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Geoff Russ: Sorry, Carney, but the idea that newcomers don’t bring hatreds with them is a fiction

“When you come to Canada,” Mark Carney told newcomers in a speech addressing antisemitism, “you bring your faith, your tradition, your language, your story. You leave behind your wars and your animosities.”

It’s a pleasant, even pleasing fiction for millions of Canadians who imagine that a mythical “blank slate” exists for newcomers. The hard truth is that some peoples’ stories are welded to wars, and many of their traditions are centred on a desire to settle scores.

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