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Multiculturism accepted, to a point: poll Nov. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM There's a limit to Canadians' acceptance of multiculturalism, especially when a group's beliefs on gender equality clash with "mainstream" values, according to a new national poll. While almost half felt that immigrants should be free to preserve their cultural and religious practices in Canada, 81 per cent of respondents in the Environics survey said newcomers should adapt to Canadian values on the rights and role of women. The random poll of 2,021 Canadians, commissioned by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, also found that half of Canadians had a positive impression of Islam - a 4 percentage point increase from 2003 - despite post-9/11 backlash and the June arrests of members of an alleged terrorist cell in Toronto. One in three said Muslims were "rarely" portrayed fairly in the media. "As part of our national identity, Canadians have a tendency to be defensive of minority groups who are under attack and stereotyped. But there is a limit to that sentiment when it conflicts with our traditional Canadian values, such as women's rights," explained survey author Derek Leebosh, a senior Environics associate. Just as people can have a negative impression of U.S. foreign policy without disliking all Americans, he said, "people may have negative views of Islam as a religion, but they see the distinction of Muslims as individuals." Almost seven of 10 respondents said law-abiding Canadian Muslims should not personally feel responsible for terrorist acts committed by others in the name of their religion, though one-fifth believed that Canada is "very likely" to be targeted in terrorist attacks by someone of Muslim background. The poll, conducted by phone between Sept. 18 and Oct. 12, was released yesterday on the eve of the foundation's annual conference on public policy. Titled "Muslims in Western Societies," the Vancouver event will feature Toronto Star columnist and editor emeritus Haroon Siddiqui as a keynote participant. The 13-question survey also found that: * 54 per cent disagreed that there's too much immigration. * 93 per cent opposed the suggestion that non-whites should be prevented from immigrating here. * 68 per cent objected to the idea of screening potential immigrants' religious beliefs and values. The Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-CAN), a civil liberty and human rights advocacy group for Canadian Muslims, said it didn't expect to see such an overall positive view reflected. "We are happy with the overall results, but we feel that there's still room for improvement," said CAIR-CAN spokesperson Sameer Zuberi. A sample of the size the poll used is accurate within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
