese text in the article【老外辨别中国人的88种独门绝招！】. The posting of the information below does not signify my endorsement of the content of the article and the positions of the authour, his/her affiliations, or sinovision.net.
【老外辨别中国人的88种独门绝招！】
1.You look like you are 18.你看起来好像才18岁(东方人普遍看起来年轻，呵呵)
2.You like to eat chicken feet。你喜欢吃鸡脚
3.You suck on fish heads and fish fins。你吃鱼时会吸鱼头和鱼鳍(他们都是直接切掉的)
4.You have a Chinese knick-knack hanging on your rear view mirror。你的车子后视镜上会吊中国摆设(偶没有，老爸不让，说一看就是中国人，俗，郁闷)
5.You sing karaoke。你唱KTV(唐人街才有的玩意儿)
6.Your house is covered with tile。你的房子铺的是瓷砖(老外都是木板)
7.Your kitchen is covered by a sticky film of grease。你的厨房覆盖着一层厚厚的油脂(爱炒东西的缘故)
8.Your stove is covered with aluminum foil。你的炉子上面有铝箔
9.You leave the plastic covers on your remote control。你的遥控器外面包着塑料(发现真的只有中国人才这样)
10.You"ve never kissed your mom or dad。你从没吻过你父母(中国人谁这样啊)
11.You"ve never hugged your mom or dad。你从没抱过你父母(幼儿园时算不算？)
12.Your unassisted vision is worse than 20/500.你的视觉想象力低于20/500(不知啥意思)
13.You wear contacts,to avoid wearing your "coke bottle glasses"。你戴隐形眼镜，这样才能避免戴你的"瓶底眼镜"(怎么说得中国人好像都近视？偶就不怎么戴眼镜，不过也近视两三百了，呵呵)
14.You"ve worn glasses since you were in fifth grade。你五年级开始就戴眼镜了. (中国人都是爱学习的好孩子.。。怎么又跟眼镜有关？)
15.Your hair sticks up when you wake up。你睡醒后头发会竖起来。
16.You"ll haggle over something that is not negotiable。你会为一些不可质疑的事情辩论. (无理取闹？??)
17.You love to use coupons。你喜欢用折价券. (勤俭节约~~)
18.You drive around looking for the cheapest petrol。你为了最便宜的汽油费不息开着车子到处找. (恩，我爸就这样)
19.You drive around for hours looking for the best parking space。你开着车子兜圈为了找到最好的停车位. (看来老外真的不太讲究这个。)
20.You take showers at night。你晚上洗澡. (许多美国人都是早上洗，不知道为什么)
21.You avoid the non-free snacks in hotel rooms。旅店房间里的非免费食品你都不吃. (那些东西都是over-charged了的，谁那么笨啊)
22.You don"t mind squeezing 20people into one motel room。你不介意二十个人挤一间汽车旅房. (那也太抠门了吧.。。)
23.Most girls have more body hair than you,if you are male。如果你是男人，那么你身上的体毛比大多数女人少. (又不是大猩猩，老子要那么多体毛干什么？)
24.You tap the table when someone pours tea for you。别人为你倒茶你就用手敲一下桌子。(在广东茶楼尤其如此，不然没礼貌)
25.You say "Aiya!"and "Wah!"frequently。你经常说"哎(二声)呀(四声)"和"哇(四声)"。
26.You don"t want to wear your seatbelt because it is uncomfortable。你不喜欢系安全带因为安全带让你感觉不舒服. (晕~~)
27.You love Las Vegas,slot machines,and blackjack。你喜欢拉斯维加斯，老虎机和二十一点. (中国人好赌，地球人都知道)
28.You unwrap Christmas gifts very carefully,so you can reuse the paper。 你细心地打开你的圣诞节礼物，因为你要留着包装纸再用. (谁叫偶没钱啊)
29.You only buy Christmas cards after Christmas,when they are 50%off。你只会在圣诞节后买圣诞卡，因为他们打了五折. (^_^这根本就是在说我，圣诞节卡留着下一年用，省下一笔钱好好吃一顿更划算^_^)
30.You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table。你的厨房桌子上有一条抹布. (老外只有纸巾)
31.You spit bones and other food scraps on the table.That"s why you need the vinyl tablecloth。你把骨头和其他杂碎吐在桌子上，所以你必须有抹布. (没吐在纸巾上的后果，老外真是浪费.。。)
