by arthur Weinreb
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Many people think that people who live in this country should not be referred to as hyphenated Canadians. Those that think this way will be happy to learn that the Toronto Sun is in full agreement. But while others think that citizens of Canada should just be referred to as Canadians, the Sun is determined to drop the "Canadian" part of the hyphenated definition.
On Monday, the paper did a two page spread in its news section about Italy's World Cup victory over France. The headline, that spanned pages two and three of newspaper read, "Italians fire up their cup passion". By using the word "Italians" a reader would not be faulted for thinking that the story was about something that took place in Italy. But no; the article was about the celebrations that took place in Toronto's Corsa Italia district after Sunday's game between Italy and France ended the 2006 World Cup.
It wasn't just the headline in which the celebrants were referred to as "Italians". The article's lead said that "Tens of thousands of jubilant Italians partied late into the night on St. Clair ave. W. after Italy's World Cup victory yesterday…" The crowd was also described as being made up of "Italians and non-Italians alike."
No doubt there were a few in the crowd of thousands who were visiting Toronto from Italy but the vast majority of the revelers were Canadians of Italian descent. as people in their 20s and 30s are more likely to take to the streets to celebrate a soccer victory than those in their 70s and 80s, it's a safe bet that the vast majority of the partygoers were Canadian citizens who were born in this country. But, to the Toronto Sun, they were all just "Italians".
None of the other mainstream Toronto print media described the people who were on the street celebrating as "Italians". Both the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star described the throngs of people as, get ready for this, "soccer fans". The articles in the Globe and the Star contained numerous quotes from some of the celebrants that clearly showed that they were Canadians of Italian descent. The National Post used the correct "Italian Canadian" term to describe the majority of the celebrants.
The Little Paper that Grew (but now seems to be shrinking) has started to become bizarre in its viewpoint. Once a small "c" conservative populist newspaper, the Sun ran an editorial last month calling for radical British imam Sheik Riyadh ul Haq to be allowed to come into Canada to speak. The reason given by the Sun is so that he can be "exposed". according to the Toronto Sun, the fact that the imam has not broken hate or any other laws was sufficient reason to allow him to visit Canada. In this regard, the Sun's position was not that much different than the far left group "No one is illegal" that takes the position that everyone in the world should be allowed to come to Canada and gain citizenship.
another reason that the newspaper gave for allowing the imam known for his disparaging remarks against Hindus, Jews and gays into Canada was to show that we don't "fear" him. Hmm, no one really fears Haitians either. It's an awful place to have to live in so let's invite the entire population of that country to come to Canada to live. allowing a radical imam into Canada would show what the rest of the world already thinks — when it comes to allowing people into the country we have no standards.
So Italian Canadians are simply Italians and people who have no right to be in Canada should be let in no matter what hateful views they have and have expressed in the past. The Toronto Sun; it ain't what it used to be.
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