{"id":423,"date":"2016-04-10T05:22:27","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T05:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=423"},"modified":"2016-04-10T05:22:27","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T05:22:27","slug":"toronto-taxpayers-money-to-fund-pro-refugee-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=423","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Taxpayers&#8217; Money to Fund Pro-Refugee Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Gotham A', 'Gotham B', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Toronto Taxpayers&#8217; Money to Fund Pro-Refugee Propaganda<\/span><\/h1>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'Gotham A', 'Gotham B', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;\">Former Mayor Rob Ford, taken from us all-too-early by rampaging cancer, must be turning over in his grave. &#8220;Refugee&#8221; resettlement is a federal matter. They are brInging them; let them pay. Anyway, the City of Toronto has allocated $220,000 for resettlement of some 4,334 Syrians thus far dumped on Toronto. Of this, some $90,000 will help fund a propaganda campaign aimed at those 60 per cent of Canadians who don&#8217;t buy into the Trust Fund Kid, Justin Trudeau&#8217;s obsession with importing over 25,000 people from one of the dodgiest areas of the world into a country struggling with high unemployment (7.1 per cent in March) and soaring housing prices in the main Syrian resettlement areas &#8212; Toronto and Vancouver.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'Gotham A', 'Gotham B', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'Gotham A', 'Gotham B', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;\">In the Global News (April 7, 2016) below, Toronto Councillor Joe Mihevc seems to allude to the excellent effects of U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump who has repeatedly challenged political correctness and the many taboos about discussing immigration. Mihevc complains: &#8220;<\/span>With the pictures that people have been seeing in Europe and what some of the government officials in the U.S. have been saying, especially in this election period, it has contributed to a culture and anger towards the \u2018other\u2019,\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So, the poster and website campaign\u00a0\u00a0&#8220;called The\u00a0Ontario-wide Public Education Campaign Against Xenophobia, Islamophobia and Racism.\u00a0Its goal is to fight a specific type of racism feeding rumours and stereotypes undermining efforts to welcome and integrate Syrian refugees.\u00a0The inaccuracies\u00a0include that all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists, threats to Canada\u2019s social system and are\u00a0benefiting from government generosity at the expense of needy Canadians.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Few people say ALL Arabs are terrorists. The taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign is fighting straw men. People who bring radically different social values ARE a threat to Canada&#8217;s social system. There are tens of thousands of people &#8212; including many in Toronto and Vancouver &#8212; who are homeless. The mass importation of Syrians who are swiftly being found homes indeed seems to be at the expense of Canada&#8217;s already substantial number of homeless people.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Paul Fromm<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Director<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CANADA FIRST IMMIGRATION REFORM COMMITTEE<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1>City-funded campaign against anti-Syrian refugee rumours to launch<\/h1>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/globalnews.ca\/author\/peter-kim\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/shawglobalnews.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/06\/peter-kim-new.jpg?quality=60&amp;strip=all&amp;w=55&amp;h=55&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Peter Kim Global News\" width=\"55\" height=\"55\" \/><\/a>By\u00a0<a title=\"Posts by Peter Kim\" href=\"http:\/\/globalnews.ca\/author\/peter-kim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"author\">Peter Kim<\/a>Digital Broadcast Journalist \u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Global News\u00a0<\/span>(April 7, 2016)<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><button>&#8211;<\/button>\u00a0A\u00a0A\u00a0<button>+<\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a accesskey=\"L\" title=\"Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker\" href=\"http:\/\/app.na.readspeaker.com\/cgi-bin\/rsent?customerid=8024&amp;lang=en_us&amp;readid=gnca_article_body_for_read&amp;url=http:\/\/globalnews.ca\/gnca-ajax\/read-aloud\/2561699\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Listen<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/shawglobalnews.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/image-12.jpg?quality=70&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Photo Credit: John Hanley, Global News\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Photo Credit: John Hanley, Global News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">TORONTO \u2014 A city-funded public education campaign to dispel racist claims and hateful rumours against Syrian refugees is set to launch this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">City staff received an update Monday about efforts to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees.\u00a0Of the 26,166 refugees who have arrived in Canada since last fall, 4,334 have chosen Toronto as their new home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge,\u201d said Coun. Joe Mihevc, a member of the Community Development and Recreation Committee, which received the report.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">\u201cWith the pictures that people have been seeing in Europe and what some of the government officials in the U.S. have been saying, especially in this election period, it has contributed to a culture and anger towards the \u2018other\u2019,\u201d he Mihevc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">One city-funded program aimed at calming the fear and\u00a0easing the difficult transition for Syrian refugees is called The\u00a0Ontario-wide Public Education Campaign Against Xenophobia, Islamophobia and Racism.\u00a0Its goal is to fight a specific type of racism feeding rumours and stereotypes undermining efforts to welcome and integrate Syrian refugees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The inaccuracies\u00a0include that all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists, threats to Canada\u2019s social system and are\u00a0benefiting from government generosity at the expense of needy Canadians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is driving the anti-refugee attitudes at the moment is a very specific kind of xenophobia,\u201d said Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, which is overseeing the campaign.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">\u201cWe want to tap right into that anti-Arab, anti-Muslim sentiment sparked by the arrival of the Syrian refugees,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">\u201cRumours feed and fuel pre-existing racist attitudes and behaviours.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The public awareness initiative will roll out locally with a poster campaign meant to drive people to a website aimed at provoking discussion and reflection. The initiative will expand province-wide to public service announcements and events.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>Beginning in May, the campaign will spread its message to schools, universities, business and landlord associations. Organizers also hope to collaborate with police departments as well.<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">\u201cIt is greatly needed as there has been a lot of misinformation out there that really is destructive,\u201d said Leen Al Zaibak, co-founder of Jusoor, a Canadian\u00a0NGO that provides academic assistance to Syrian youth.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe biggest rumour I have come across is that the government is spending more on Syrian refugees than others like the homeless and veterans,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not true.\u201d &#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">In February, Toronto city council approved $220,000, on a one-time basis, to the Newcomer Office for its Syrian Resettlement Program. Of that, $90,000 has been\u00a0earmarked for the city\u2019s public education and anti-rumours campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Despite strong backing from the federal government, some polls suggested that most\u00a0Canadians disagree with the plan to welcome so many refugees into the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/2352983\/60-of-canadians-disagree-with-liberal-plan-to-accept-syrian-refugees-ipsos-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\">60% of Canadians disagree with Liberal plan to accept Syrian refugees: Ipsos poll<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">But the poll was conducted one week after the devastating terror attacks in Paris, a time that saw a spike in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/2383009\/26-year-old-muslim-woman-allegedly-assaulted-in-mississauga\" target=\"_blank\">anti-Muslim incidents<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">\u201cWe wanted to be as provocative as possible, so that Torontonians are pushed out of their comfort zone and examine their own stereotypes, assumptions, prejudices, rumours, and racist views,\u201d said immigrant advocate Douglas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The long-term goal of the campaign is to broadly tackle\u00a0all forms of racism. The initiative hopes to emulate models established by anti-drinking and driving and anti-smoking initiatives that have made the issues top of mind for the public.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9\u00a02016\u00a0Shaw Media<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto Taxpayers&#8217; Money to Fund Pro-Refugee Propaganda Former Mayor Rob Ford, taken from us all-too-early by rampaging cancer, must be turning over in his grave. &#8220;Refugee&#8221; resettlement is a federal matter. They are brInging them; let them pay. Anyway, the City of Toronto has allocated $220,000 for resettlement of some 4,334 Syrians thus far dumped [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[287,289,285,288,286],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}