32.You have stuff in the freezer since the beginning of time。你的电冰箱存着一万年前的食物。
33.You use the dishwasher as a dish rack。你把洗碗机当碗橱
34.You have never used your dishwasher。你从来没用过你的洗碗机。
35.You keep a Thermos of hot water available at all times。你有一个热水瓶里面永远装着热水. (自来水不是人人都喝得惯的~~~)
36.You eat all meals in the kitchen。你在厨房吃饭。
37.You save grocery bags,tin foil,and tin containers。你把用过的塑料袋，锡纸和锡盘留着。
38.You have a piano in your living room。你客厅里有一架钢琴. (管他会不会弹，看起来倍儿有面子)
39.You pick your teeth at the dinner table (but you cover your mouth)。你会在餐桌上剔牙，但手遮着嘴。
40.You twirl your pen around your fingers。你会转笔
41.You hate to waste food。你讨厌浪费食物. (没去过大陆餐馆吃过饭的老外，唉.。。)
42.You have Tupperware in your fridge with three bites of rice or one leftover chicken wing。你冰箱里有三口剩饭和一只鸡翼。
43.You don"t own any real Tupperware -only a cupboard full of used but carefully rinsed margarine tubs,takeout containers,and jam jars。你家里没有任何家用塑料制品，只有一橱子洗过再拿来用的油瓶，饭盒和酱坛子。
44.You also use the jam jars as drinking glasses。你把果酱瓶当水杯用. (靠，偶没见过)
45.You have a collection of miniature shampoo bottles that you take every time you stay in a hotel。你有收集旅馆免费洗发水瓶子的爱好
46.You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (travel means any car ride longer than 15minutes).These snacks are always dried and include dried plums,mango,ginger,and squid。你每次外出十五分钟都会带着你的零食：干芒果，李子或烤鱿鱼。
47.You wash your rice at least 2-3times before cooking it。你会洗2-3次米。
48.Your dad thinks he can fix everything himself。你爸以为自己可以修任何东西。
49.The dashboard of your Honda is covered by hundreds of small toys。你的车子里堆了无数玩偶。
50.You don"t use measuring cups。你不用量杯
51.You beat eggs with chopsticks。你用筷子打鸡蛋。
52.You have a teacup with a cover on it。你有一个有盖的茶杯. (茶壶嘛~~~)
53.You always look phone numbers up in the phone book,since calling information (*69) costs 50cents。你总是在电话簿里找电话号码，因为咨询电话费用为五角。
54.You only make long distance calls after 11pm。你只在11点后打长途. (免费美国国内，中国不知什么时候才有，有竞争果然还是件好事， bs中国电信)
55.If you are male,you clap at something funny and if you are female,you giggle whilst placing a hand over your mouth。如果你是位男性，你会对好玩的东西鼓掌，如果你是位女性，你会捂着嘴咯咯的笑(笑不路齿嘛)
56.You like Chinese films in their original undubbed versions。你喜欢没有配过音的中国电影。
57.You love Chinese Martial Arts films。你喜欢中国功夫片。
58.You"ve learnt some form of martial arts。你会一些中国武术。
59.Shaolin actually means something to you。少林对你来说是有含义的
60.You like congee with thousand-year-old eggs。你喜欢很老的蛋配的粥. (What?)应该是皮蛋瘦肉粥吧
61.You prefer your shrimp with the heads and legs still attached。你喜欢有头尾的虾。
62.You never call your parents just to say hi。你从不为了问声好而call你父母. (失实严重，这个老外认识的中国人都太抠门了，连个国际长途也省， bs之)
63.If you don"t live at home,when your parents call,they ask if you"ve eaten,even if it"s midnight。如果你不在家，你的父母会打电话问你吃了吗，就算半夜12点也不例外。
64.When you"re sick,your parents tell you not to eat fried foods or baked goods due to yeet hay。当你病了的时候，你父母要你不吃油炸食品和烤的东西，因为"热气yeet hay"。广东音
