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Europe could learn from Canada on handling social diversity: Blair
Tony Blair ought to put his money where his mouth is, buy a house in a diverse area and permanently resettle himself and his family there.
http://www.thespec.com/news/canada/a...iversity-blairTORONTO Europe should take a page from Canada’s playbook when it comes to handling religious and cultural diversity, former British prime minister Tony Blair said Thursday.
Speaking at a panel on interfaith outreach at the University of Toronto, Blair said there’s a “disquieting and discomforting” backlash against minorities in some parts of Europe.
He attributed the shift to the worsening economy and globalization, which he said some see as a threat rather than an opportunity.
“I think we have to be really careful … of doing something which ends up in a situation where we make (religious minorities) feel that they are being marginalized or put at risk in some way,” he told a small crowd of students, teachers and faith-based organizations.
Europe appears to be “fracturing and splintering” in the face of crisis rather than coming together, he later told reporters. “You’re looking at some very far-right political parties getting elected in certain places really on the basis of a program that’s designed to divide people.”
The former prime minister pointed to the election of a far-right party in Sweden and a decision from the Swiss government to ban minarets, the tall towers on mosques.
Canada works hard at embracing diversity, and while it may hit roadblocks from time to time, there’s a “very powerful sense” the country is united on the issue, he said. “In many ways, Canada is a model of how people of different cultures can come together.”
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Originally Posted by BeerBaron
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