I was granted an opportunity to pick what I valued from each half of my cultural identity, and the change in perspective empowered me.

We have seen how "Islamicism" has become a convenient tool for the government to employ a more aggressive foreign policy. Although it's easy for Canadian Muslims to lay blame on the Conservatives and Stephen Harper for such discriminatory and exploitative tactics (and doing so would be justifiable), it would also be disingenuous. The current situation is simply a culmination of years of political apathy from the Muslim community whose voter turnout is consistently below the national average.

First Toronto, and now Calgary, has done the moral thing. Both cities have passed a bylaw banning shark fins. Consumers of shark fin soup must consider the effects of declining shark populations on our delicately balanced ecosystem.

The Komagata Maru incident occurred during a time in Canadian history where there was a deep-seated prejudice against minorities and immigrants. NDP MP Jasbir Sandhu's motion today urged the Government of Canada to officially apologize in Parliament to the South Asian community in the House of Commons. I commend him.