65.You know what yeet hay is。你知道什么是热气
66.You e-mail your Chinese friends at work,even though you only 10feet apart。你上班时给你中国朋友send email,即使你们相距10尺。
67.You use a face cloth。你敷面膜。
68.You starve yourself before going to all you can eat places。你去吃自助餐前会把自己饿个半死。
69.You know someone who can get you a good deal on jewelry or electronics。你认识可以打折卖给你珠宝或电器的人。
70.You save your old Coke bottle glasses even though you"re never going to use them again。你留着用过的可乐瓶。
71.You own your own meat cleaver and sharpen it。你有自己的切肉刀而且你会磨它
72.Your toothpaste tubes are all squeezed paper-thin。你的牙膏都挤到纸一样薄。
73.You know what moon cakes are。你知道什么是月饼。
74.When there is a sale on toilet paper,you buy 100rolls and store them in your closet or in the bedroom of an adult child who has moved out。当厕纸降价时，你买了100多卷并囤在衣橱或别人的房间里. (这个厉害，那个被占领卧室的人真可怜)
75.Your parents know how to launch nasal projectiles。不知道什么意思
76.You iron your own shirts。你自己烫衣服. (意思是父母不会烫，老外劲小瞧咱中国人，看我飞起一腿，啊扎~~~~`)
77.You play a musical包含ument。你会弹奏一种乐器. (当然，咱中国人打小都是天才，哇哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈.....。。)
78.Even if you"re totally full,if someone says they"re going to throw away the leftovers on the table,you"ll finish them。即使你饱了，当别人要把剩下的菜倒掉时你会一嘴把它吃完. (........really?.....。。)
79.You"ve eaten a red bean popsicle。你吃过红豆冰棍
80.You bring oranges (or other produce)with you as a gift when you visit people"s homes。你拜访别人时会带着水果
81.You fight over who pays the dinner bill。你在餐后抢着付帐单。
82.You majored in something practical like engineering,medicine or law。你的主科是实用型的，工程学，机械学或法律。
83.You live with your parents and you are 30years old (and they prefer it that way).Or if you"re married and 30years old,you live in the apartment next door to your parents,or at least in the same neighborhood。你三十岁时还和父母住在一起并且他们也喜欢你这样。或者你已经三十岁并且结婚了，但你还住在父母隔壁或同个小区。
84.You don"t tip more than 10%at a restaurant,and if you do,you tip Chinese delivery guys/waiters more。你不会给超过10%的小费，即使有也是给中国服务员. (靠，我都是给15%的，给10%人家恨死你。可能每个州不一样吧)
85.You have acquired a taste for bitter melon。你爱好吃苦瓜. (我就不爱吃苦瓜，苦瓜汤还可以)
86.You eat every last grain of rice in your bowl,but don"t eat the last piece of food on the table。你吃光碗里的最后一粒米，但不吃盘里的最后一口菜。
87.You know why there are 88reasons。你知道为什么这里有88条。
88.You see the truth in this and then send it to all your Chinese friends。你发觉这里说的都是真的，所以你把它send给你认识的所有中国朋友.
The Canadian Press Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 6:50 PM ET
KINGSTON, Ont. — Three members of an Afghanistan-born Montreal family were defiant Sunday in the face of life in prison and harsh condemnation for the murders of three daughters and a co-wife apparently motivated by what the judge called their "twisted concept of honour."
A jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a so-called mass honour killing that has captivated Canadians from coast to coast, and touched off post-911 criticism of Muslim culture.
The three immediately pronounced the verdicts as unjust, but the judge was unmoved, cutting right to the core of the cultural cloud that hung over this case.
"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honourless crime," Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said.
"The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour...that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
The trial heard evidence over many weeks about the bizarre divide in the Shafia family, in which the patriarch struck fear in the hearts of some of his children, though often being away on business Hamed acted as the surrogate disciplinarian. The three murdered daughters thumbed their noses at the family rules. The children they did not kill were the ones ratting out their sisters to their parents for bad behaviour, court heard.
It was notions of honour, directly tied to women's sexuality and general control over their behaviour, that led the Shafias to kill, court heard, in an effort to cleanse them of the shame they perceived their daughters to have brought upon them.
The concept is in stark contrast to Canadian values, the Crown said. The idea that such thinking had not only been brewing in one of Canada's most cosmopolitan cities, but that this "honour" apparently superseded the value of life for the Shafias has shocked many.
But investigators who pored over the details of the disturbing inner workings of the Shafia family and examined the tiniest pieces of evidence from the crime scene urged people Sunday to remember the victims.
All that sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, and Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, their father's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage wanted was freedom, and it cost them their lives, court heard.
Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ont., in a multiple murder the Crown asserted was committed to restore family honour, lost when the girls began dating and acting out. Rona was simply disposed of, the Crown said.
The jury's verdict indicates the seven women and five men believe Shafia, Yahya and Hamed plotted to kill their troublesome family members, dumping their bodies in a canal and staging it -- albeit clumsily -- to look like an accident.
The three now-convicted multiple murderers did not accept their fates quietly.
"We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust," Shafia said through an interpreter when the judge asked if he had anything to say.
Yahya, who spent a withering six days on the stand testifying in her own defence, was similarly assertive.
"Your honourable justice, this is not just," she said, also through an interpreter. "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother -- a mother!"
Hamed said in English: "Sir, I did not drown my sisters anywhere."
During the three-month trial Hamed was the only one of the three never to betray any emotion, but as it became clear he could face life in prison, the young man put his head in his hands and hunched over in the prisoners' box while his parents rubbed his back. Yahya soon began to cry.
First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance to apply for parole for 25 years. The family has been behind bars since their arrests on July 22, 2009.
Outside court, Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis said the verdict is a reflection of Canadian values that he hopes will resonate.
"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances," he said.
"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," Laarhuis said to cheers of approval from onlookers.
Laarhuis was interrupted in his remarks by Moosa Hadi, a central figure in the case who was a fervent supporter of the Shafias. He sent reporters and the lead investigator emails stating that the prosecution of the family was criminal and because of it he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"This is a lie, this is absolutely a lie," Hadi shouted over Laarhuis before being pulled away by tactical police officers. "This is a miscarriage of the justice."
Members of the public listening to Laarhuis' statement, many of whom have attended the trial from the Oct. 20 start, shouted Hadi down and cheered as Laarhuis continued.
Lead investigator Det. Sgt. Chris Scott praised Crown lawyers for allowing the four women to finally be heard.
"They gave these victims a voice when they had none and so I appreciate their work," he said outside court.
Shafia's lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on wiretaps calling his dead daughters whores and saying there is no value of life without honour, may have weighed more heavily on the jury's minds than the physical evidence in the case.
"He wasn't convicted for what he did," Kemp said. "He was convicted for what he said."
Hamed's lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, and said his client will appeal and he believes the other two will as well.
"I still have a hard time understanding how the Crown theory could actually have happened," he said.
The Crown theory was that Shafia, Yahya and Hamed drowned the four victims either to the point of death or unconsciousness, placed their bodies in the car, then pushed it into the canal using the family's other vehicle. However, prosecutors couldn't prove how or where the pre-drowning happened.
