Accept our sincere greetings from a Black History Month event organized by Rehoboth Alliance, in the diversity capital of Alberta, Fort McMurray, the stage for today’s writing.
Carol was in tears. Her son Bob has just returned from school crying and adamant that he will never take Fufu to school again. “…Paul said it is yakii!,” Bob told his mom. “…hiisshh! Mark said it is gross…,” Bob continued. “Mom….hhmmm, tomorrow I want sandwich…,” he concluded. This is the same way Ada felt when she took the mouth-watering Fufu and Egusi Soup to work the other day. It was so embarrassing that today she only eat Fufu for lunch when no colleague is around.
Fast forward to 2019, some schools ask kids on some days to bring their cultural dish and share with their class. They are asked to share it with the class, explain how it is prepared, and share the cultural significance of the dish. This move in schools has sent the tears that rolled down Carol’s cheeks back to sender. It has painted a permanent bright infectious smile on the face of Carol when Bob asked to take Fufu again to school, followed by other cultural artifacts from her native Kenya. “…I was so so so happy to see that my son is learning about the history of indigenous people and other multicultural communities…,” Carol shared on a phone conversation with Diversity Magazine. These tear drying changes are as a result of recent NDP changes to the school curriculum.
You will want to know if UCP Leader Jason Kenney and his UCP will conserve these changes, right? Well we pushed for these questions to be answered, supported by some of our UCP audience members after Leader Jason Kenny’s speech at the UCP Election readiness Rally in Edmonton on February 16, 2019, at Edmonton Expo Centre. A member of Diversity audience, a card-carrying UCP member even proposed to take the questions from me and ask Jason Kenney himself while I listened to the answers since they were not taking questions. I turned down that approach. I however could not make it to the press conference the following day since I only knew about it at that event. As expected, I sent an email twice with my questions: You mentioned changes to the updated school curriculum in your speech; can you please confirm or deny that the areas with respect to minority and indigenous culture will be maintained? I’ve got no response yet as you read this story.
In a country like Canada that prides itself as a cultural haven with Alberta as one of its provinces, people from every culture should be free to display and share their culture in public as they will do in private. In other words, they should be able to eat the most adorable Fufu or any cultural dish they want anywhere and everywhere without fear of embarrassment. I understand from Bob’s case that, not only does his class no longer finds the adorable Fufu gross, they have eaten it and have learnt how to cook it. Due to lack of cultural awareness, cultures do come under attack as you face in your work places every day. You will expect future Alberta Governments, NDP, UCP, or otherwise, to uphold these changes and expand it to the workplace and others areas and not roll it back.
Any proposal to take us back to the days when the delicious Fufu was gross in the sights of Bob’s classmates should be questioned. Taking us back to the days where Bob was dehumanized and humiliated for nothing else but for just being Bob is not called for and not a wise use of resources. A proposal that robs Bob of his freedom to eat his cultural food in school by Leader Jason Kenney and the UCP is tantamount to knowingly putting minority kids in harm’s way. This is will be considered as nothing else but culture warfare. Well, as you know, we will still be seeking ways to get our questions across for answers because as the largest multicultural voice in Alberta, if we don’t, no one will ask on these kinds of issues.
You will surely be asking why we are talking about food when people don’t have jobs. You bet, if you cannot eat freely in a place, how can you comfortably work, feel included, respected, and be appreciated? I also asked a question to that effect of credentials and jobs; in your (Jason Kenney) speech last Saturday at the Expo Centre, you said, “…one thing that we conservatives hate: unemployment and the effect it has on people’s lives”. Any plan for these communities whose credentials are not recognized on arrival in Canada, and how a UCP Government will help them recognize their credentials such that they too, like other Albertans, can find the work that you promised to create and share in the Albertan dream? I’ve got no response yet.
My last questions were: Of the 81 UCP candidates, how many are of visible minority background? Lastly, how will your government reform the immigration program to attract entrepreneurs? Still waiting and will keep trying to get the issues that matter to you in every politician’s agenda such that every Albertan can join in the Albertan dream, no group left behind.
The hall was packed with UCP members (Kenneynites), hundreds I will guess, with many standing after they run out of seats. It was a cold Saturday February 16, 2019, at the Edmonton Expo Centre and an excited crowd cheered UCP Leader Jason Kenney as he introduced his political platform in one of his most important speech since uniting the Wildrose and the PC parties. Clothed in a trademark dark coloured suit over blue jeans, many of the Kenneynites could be seen marrying the worlds of business and blue collar jobs. Talking of jobs, Leader Jason Kenney shared an out of the box proposal to introduce a Job Creation Tax Cut on employers to encourage job creation. Kenney also plans to cut back subsidies for wind and solar power, one of the fastest growing sectors in an Albertan economy in dire need of diversification. Even though Kenney also fellowships in the church of economic diversification, he however has a different pastor from Premier Rachel Notley. He equally did not address the elephant in the room or explain how to deal with it – fluctuating global oil prices.
From causal observation, the number of visible minority MLA Candidates has increased as we wait for a confirmation of the exact number from the UCP team. Picking on the comment of my assistant at the event, that the Kenneynites were mostly people of European ancestry will be unfair to the UCP compared to the NDP as the racial diversity of UCP members will not be too far from that of NDP. This is a realization that the parties have not been able to attract multicultural communities to their ranks – an opportunity up for grasps.
After the event, I walked through the crowd in the foyer, collecting ideas for Kenneynites. Passionate community builder Liban Ali believes Kenney is the man, “…I support Jason Kenney because I support the plans he has for the economy…”. UCP nomination candidate for Edmonton Mill Woods, Nazia Maqpi, and former candidate, Ruby Malik believes Kenney is the agent of a free and strong Alberta. “…the election will be over in two months with the UCP and Jason Kenney at the head,” Roger Fodjo, former UCP nomination candidate. MLA Ron Orr concluded, “…we look forward to have the opportunity to go to voters…”.
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