Boring, But Still Free

A funny thing happened last month when I went home for intersession. It occurred to me that the news in Canada always sounds the same. Always, The times I spend reading Canadian newspapers or watching the CBC--for you Yankees, that's the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation--I get all squishy inside because I know that Canada's the type of place that, warts and all, you just find profoundly relaxing.

Or, that is, boring.

But amidst all this wonderful boringness, there is a short rebellious streak, as Canadian as good beer, of setting itself apart from the rest of the advanced industrial countries--or at least from the United States. This rebellious nature often has to do with relatively small events, but the effects are nevertheless far-reaching.

One example is the immigration precedent established last week by the Canadian government. In a decision made by Bernard Valcourt, the Minister of Employment and Immigration, Canada will now consider granting asylum to women who can show persecution as a result of their gender.

This decision is based on the case of a Saudi Arabian woman who left her home country in April 1991 to further her education. Initially, this woman was denied refugee status in Canada.

But after she went into hiding, various feminist and human-rights groups lobbied the government on her behalf and for women in similar situations.

In an interview with The New York Times, the woman, who asked to remain unnamed, said, "The situation [in Saudi Arabia] will become more and more unbearable, and then it will explode because the condition of repression of human beings can't continue forever." She was referring to the mixture of Islamic and conservative Arab traditions in which women are forbidden to travel alone or drive and must be veiled in public.

Furthermore, the woman complained about the restrictions on her autonomy in Saudi Arabia, where "you have to have permission of a man when you want to study, go to a friend's house, work, travel, everything."

Recall, for instance, the demonstration that took place in a Riyadh supermarket during the buildup to the Gulf War in November 1990, when seventy women from prominent Saudi families dismissed their chauffeurs and drove by themselves in protest of the driving restrictions.

That things are horrible for women in Saudi Arabia isn't surprising, at least for those familiar with strongly patriarchal societies. What is interesting, however, is the reason underlying the persistence of gender discrimination in these kinds of places.

According to Mark Heller, a visiting professor at Harvard last year, Saudi society (and, presumably, many others like it) will begin to face social crises of this sort, but with much larger dimensions. Heller predicted an imminent social conflagration, a rebellion against these traditional values within five to 10 years.

No doubt, this rebellion will be hastened when the Saudis realize that women have something more to contribute to civil society other than their breast milk.

Should other women from Saudi Arabia follow her route to Canada, this brave Saudi woman might end up setting of the furies of rebellion. You read it here first.

Of course, this isn't the first time Canada has been on the liberal forefront of social or security matters. Indeed, when a gay man fled Argentinean authorities last year, Canada granted him asylum based on his claim of persecution for his sexual preference.

One wonders if Canada's historical problem of underpopulation will eventually be solved if it continues to break new legal ground in this fashion.

Our motto might be, "Give us your women, your gays, your (fill in your oppression here)." Sometimes you've got to be proud of a country that proudly builds its own gorgeous mosaic.

Is Canada going too far? I don't think so. When the Immigration and Refugee Board in Ottawa decides to broaden the definition of refugee to include women suffering in states that don't protect them from domestic violence, genital mutilation or legal discrimination, our borders will still stand.

And perhaps from that day forward, the border guards will even hold their chins up a little higher than usual.

Or, at least, until the news starts sounding the same again.

Dan Markel '95, a Crimson editor, still thinks Toronto's a great place to grow up, but he wouldn't want to visit.