The defence had said it was an accident, that they had gone for a joy ride with Zainab driving and accidentally plunged into the canal with Hamed watching, although he didn't call police. Hamed's lawyer told the jury his client was only guilty of being stupid, but the jury clearly thought otherwise.
+++++++++ Updated 20120131 ++++++++ Islam doesn't justify 'honor murders,' experts insist By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
(CNN) - Zainab Shafia's crime was to run off to marry a man her parents hated. Middle sister Sahar's crime was to wear revealing clothes and have secret boyfriends. Youngest sister Geeti's crime was to do badly in school and call social workers for help dealing with a family home in turmoil.
The punishment for all three teenage Canadian sisters was the same: death.
Their executioner: their brother, acting on instructions from the father to run their car off the road.
Another family member, their father's first wife in a polygamous marriage, was also killed.
Hamed Shafia, his father, Mohammed, and his mother, Tooba Mohammed Yahya, were sentenced to life in prison for murder, with Judge Robert Maranger excoriating their "twisted notion of honor, a notion of honor that is founded upon the domination and control of women, a sick notion of honor that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
Leading Muslim thinkers wholeheartedly endorsed the Canadian judge's verdict, insisting that "honor murders" had no place and no support in Islam.
"There is nothing in the Quran that justifies honor killings. There is nothing that says you should kill for the honor of the family," said Taj Hargey, director of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford in England.
"This idea that 'somehow a girl has besmirched our honor and therefore the thing to do is kill her' is bizarre, and Muslims should stop using this defense," he said, arguing that the practice is cultural, not religious in origin.
"You cannot say this is what Islam approves of. You can say this is what their culture approves of," he said.
The Shafia family is originally from Afghanistan.
Experts say honor murders take place in many parts of the world.
"It's definitely a problem that happens in many different places: the Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh and among immigrant communities in North America," said Nadya Khalife, a researcher on women's rights in the Arab world for Human Rights Watch.
Several Arab countries and territories, including Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories, have laws providing lesser sentences for honor murders than for other murders, Human Rights Watch says.
Egypt and Jordan also have laws that have been interpreted to allow reduced sentences for honor crimes, the group says.
Reliable figures of the number of honor murders are hard to come by, Khalife said, but she pointed to a United Nations Population Fund estimate of 5,000 per year.
Khalife agreed that the practice should not be blamed on Islam.
"It's not linked to religion; it's more cultural," she said. "There have been several Islamic scholars who have issued fatwas against honor killing."
Mohammed Shafia, who denied murder, said himself in court that Islam did not justify honor murders.
"In our religion, a person who kills his wife or daughter, there is nothing more dishonorable," he testified.
But Shafia was heard condemning his dead children in wiretapped conversations played in court.
"May the devil defecate on their graves! This is what a daughter should be? Would a daughter be such a whore?" he said.
Hargey, the director of the Muslim Educational Centre, said violence was sometimes the result of painful transition.
"Muslims are in a state of flux," he said.
"They are between two worlds: the ancient world and the new technological age," he said. "Women are getting rights and the ability to choose their own spouses. The family in Canada didn't know how to respond to this: the conflict between the discipline of children and the new reality."
Irshad Manji, the author of "Allah, Liberty and Love: Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom," said there was another conflict at work in honor murders, a term CNN uses in preference to "honor killings" because the latter phrase does not properly describe the crime.
It is "a tribal tradition that emphasizes the family or the tribe or the community over the individual," she said.
Although the practice may not be Islamic, she said, not all Muslims understand the distinction.
"It is a problem within Islam because of how Muslims often confuse culture and religion," she said. "It's Muslims who have to learn to separate culture and religion. If we don't, Islam will continue to get the bad name that it gets."
But one vocal British campaigner against honor violence points out that not all the crimes are perpetrated by Muslims.
Jasvinder Sanghera, who was the victim of a forced marriage, is not Muslim; she is Sikh.
"Significant cases are happening within South Asian communities, be it Pakistani, Indian, Sikh, Muslim, Kurdish, Iranian, Middle Eastern communities," she said.
