Canada

Canada: Today, we welcome you as fellow citizens. Today, you are as equal as anyone in this room, including the citizenship judge who swore you in as a Canadian. You are as equal as anyone who immigrated to Canada 10 or 20 or 50 years ago. You are as equal as anyone born in this blessed land. We have no hierarchy of citizens. We are all equal before the law, according to The Star. Canada is as close to nirvana as it gets. But, being a modest people, Canadians assert this negatively that we are the least racist nation in the world. Still, that does not mean that we are free of racists and bigots and The following is excerpted from remarks by Star columnist Haroon Siddiqui at a swearing-in ceremony for new citizens in Toronto this week : That, however, does not mean that everyone will treat you as equal. Some of us, both the Canada-born and foreign-born, have developed a bad habit of telling new Canadians how to behave, what you can or cannot do, in order to become a real Canadian. Ignore such busybodies. Dont let them hector you. You are as equal as they. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.