Aqsa

Over the course of the last fifty years Canada has become one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world and the City of Toronto is far and away THE most social, cultural, ethnic, racial and religiously diverse city on the planet.

We get people from all over the world coming here to start a new life for themselves and the only thing that is asked of them is that they leave their old religious and cultural hang-ups behind.

No, we are not the great "Melting Pot" that the United states is, we are instead more of a soup that uses all the ingredients from the many immigrants who come here to flavour the Canadian mentality with it's distinctive character.

Gone are the days when each culture kept to themselves and did not intermingle with other groups and beliefs.

Now all that is required of our new arrivals is a basic respect for Canadian institutions and rule of law.

Several years ago there was a concerted effort by Muslims to implement "Sharia Law" into the fabric of Canadian Society and thank God for cool heads who rejected this attempt at changing the face of Canada and it's legal system.

Accommodation's can and are made for cultural and religious practices, but only in the context of fitting in with the generally accepted parameters of what it considered the "Canadian Norm!"

In other words, we don't like first generation immigrants trying to change what "was" and "is" into what they believe it "should be!"

The reason for this will be explained in a little story I am about to tell you.

Aqsa Parvez came over to Canada from the Middle-East with her family and is a second generation Canadian.

Her father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, is a first generation immigrant who still holds the customs and beliefs of his home country dear and "religiously" follows them at home and in the community.

Aqsa Parvez's friends told authorities that the teen had been having arguments with her father because he allegedly wanted her to wear a traditional Hijab. >(Head Cover)

"She kinda wanted to go a different way from the way her family wanted her to go," said one friend. They also said that she wanted to escape the family conflict by running away.

All this came to a head yesterday afternoon when her father caught her walking around the neighborhood without her Hijab on and dragged her home with him.

We are not sure what happened next, but when it was all over Aqsa lay dying on the kitchen floor.

It's safe to say that she will be buried wearing her Hijab!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com