"And we have to recognize that because the statistics don't lie. I am not standing here trying to embarrass those communities. But equally, those communities should be ashamed because this is happening in their community and they are not taking a stand," she said.
On the other hand, honor murders are not a problem in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population.
"No such a practice can be found among Indonesian Muslims," said Azyumardi Azra, the director of the graduate school at the State Islamic University in Jakarta, Indonesia.
" 'Honor killing' is, I believe, a cultural problem among Arab and South Asian Muslims. I don't think that kind of practice has an Islamic basis," he said.
Although women and girls make up the overwhelming number of victims, there have been at least some male victims, including Ahmet Yildiz, a gay Turkish man whose fugitive father is the main suspect in his 2008 shooting death.
Britain has had about a dozen honor murders per year for the past several years, said Ghayasuddin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain.
He, too, said the crimes were not justified by Islam.
"This comes from tribal customs where the father - not both parents - see children as their property. A girl decides to marry somebody of whom their parents do not approve, and they conspire and find some way to kill and dispose of this body," he said. "This is a kind of misplaced shame that parents feel that their daughter has decided to marry somebody of her choosing, not theirs."
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service has an expert devoted to prosecuting honor-based violence, Nazir Afzal.
Convicting perpetrators can be difficult, he said.
"There is a wall of silence around this, and people are not prepared to talk," he said.
But Afzal insisted that it was "absolutely important that you bring every single person to justice because you want to deter other people from doing it."
And along with the Islamic scholars and human rights advocates, he rejected out of hand the idea that religion justified it.
"At the end of the day, murder is murder. There is no faith on Earth, no community on Earth that justifies this," he said.
"Abrahamic faiths say 'Thou shalt not kill,' " he pointed out. "At the end of the day, nobody should die for this."
Source:
Richard Allen Greene - Newsdesk editor, The CNN Wire
Shafia trial: Six perspectives on ‘honour’ killings in Canada
Sarah BoesveldJan 30, 2012 – 7:39 PM ET| Last Updated: Jan 30, 2012 11:00 PM ET
Dr. Amin Muhammad Professor of psychiatry at Memorial University in Newfoundland
Professor of Psychiatry Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dr. Amin A. Muhammad
Honour killings have been on the rise in Canada over the past decade, says the professor of psychiatry at Memorial University in Newfoundland. There have been more than a dozen cases since 2002, which is actually very little compared to the United States and the United Kingdom, which have seen hundreds of such killings since then, he says. The Pakistan-born professor thinks news of the Shafia trial outcome will ripple internationally, and warn potential immigrants that the practice won’t be tolerated here. And, he hopes, the outcome will make people more vigilant now. “So many people approach for help and intervention in the past were not taken seriously, even those potential victims that don’t have the courage to come and speak openly about it,” he says. “Now at least it will give them a little courage.”
Nazira Naz Tareen Founder and past president, Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization
Ashley Fraser / Postmedia News files
Nazira Naz Tareen
While the Shafia family’s Muslim faith played a role in the criminal proceedings, note that Islam does not condone killings in order to preserve honour, says the India-born founder and past president of the Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization. “The Quaran says if you kill one human being, it’s like you’ve killed all of humanity,” she says. “If you save one human being, it’s like you’ve saved all of humanity.” The Shafias committed murder and “it’s totally, totally cultural and it’s totally against the teachings of Islam.” Since many Muslims read the Quaran in Arabic, they may not glean that the Prophet Muhammad actually afforded women more rights than men and that children no longer answer to parents in their teen years —they answer to God, she says. Most countries are misinterpreting Sharia law to mean the Prophet’s urging to “protect” women really means to control them, she adds.
