Après Paris – Part 2

Blog_ApreParis_PhotoIn the week following the terrorist attacks in Paris, it was important to learn that every single attacker was born in Europe. Not one was from Syria, Iraq, or elsewhere in Middle East. The implications are quite significant. It says a great deal about the frustration of marginalized youth in Europe. Notably, not one of the terrorists involved was an observant Muslim, so the seeds of radicalism are less about being part of a marginal religious sect as they are about failed integration of immigrant communities into life in western cities.

It turns out that the Paris attackers all hailed from a few struggling neighbourhoods – mostly from a place on the outskirts of Brussels called Molenbeek. The leader and the four others from Molenbeek had common elements: all European, they experienced issues at school, drug abuse, and petty criminal activity.

Globe & Mail journalist Doug Saunders wrote a powerful piece in last weekend’s edition that shifts the dialogue away from ISIS and religious Jihadists to immigrants & failed integration (see: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/saunders-avert-extremism-before-it-start-by-building-betterneighbourhoods/article27403775/ ).

Canada, the USA, and European nations really need immigrants to secure our economic futures (Canada admits about 300,000 people a year). So, a key question is how can Canada and other nations do a better job of building better and more welcoming communities, especially for those dominated by newcomers?

Experts tell us there are good examples of how best to welcome immigrants, educate immigrant children for success, create positive social dynamics, and provide meaningful economic opportunities for creative and motivated newcomers.

Mr. Saunders has been part of a major study for the World Bank on a shift on development thinking related to migration. The researchers kept arriving at one major conclusion: immigration works best when “cities and countries prepare the ground in advance by making small investments and institutional changes that give new immigrants precious footholds, rather than waiting for failures to occur and trying to correct them with big, expensive interventions.”

I hope that in coming days Canadians will welcome newcomers in ways that will truly allow them to build strong and lasting footholds. – Chris Shannon, Headmaster

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