State Mandated Values For Canadian Professionals?

Does it sound like something the government of North Korea would do or what? But the problem is

that it is happening and it is not happening in North Korea, but in Canada, a country that prides itself on the human rights and freedoms.

Millions of people have left their countries of origin in search for freedom from their homelands' oppressive actions, only to now wake up under oppression of different kind in Canada, a place that was supposed to be safe from such oppression.

So what happened? The lawyers in Ontario received a note that government of Ontario mandated on their profession's regulatory body basically asking them to prepare a statement of their personal values in order to continue practicing law. Their personal values now have to be in keeping with the government's vaguely defined values of diversity, openness, and inclusiveness.

it was a measure taken after reportedly a " systemic racism" was found in entire legal profession. The problem is that these findings have no credible basis in the first place, and accuse all lawyers of being racists by default. Now Ontario lawyers find themselves in a place where they have to "prove" that they are not racist just because they are lawyers. To say that it is unfair and even offensive id an understatement, and more worrying than that is where this could lead if this is not challenged and becomes a precedent.

Not too long ago an Ontario Law Society declared that they are not going to allow  the graduate of a British Columbia law school to practice because the school unlawfully mandated their students a certain code of conduct while studying there, but now the same body mandates certain values on all their lawyers and this seems to be O.K. to them.

Where this could lead if it allows to stand is in fact a secular form of inquisition where certain individuals who do not profess and do not wish to promote state mandated values cannot work in their professions despite the fact that they have professional credential and have spent  thousands of dollars for their schooling, and years out of their lives to get these credentials. This means that certain groups of people like Christians, for example, who do not wish to promote homosexuality or transgenderism would be banned from most professions thus being forced into lower classes of society.

This is  a direct violation of Canada's  Charter of Rights and freedoms, but the problem is that the judges these days are not required to simply make sure that the law is enforced, but they are free to interpret those laws as they see fit. It means that if anyone is accused of racism, or homophobia, the lawyers are required to automatically rule in favour of the offended party to "protect" their rights.

Dr. Jordan Peterson recently interviewed those in law society who decided to speak out against it and discussed the issue in more detail. I will provide the link to that discussion below. Please make other Canadians aware of this problem because if we don't stand against it now, we might not be able to recognize our own country in couple of decades...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGC3y1BPzwA

Most Iranians Are Persians, Not Arabs

It is a Persian New Year right now, an ancient celebration of Spring and new life that is celebrated until this day in countries that used to belong to the ancient Persian Empire and are still influenced by its culture, that is well and alive today in Iran.

Most westerners make the mistake of thinking about Iran as an Arab country, especially since the Islamist minority had taken over the power in Iran in 1978-1979 Islamic Revolution, but the culture, art, and language of Iran are distinctly Persian, predating Islam by thousands of years.

As a matter of fact, Persia under king Cyrus the Great produced the first human rights code in history.

This empire was very different from all the others in that it was multicultural and multifaith empire. Persian kings did not destroy the cultural and religious heritage of the people they conquered, but allowed them to flourish. For example, they paid for the rebuilding of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem after it was destroyed, robbed, and desecrated by the Babylonians. For that, Persia, and especially King Cyrus has a venerated place in the Hebrew history.

And what is even more amazing is that King Cyrus was mentioned by name by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah a 100 years before he( King Cyrus) was even born! ( Isaiah 45: 1-6)
I think that this alone blew his mind away and favourably disposed him towards the Hebrews and their God who had called him in those prophetic Scriptures His "anointed shepherd."

Anyway, this tolerant and multicultural mindset is still present among the people of Iran and because of its history, besides the dominant Persian majority, there are many other ethnic minorities that live in Iran and still maintain their ethnic identity and languages, though after the Islamist takeover of Iran they have much less freedom than they had for ages before.

It is a very harsh reality for the people who are modern and cosmopolitan in nature to have to live under Shariah law, which is very foreign to them. For that reason over 6 million Iranians left Iran following the Revolution even though they still dearly love their country.

But the majority of them have to suffer in silence back in Iran because they cannot  or do not want to leave. The good news though is that most Iranians ( 70 %) are under the age of 35 and do not agree with the system they were forced to live under since their birth, so once the older generation that brought it in dies, the Islamic Revolution will die with them. It is just a matter of time.

To all those interested in knowing more about what is really happening in Iran, I recommend  reading of the book written by an Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, "Until We Are Free." In it, she describes the story of her fight for human rights in Iran under the current regime and the persecution she and others like her faced  and are still facing as a result, especially those who are unknown and have no one to stand up for them.

Despite of all this oppression, Iran is experiencing the greatest spiritual awakening in its history with thousands of people coming to know Jesus as their King of Kings, the righteous King they always longed for, which in itself is a fulfillment of another ancient prophecy, but I will write about that next time...

Author's Note: This is a new version of an article titled "Persians, Not Arabs," that I first published on Triond back in 2006, but because the site has been taken down recently, I decided to republish it again since it generated so much interest garnishing more than 20, 000 views. I hope that this one will be equally successful. Feel free to share it with others and to comment.