With the killings of 16 Afghan civilians this month by an American soldier, attention has turned back to a country that has been torn apart by a decade-long war.

In the last 10 years, 158 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, with 97 of those deaths caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Yet, this is nothing compared to the number of Afghan citizens who have died. The best estimate is that between 12,000 to 14,000 Afghan civilians were killed due to the war, 15 per cent of which were children.

With the combat portion of Canada’s mission ending in 2011 and the withdrawal of Canadian troops, it appears Canada’s involvement in the war is nearing an end. Most Canadians have no concept of what has happened in Afghanistan over the last 10 years. But for the people who live there and the Canadians who went to Afghanistan, the war left a lasting impression of a country with an uncertain future.

How Canadian soldiers are viewed by Afghans

In comparison to their American counterparts, Canadian soldiers were viewed more favourably among the locals.

“I’d ask them what the difference was and they’d always tell me that the Canadians are nicer at checkpoints, that they don’t shoot like the Americans do and that Canadians actually care for Afghans,” Rachelle Cordes says. She is a Canadian nurse who was in Kandahar, Afghanistan for 10 months.

“They said that Americans were horrible and just wanted to shoot them.”

Master Warrant Officer Mardie Reyes agrees with Cordes. “They realized that the Canadian soldiers were more receptive to conducting business diplomatically and genuinely having the interest of the Afghan people in finding out what it is that they need. Compared to what they’ve seen from the other contingents, they were fonder of seeing Canadian vehicles (and) Canadian soldiers than the other contingents.”

Despite this, Habib Zohori, a Kabul-based Afghan journalist, says there is a lack of meaningful communication between soldiers and Afghan citizens. Zohori would like soldiers to try to understand Afghan culture.

The war has affected Afghans in uneven ways, says Zohori. Those in the city enjoy relative peace, while people in the rural areas are hit hard by fighting between NATO forces and the Taliban.

In Afghanistan, regular activities that Canadians take for granted are fraught with danger. Even driving down the street presents with risks.

The traffic in Kabul was literally bumper to bumper, says Reyes, with local Afghans walking right beside cars.

For Cpl. Ben McLoughlin, not being able to identify the enemy, let alone engage them, was frustrating.

“I personally made my peace that I would rather a car come very close to us than shoot every car that came kind of close to us,” McLoughlin says. “I didn’t want to kill any civilians and I’d heard that for every one suicide bomber that’s killed, 29 civilian vehicles are shot. And so I just didn’t want to light up vehicles that I was scared of.”

Most of the deaths McLoughlin saw were of Afghan citizens. McLoughlin worked at the hospital at times, guarding citizens that were brought in. They’d see kids that stepped on IEDs and were badly injured. It was hard for McLoughlin to see that and be incapable of helping, he says.

Cordes also saw many deaths of children at her hospital, which was understaffed and had few resources. Only six nurses and 12 doctors served about 300 children on 80 beds. With hospitals difficult to access because of checkpoints controlled by American forces, the Taliban, or drug lords, 10-15 children died every day in her ward.

“I’d say most of the deaths I saw in pediatrics were 100 per cent preventable,” Cordes says.

“We never had enough staff and we had to put some children under the bed.”

“No one seems to bat an eye. People seem to forget about these children,” Cordes says. “I literally held thousands of dead children in my arms and nobody cares about them. They are forgotten children.”

Women in Afghanistan
Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies in childbirth. It used to be that women were forbidden to work or leave the house without a male escort. They were not allowed to seek medical help from a male doctor and forced to cover themselves from head to toe. Women who used to be doctors and teachers were suddenly forced to be beggars and even prostitutes in order to feed their families.

The situation for women was noticeably different to Reyes. He was struck by the clear separation between men and women.

“Men stayed together. Women stayed together. Men conducted the majority of the business. Women conducted what needed to be done in order to support the family. Afghanistan is way behind compared to the rest of the world, where women are still prevented from moving or getting a better career or better work than men.”

“Women there, in certain portions of Afghanistan, still wear the burkas. But there are a lot of women in certain parts of Kabul, they actually dress up like the rest of the world.”

