Sir, - I have been reading with dismay about the children trying to walk to school in Ardoyne. It is hard to believe that any of the people on that road, Catholic or Protestant, call themselves Christian. There will never be peace in Ireland until its people come to realise that integration, not separation, is the answer.
My daughter had a wonderful time last week walking to her first day of high school with her friends. Her father is the son of an Irish Catholic born on Wolfe Tone Street (formerly Stafford Street)in Dublin; her mother is the granddaughter of Presbyterian shipyard workers from Belfast and Glasgow. We watched proudly as she left for school with her friends. The ancestry of these children included Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Aboriginal Australian, East Indian, and African American. Their religions included Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Sikh. We are lucky in our neighbourhood, I suppose, because our children don't see skin colour or a religious sect in their neighbours; they just see a person like themselves.
How has Canada accomplished this? It was not always as it is today. Fifty years ago, when my father came to Canada, the same level of intolerance existed here as in Ireland. Since that time, we have embraced immigration from around the world; it has built our country. We embraced multiculturalism and have made it part of our national policy. We guaranteed the rights of minorities and women in our constitution. We recognise the separation of church and state in our constitution while guaranteeing freedom of religion. We have made the promotion of racial and religious hatred a criminal act. Most importantly, the majority of our children go to public schools, where they learn to live, work, and play with people of all colours, cultures, and religions.
You come together by living together, not by living apart. You build by looking to the future, not dwelling on the past. Invest in a strong public school system, which does not include religion in the curriculum, and bring children of all backgrounds together. By doing so, you may be surprised at what the children can teach the parents and politicians about tolerance, respect, peace, friendship, and love. - Yours, etc.,
Kevin Murray, East 58th Avenue, Vancouver, Canada.