Raheel Raza Activist and author of Their Jihad, Not My Jihad
Courtesy Raheel Raza
Raheel Raza
Their communities so failed Zainab, Sahar and Geeti Shafia, aged 19, 17 and 13 and Rona Amir Mohammad, 53, that Ms. Raza wonders if they would have received help had they been four white women instead of four Afghan-Canadians. “Was this political correctness to a painful degree?” asks the Toronto-based activist and author of Their Jihad, Not My Jihad. It’s time to stop being so sensitive in the name of preserving multiculturalism, she says.. “Immigrants bring this excess baggage with them and as a community, our biggest problem is that we remain in denial and we can’t address the issues,” says the Pakistan-born Ms. Raza. “What this verdict has done is open the door to a great deal of debate and discussion. I think we have a long, long way to go.” While Canada wants its immigrants to integrate, when there are problems, they tend to be “ghettoized,” she says, and, with a mind for sensitivity, it’s “their culture, their problem…But what is sensitivity in comparison to four lives?”
Baldev Mutta CEO of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Brampton, Ont.
Peter J. Thompson/National Post files
Baldev Mutta
“I think it’s more of a men’s issue because the honour we talk about is predominately perpetuated by men,” says the CEO of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Brampton, Ont. Every Saturday, 25 to 40 South Asian men gather in a men’s group and discuss the challenges of raising a family in a liberal Canada that functions differently from the traditional society they left behind. “There hasn’t been an opportunity for men to have a discussion around what constitutes an honour [here in Canada],” says Mr. Mutta, who emmigrated from India. He does get pushback from those who feel he’s giving his community a bad name by speaking out, but he’s more encouraged by the men in his sessions who are reframing their worldview. “We never shame men, we want them to own that every man makes mistakes.”
Alia Hogben Executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women
Julie Oliver / Postmedia News files
Alia Hogben
The Kingston, Ont.-based executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women has trouble with the word “honour killing.” She prefers to call it “customary killing” since it’s maintaining patriarchal customs. But the Shafia case went above and beyond that to blatant, outright “femicide” —and it reveals a greater need for gender equality. “If you look deeper, that’s what this issue is. Why do men think, in this patriarchy, that they have the control and the power to kill somebody because…[they think] they are doing the wrong thing or are deviant?” She believes these kinds of killings can happen in any culture that’s dominated by men. “Do you think the Mormons, who have been here for generations, don’t have patriarchy?” she asks. “Anywhere there’s patriarchy, which allows you to say ‘Men have to be the protectors and guardians of women’ is heading for trouble.” Despite cases like the Shafias’, she believes Canada is doing a good job to combat these kinds of killings. Police and social workers are better educated and family law has been brought up to date.
Shenny Karmali Child and Family Therapist
Handout
Shenny Karmali
When Ms. Karmali looks at the Shafia murder case, she doesn’t see an honour killing. Rather, she sees a complicated stew of emotions, expectations, conflict and a father well versed in the ways of the Western world, having lived in Australia and elsewhere before coming to Canada. She also understands where the shame and embarrassment element comes from. After all, she sees it routinely in her office, as a registered social worker, child, marriage and family therapist in Calgary who counsels many immigrant families who seek her out because of her East-African/Muslim background. “That still doesn’t justify the behaviour to me. There’s nothing to justify abuse,” she says. Even when considering cultural background, safety is always the most important thing. “Oftentimes what I will talk with families about is good intentions. Usually, I think those [strict actions] come from a place of good intentions, but sometimes there’s a disconnect.”
在十一月廿九日，渥太華河對岸的加蒂諾市City of Gatineau政府官員,公佈了一份叫做“價值聲明”的文件,表面似乎是用來幫助定居魁北克的新移民融入主流社會，但批評者說，“價值聲明”真正目的是讓社会当权派迫使新來定居人士放棄自己的身份和信仰。在以法裔文化為主的魁北克省,“Reasonable Accommodation合理容納遷就”是一個非常敏感丶被受激烈爭論的問題，前幾年的保衛法語丶魁省獨立等鬥爭言論又可能会因“價值聲明”這文件而復甦了。
Publié le 29 novembre 2011 à 05h30| Mis à jour le 29 novembre 2011 à 05h30
Petit guide à l'intention des nouveaux arrivants
Énoncé de valeurs à la sauce gatinoise
Dans un nouveau guide destiné aux immigrants, la Ville de Gatineau prône l'égalité homme-femme et la liberté religieuse. Et elle prévient les nouveaux arrivants que des lois sanctionnent les crimes d'honneur, les abus de pouvoir et les punitions excessives à l'endroit des enfants.