Nurse Cordes says that one positive outcome of the war in Afghanistan is that girls can now attend school.

Before 2001, girls were not allowed to go to school and only 700,000 students, all of them boys, attended school. Now, more than 2.2 million girls, over a third of all students, are enrolled in school.

Canada was successful in its commitment to build, expand, or repair 50 schools in Kandahar province. Forty-four schools have been finished and work continues on the remaining six. Over 50,000 students are expected to benefit from the education project.

The percentage of the population attending school has risen from 13.4 per cent in 1990 to 60 per cent in 2009. The expected year of schooling for children increased from 1.7 years in 1980 to 9.1 years in 2011.

“There are tons of little girls in school uniforms. Women’s rights have been a huge accomplishment. There are still huge problems, but they’re moving forward,” Cordes says.

“They actually have more women in their parliament than we do here in Canada,” she adds.

Coming Back to Canada

While Canadian soldiers and workers had to deal with death in Afghanistan, the effects of seeing people die every day didn’t always surface until after returning to Canada.

For Cpl. McLoughlin, who served in Afghanistan for seven months, it was difficult dealing with the death of his friend, Cpl. Darren Fitzpatrick. On March 6, 2010, Fitzpatrick stepped on a bomb which blew off his legs and left arm. Fitzpatrick lived for a few days before passing away on March 20, 2010.

Before the accident, Fitzpatrick had jokingly asked McLoughlin, who is Christian, if he would go to heaven or hell if he died. McLoughlin said they would talk about it later. But they never had a chance to finish that conversation.

Now, McLoughlin is left with regret that he never shared his faith with Fitzpatrick.

McLoughlin also has feelings of guilt for surviving the war when his friend didn’t. “He died doing the same thing that I was doing and I lived.”

McLoughlin says it didn’t feel like they had an enemy to fight, which was the greatest frustration. Often, the soldiers would be shot at, but they wouldn’t be able to see where the shots were coming from or who was shooting. His friends died and he didn’t even get to see the enemy. This eats at him. “You just want to get revenge to show your friend that you care about them,” he says. “You know you can’t just shoot everyone because you can’t kill civilians.”

“It’s really tough.”

When nurse Cordes returned to Vancouver in 2011, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“In Afghanistan, it never manifested because there was nothing I could do about it. It was just happening,” she says. “It was quite frightening and a very, very hard homecoming for me.

“It took a long time to get through that and I know I will have to deal with the things I saw there for the rest of my life.”

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For those unfamiliar with the debate, the problem and solution can seem rather simple. Ontario funds both public and Catholic schools, but it does not fund any other faith-based or religious schools. The United Nations twice ruled Ontario’s system unfair. Elections have been fought and lost over the question of whether to extend funding to all religious schools. Meanwhile tuition at many private religious schools is soaring. How did we get here?

This goes back to the middle of the 19^th century. Then, Ontario consisted of a Protestant majority and a Catholic minority. The “public” school system was in effect Protestant, while Catholics, who made up 17 per cent of the population, felt vulnerable. After a fierce debate, concessions were made and a separate Catholic school system was created.

When Canada became a country in 1867, that compromise was enshrined in the constitution.

Over the years, the Protestant schools gradually became the secular public system that we are familiar with today. The Catholic system, though underfunded, remained. There were some tweaks over the years. Catholic schools lobbied for and received equal funding to public schools in the 1980s. Since then, there have not been any major changes.

Now almost 150 years later, the issue is still politically toxic. And it has damaged more than one politician who tried to change the status
quo.

The Progressive Conservative (PC) government in 2001 proposed an educational tax credit of up to $3,500 for parents with children in religious schools. It was supposed to be phased in over five years. But it was strongly opposed by the NDP and the Liberals. Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty campaigned on eliminating the credit in the 2003 election. After the Liberals came to power in 2003, McGuinty followed through. This included retroactively re-taxing the credit from the
previous years.

That brings us to 2007, when PC Leader John Tory announced “a plan that will bring faith-based schools, which currently exist outside of the public system, inside that system instead, subject to clear, reasonable conditions.” The $400 million plan would have affected the 53,000 Ontario students of diverse faiths who attend private religious schools. “They deserve the same support as students in the province’s publicly funded Catholic schools,” Tory said.

