🚀 go-pugleaf

The following article is a real eye-opener - one that makes us all realize
how easy it is to be called 'racist' in Canada....
			__________________
(from The Vancouver Sun - March 14, 1995 - Stewart Bell):

COLLEGE OF TEACHERS CALLED 'RACIST'

Protais Haje loves teaching.
His voice fills with energy and infectioious enthusiasm as he explains the
joy he gets from challenging young minds and teaching students to think
for themselves.

But Haje doesn't teach anymore.
Instead he sits at home COLLECTING WELFARE because the B.C. government 
won't recognize his certificate from Namutamba Teacher Training College
in Kampala, Uganda.

"I have a lot of experience, but I have been denied a certificate by the
BC College of Teachers," Haje, 40, said Sunday as he sat in the small 
townhouse he rents with his wife and two children.

"The only reason I can say is DISCRIMINATION."

Haje is so convinced he is a victim of a racist school system that he has
FILED LAWSUITS against the College, the Simon Fraser University faculty of
education and the Surrey school district.

He has also complained to the BC Council of Human Rights.

He first brought his case to the human-rights council in 1992.  It is 
still unresolved.  He claims all he wants is the council to FORCE the 
College to tell him exactly what he must do in order to get a BC teaching
certificate.

Frustrated by the delay, he contacted his MLA, who just happens to be one
of BC's most influential cabinet ministers.  Glen Clark wrote a letter on
behalf of Haje, asking that the council 'expedite' the case.

The letter, made public last week, sparked complaints by government critics
that Clark was using his power to influence the human rights council, a 
'quasi-judicial' body.

But Haje doesn't see any problem with the letter.  Clark is his MLA; who
else did people expect him to turn to, he asked.

Born in Rwanda and educated in Uganda, Haje started teaching at age 19. 
He was working at a United Nations school in Jinja, Uganda when his father
was killed during then-dictator Idi Amin's campaign of terror.

He escaped from Uganda into Kenya on foot and taught there at Farasi Lane 
primary school, where he was head of the science department.

In 1981, he immigrated to Canada, believing his education, experience and
fluency in French and English (not to mention Swahili) would help him find
a job.

He was wrong.

After working for several years as a substitute teacher in Surrey, he tried
for a full-time position.  He was told he needed a BC teacher's certificate,
but the College would not give him one, he said.
			______________________________

K. Gordon:
Several things should be examined in this example:
1.  Here we have an immigrant who is currently living on welfare, courtesy
of the taxpayers, but he seems to have enough funds to launch law suits 
against 3 different organizations.  (No, Legal Aid does not pay for civil
actions against other parties).  His backing may well be from 'immigrant
groups' who are funded in large part by you and I, or he is not declaring
financial resources while accepting welfare.

2.  Anyone who knows about the plight of teachers in Canada trying to find
full-time teaching positions, knows that this is one of the most critical
job-shortage occupations in the country....many have left to go south across
the border, and others have simply relinquished their teaching certificates
due to work shortages.  Yet this new arrival to Canada is yelling 'racism'
because HE cannot find the same work.

3.  Cerification in other countries does not imply certification in Canada
by any stretch of the imagination....as many doctors and other professionals
from other parts of the world have found out.  Every country has its own 
standards for its professions, and accreditation comes from new studies AND
vacancies in those positions.
This doesn't seem to matter to Mr. Haje, however.  He has learned the ways
of Canada well enough to know that if he pulls the right strings, he can
get what he wants...regardless of the numbers of unemployed teachers in 
this country.

And what is even more disturbing about this case, is that many Canadians
who hear his cries of 'racism' will actually feel guilty about this man's
predicament and start to believe that racism is a prevalent condition in
this country....they will not see his manipulations and political acumen.

When I see the 'Stop Racism' buttons that are being circulated, I want to
add to the bottom....'and abuses by immigrants!'
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