Premier du genre dans le monde municipal au Québec, le petit guide lancé hier à Gatineau est loin du « code de vie » d'Hérouxville qui interdisait la lapidation des femmes et qui a lancé le débat sur les accommodements raisonnables au Québec. Malgré le ton consensuel du document, certains passages sautent aux yeux à la lumière du procès pour crimes d'honneur de la famille Shafia qui bouleverse le pays tout entier. On peut y lire que la violence ne peut être excusée pour des « motifs dits d'us et coutumes, de droits ancestraux, de sauvegarde de l'honneur » et que « nul citoyen n'est autorisé à se faire justice soi-même ». Un autre chapitre rappelle que les femmes ont « obtenu chèrement » le droit à l'égalité entre les sexes et que cette valeur est maintenant défendue par l'État. Les enfants y sont décrits comme « le bien le plus précieux » qui soit, et le guide rappelle que des lois les protègent contre les abus de toutes sortes.
Lancement et présentation d’un nouvel outil visant l’accueil et l’intégration à Gatineau des personnes issues de l’immigration: C’est dans le cadre de la Semaine québécoise des rencontres interculturelles que nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter au lancement (et dévoilement) officiel de notre nouveau document intitulé « Gatineau, c’est dans mon objectif! » qui se veut un guide facilitant la compréhension du milieu de vie municipal dans lequel s’installe le nouvel arrivant. Un énoncé de valeurs : « Des clés pour mon intégration à Gatineau » sera également relié à ce guide.
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文件目錄
Table des matières / Table of Contents:
Bienvenue à Gatineau! En quoi l’apprentissage des valeurs peut-il m’aider? Des valeurs à partager …..
1. Un contrat social commun / Acommonsocial contract / 共同的社会契約
2. Des droits, mais aussi des responsabilités / Rights butalso responsibilities / 權利与責任
3. Le français, langue commune / French,a common language / 共同的語言-法文
4. L’intolérance face à la violence (verbale, psychologique, physique ou sexuelle) / Intolerance ofviolence (verbal, emotional, physical or sexual) / 不容許言語丶精神丶人身丶或性慾式暴力虐待行為
6. Des rapports égalitaires entre les femmes et les hommes / Egalitarian relationshipsbetween womenand men / 男女平等
7. Les enfants constituent notre bien le plus précieux / Children areour mostvaluable / 保護我們珍愛的孩童
8. L’accès à l’éducation pour tous / Access to education for everyone / 全民教育
9. Le respect de la propriété privée et des biens d’autrui / Respectprivate property andthe property of others / 不可壇入私家重地,携取或損毀他/她人財物
10. La liberté d’expression, de choix et d’idéologie / Freedom of expression, choice and ideology / 言論丶選擇丶和意識形態的思想自由
11. La religion, une affaire privée / Religion,a private matter / 宗教自由
12. L’hygiène, la salubrité et la qualité de vie / Hygiene,safety and qualityof life / 衛生丶安全丶和生活質量
13. Le respect des conventions et des engagements / Compliance withagreementsand commitments / 遵守協議和承諾
14. La ponctualité / Punctuality / 守時
15. Le respect et l’assistance aux plus démunis / Respect andassistanceto the poor / 尊重和援助貧苦大众
16. L’inclusion et la lutte contre le racisme et autres formes de discrimination / Inclusivenessand the fightagainst racism andother forms of discrimination / 有涵量包容異己人仕,反对種族主义和其它形式的歧視
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