The idea did not go over smoothly. McGunity accused Tory of wanting to “segregate children in classes according to their faith at home.” The issue dominated the media and many believe it led to Tory’s downfall.

Today, the debate over funding religious schooling has cooled. The current crop of political leaders have learned not to rock the boat.

Meanwhile, many private religious schools encourage parents to use a tax workaround. The government allows parents of children enrolled in religious schools to mark part of their tuition fees as a charitable donation. Depending on the family circumstances (number of children, tax bracket, etc.) this can knock off anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. Examples of how this works can be found here and here.

This series explores how Jewish, Christian and Muslim parents are coping with the rising cost of private religious education in Ontario. To go back to the home page, click here.

By Asher Greenberg

I’ve been in the building less than five minutes and I have already committed a cultural faux pas. I awkwardly withdraw my hand after Zainab Hasan apologetically refuses to take it. I should have known better. I’m familiar with modestly laws from elements of my own tradition.

AUDIO-VISUAL SLIDESHOW: Zainab Hasan and Sheylna Khalfan talk about why they send their children to Islamic school, even though neither were ever enrolled in one themselves.

I’m here to check out As-Sadiq Islamic School. The Shia elementary school is part of a sprawling complex called the Jaffari Village. The compound also contains a mosque and a community centre. It can be hard to spot from the road, but it’s actually located in the heart of Jewish Thornhill, just off Bathurst Street.

At As-Sadiq, the boys are separated from girls during gym class. Females wear loose clothes and the uniform includes headscarves.

Cradling her cute and boisterous eight-month old, Zainab and her friend Shelyna Khalfan sit down with me in a small office beside the gym.

PHOTO: Zainab Hasan and her son

“Tuition-wise, it’s okay. I know people call us a private school but we call ourselves a community school. We do try and help out people who can’t afford,” Zainab says. It costs $5,000 per year at As-Sadiq. Expensive, but that’s significantly less than its Jewish and Christian equivalents. And it may simply reflect that Muslim communities in Canada are more likely to be made up of immigrants. Still, $5,000 is
17 per cent more than tuition was in 2006.

GRAPH: The above graphs represent tuition and enrollment data for the last five and 10 years, respectively. Data was kindly provided by As-Sadiq.

The principal is Anthony Scopa, an Italian with decades of experience in the Catholic school system. He is candid, passionate and frequently speaks off-the-cuff.
“Faith can’t just be taught as a forty-minute subject. It has to be incorporated in everything we do. So when they do guided reading, they do it with stories about the prophets.”
But faith is also incorporated in some unexpected ways.

“Parents seem to think that if [the school] is religious based, the discipline is better. Because we stress the religion. Because we refer to the Lord, to Allah.” When confronting a boy he knew was lying to him, Scopa says he framed it in Islamic terms, “What does Allah say about lying?” he asked. “Then you take him to look at the scripture.”
Apparently, it works on the parents too. For inculcating “discipline, work habits, coming on time – because they choose to come to this school for the values. In a Catholic school, I say the same thing… Here we can use faith against them, in a positive way.”

Echoing Zainab, Scopa says it’s also about community. While travelling in Milan, “I met this person from Vancouver, Canada. We spent three days together. Because we were Canadian, we became friends. We shared that common bond. That’s what religion does.”

This series explores how Jewish, Christian and Muslim parents are coping with the rising cost of private religious education in Ontario. For more on the debate about government funding, click here. To go back to the home page, click here.

It costs more than undergraduate education, every year. In today’s multicultural Ontario, it can cost $5-10,000 per year, per child to send your kids to a religious or faith-based private school. If you’re not in the Catholic system, that is.

This at a time when the middle class is shrinking. In the last 20 years, middle-class household income has stagnated while the richest earn almost 40 per cent more. How are parents coping?

Underneath the debate about whether to fund religious schools lies a simple question that highlights the divide between secular and religious families: Why can’t parents just send their kids to public schools while teaching religion at home?

This series looks at how three families – Moore, Tobis and Hasan - answer this question. Follow the links to the Christian, Jewish and Muslim pages.

For more on the debate about government funding, click here.

GRAPH: Three typical tuition rates for private religious elementary schools are compared with Ryerson’s undergraduate fee.

AUDIO-VISUAL SLIDESHOWS: Click to find out why the Hasan, Moore and Tobis families choose religious schools despite the growing cost.

Drawing lineups that last for twelve hours is now the business of H&M and Target, with a little help from some big names.

Karl Lagerfeld was eager to promote that “taste has nothing to do with money” when he collaborated with H&M eight years ago. Lagerfeld, the head designer of arguably the most famous name in fashion, Chanel, believed that inexpensive clothing can co-exist with expensive clothing, and he set out to prove that the former is just as fabulous as the latter.

When Lagerfeld recognized fast fashion retailer H&M’s influence in the industry and collaborated with them, a new trend began. Mass distribution and exclusivity came together, as limited edition collections were produced for the retailer by designers. Luxury expanded its reach to middle market consumers, and it rocked the industry.

“We believe in fashion and quality, and that it should not be a question of price,” says Emily Scarlett, public relations manager for H&M. “It should be available to everyone, and designers are taking that concept and delivering it straight to our customers.”

At the heart of a fashion house is its exclusivity, and it would seem that choosing a discount retailer like H&M and then lowering prices drastically would compromise that exclusivity.

However, a scene in downtown Toronto last week suggested otherwise.

On Feb. 23, the Target logo appeared on the side of its very first Canadian building. Inside that building were pieces from Target’s latest designer diffusion line, Jason Wu for Target. Outside were 1,500 hopeful Torontonians, waiting to purchase pieces from the line. The pop up sale included Jason Wu himself, and many reminders that the entire Target brand would soon be available to Canadians.

“I got here just after 8:30 a.m.,” said Diana Paskis, a PR student at Humber College in Toronto. “I have been waiting for a while for Target to get here. New retailers are always exciting, especially for this kind of thing.”

This was the first time that those seeking Target’s designer lines did not have to cross the border, as Toronto resident Katherine Flemming often does. She waited in line for Lanvin for H&M in 2010 at the Yorkdale location, but this experience was different.

“I’m always game for an exciting road trip, especially for one of my favourite designers,” said Flemming, who traveled from Toronto to Lewiston, New York, on Feb. 5. “Waking up in the middle of the night was well worth it – I had my pick of the entire stock. This was much more satisfying than other experiences, it was much more civilized. Lanvin for H&M was a gong show.”

Canada’s retail market is set for a big change as Target opens its first batch of stores north of the border. Canadian fashion lovers will welcome Target with open arms, because no other store carries renowned designer Jason Wu’s pieces for $30.

Target prides itself on its designer diffusion lines, which are watered-down versions of high-end designer’s work. H&M, which has had a Canadian presence for eight years, does the same. These lines provide the average consumer with something that was once only available to those who receive six-figure paycheques: authentic designer clothing. These pieces are not hand-made in Italy or France, but they still carry the clout of a luxury brand name stamped on the tag.

At H&M, these designer collaboration collections are available in about 200 stores worldwide, six of which are Canadian. They are partnerships between the designer and H&M in-house designers, and involve a constant dialogue to determine what will work for each brand, and what consumers will be receptive to. A limited quantity of each of the line’s pieces is made, and once they are sold out, they are no longer available to H&M’s customers.

H&M’s collaboration with Lagerfeld in 2004 was only the beginning. The fast fashion retailer went on to collaborate with the likes of Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Comme des Garcons and Jimmy Choo. Target followed close behind, with its Go International brand launching in 2005. This brand is responsible for Target’s designer collaborations, which include lines by Tara Jarmon, Proenza Schouler and Thakoon.

It’s not difficult to understand why these discount designer lines are so successful, especially with the current economic climate. Consumers want luxury goods with a price that doesn’t match, and that is exactly what these lines provide.

The buzz surrounding the arrival of Target in Canada is heavily influenced by the availability of these designer lines. This is why the retail giant chose their line with Canadian designer, Jason Wu, to begin their relationship with Canada.

“We are all about offering affordable design, and making it accessible to everyone,” says Danielle Gibson of Target Canada. “The Jason Wu collection launched in the U.S., and there were lots of fans. We thought it was a really good fit, because Wu is such a well-known, well-received designer.”

And it seems that Target made an excellent decision.

As quickly as H&M and Target can create a designer collaboration line, customers are purchasing the pieces and marking them up on eBay. Prices rise, and these discount lines become just as exclusive as their parent brands. Information provided by H&M, Target and eBay.

The lineup began at 8 a.m., doors opened at noon, and by the time the sale ended at 5 p.m., all 2,500 Jason Wu for Target pieces were sold. The retailer brought in $60,000, all of which was donated to the United Way Toronto.

The frenzy that Toronto saw last week with the debut of Wu’s collection is not a first when it comes to Canadian reception of designer diffusion lines. Last November, Versace for H&M debuted at two H&M stores in the city, and each sale saw lineups that began more than 12 hours prior to the store opening. Shoppers spent a frosty winter night outside the Eaton Centre location, and rushed in at 7 a.m. to the barricaded section of the store that housed the Versace diffusion line.

Torontonian Calvin Du, who waited in line for more than 13 hours, purchased 40 Versace for H&M pieces, which cost him about $3,000. In spite of his haul, Du did not find what he was expecting.

“I found some of it was made in China, and I was so sad,” says Du of his purchases. “The quality here in the store is really different from the runway shows and photographs.”

However, several of the pieces Du purchased would be passing through his hands quickly – he planned to sell the majority of them online, and he was not the only one.

Almost immediately after each of these lines is available in stores, eBay is packed with the items shoppers spent hours waiting to purchase almost immediately after each of these lines is available in stores. The majority of these pieces are marked up, sometimes reaching three times their original price. Consumers have even gone so far as to sell items like the shopping bags from these sales – a Lanvin for H&M paper shopping bag recently sold on eBay for $30.

“eBay is a place for people to purchase unique or hard to find items, and these capsule collections are made available to those who do not have access to H&M or Target,” says Kevin Wolfley, the Community Relations Manager for eBay Canada. “It is an open market, and this plays in to the desirability and exclusivity of the clothing, raising the profile of the collection. Some people are paying with time, and some are paying a premium price.”

Torontonians aren’t limited to selling these items online, and local retailers like Salem Moussallam are taking advantage of this demand. Moussallam owns a designer consignment store in downtown Toronto, where he sells previously-owned designer pieces at a fraction of their original price. H&M’s designer collaborations align with his store’s philosophy, and he always waits in line so he can stock the collection for his customers.

“Versace for H&M was mind-blogging. People go gaga for this stuff,” says Moussallam. “One lady could only find a size four dress and she was a size eight. She had to have it so bad, and she was like, ‘I need this dress, I’m going to lose weight for this dress.’”

Mousallam left Yorkdale Mall in Toronto that day with $10,000 worth of Versace for H&M merchandise, after spending over 12 hours camped out in line, sleeping in a tent with one of his sales assistants. Moussallam obviously places importance on making these designer diffusion lines available to his customers. In the past year, he has stocked two collaborations: Lanvin for H&M, and Versace for H&M. Unlike the other lines he carries, he does not mark these pieces down. He sold the collection’s leather studded jacket for $650, while it originally retailed for $300, and he maintained this 250 per cent markup for all of the pieces he stocked.

Surprisingly, when Target arrives on Canadian soil, Moussallam will not be stocking their designer lines, because he feels that the quality and exclusivity “are just not there.”

Target Canada may deem this beneficial as, according to their spokesperson Lisa Gibson, the intention of these brands is to offer affordable, accessible fashion.

When these brands are marked up online or in other retail locations, it defeats the goal of designer diffusion lines, which is to make luxury goods affordable. As consumers race to make eBay bids on these designer pieces, the exclusivity of the parent brand comes full circle. Suddenly, a piece that is mass-produced is now sought-after and worth just as much as a piece carefully crafted at an atelier. And this trend is only set to rise as Target expands into Canada, its discount philosophy and designer partnerships in tow.

By Veronique Herry-Saint-Onge

Meaghan Jones is a bilingual worker for the Correctional Service of Canada. Toronto. 2012

There’s no doubt Canada is facing an extremely competitive job market. In January, Statistics Canada revealed there are three times more people applying for jobs than there are openings.

Job seekers must have something to set them apart from the rest and French/English bilingualism appears to stand out.

For Meaghan Jones, 25, this was the case.

Jones is sitting in a busy coffee shop during her lunch break, with her hands wrapped around her coffee mug. She recalls being one of the many looking for a job after graduation from university two years ago, and having to start by volunteering in a position in the field she was interested in.

A permanent bilingual position opened up in the office she was volunteering in, and thanks to her French language skills, she was able to snag it.

Jones now works as a parole officer for the Correctional Service of Canada in Toronto.

“My language skills were crucial in getting this job”, she says.

Meaghan Jones discusses her experience finding work as a bilingual worker

The federal government of Canada is the largest employer in the country and the largest employer of bilingual workers. A study released in 2009 by a parliamentary committee, revealed that out of almost 180, 000 positions, 72, 000 were designated bilingual.

With public servants retiring every year at an increasing rate, 4, 800 and 6, 000 bilingual positions need to be filled every year. The 2009 report notes that there are not enough bilingual graduates to fill these positions.

Jones’ says her parents believed having French as a second language was important and would allow for more opportunities in the future for their children so they enrolled her and her brother in a French language school.

And they’re not alone in this reasoning. A 2007 Survey of Canadian Attitudes toward Learning revealed that 60 per cent of parents cited increased job opportunities for their children as the reason for enrollment in French immersion.

A 2006 research poll by Decima, on behalf of Canadian Heritage, revealed almost 70 per cent of Canadians felt bilingualism improved employment and business opportunities for all Canadians.  According to the same survey 8 out of 10 Canadians believe finding employment is a good reason to become bilingual.

And it seems it is.  Statistics Canada indicates that bilingual Canadians have a greater chance of finding employment as compared to their unilingual counterparts.

Graph courtesy of Canadian Council for Learning and Statistics Canada

“There’s a lot more opportunities for bilinguals workers who can read, write and express themselves orally in both official languages,” says Jeanine Macario, a recruiter with Anne Whitten Bilingual Recruitment.

And it’s not just the government looking for bilingual employees.

“Employers in all sorts of sectors are looking for bilingual employees, from customer service to accounting to communications and marketing,” says Macario.

The benefits of bilingualism in the job market can also extend to individual income.

A 2010 study from Louis Christofides and Robert Swidinsky of the University of Guelph found that men outside of Québec who know both languages earn an average income 3.8 per cent higher than those who speak English only while bilingual women earn 6.6 per cent more.

In Toronto, francophone workers make roughly $5, 000 a year more than the median income of their unilingual counterparts.  They’re also more represented in incomes higher than $70, 000 a year.

Graph courtesy of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Statistics Canada

Many Canadians are aware of these advantages but few speak both official languages.   Rates of bilingualism are currently on a downward trend with only 18 per cent of the population or 5.2 million people defining themselves as bilingual, although enrollment in French immersion seems to be on the rise across the country.

There are many Canadians who speak a language other than French or English.  Alexandra Hill, 25, spent over six months looking for work in Victoria, British Columbia, after obtaining her bachelor of commerce. Hill, who speaks Spanish fluently, says it didn’t help her job search.

Data courtesy of Statistics Canada

“As I was looking, I was definitely wishing I spoke French. I think it would’ve helped me a lot in finding a job quicker.”

“There were lots of postings for bilingual workers, and some positions even required Mandarin but my Spanish skills did not seem to set me apart from the rest,” she says.

With China opening its borders and becoming a bigger player on the world stage, Mandarin is set to become more prominent and certain job seekers and parents are wondering if perhaps that is the language of the future, potentially at the expense of French.

“More and more people without a Chinese background have started to come to Chinese language classes,” says John Stowe, a Mandarin professor at the Chang School of Continuing Studies at Ryerson University.

“But the numbers aren’t as high as most people would assume,” says Stowe.

“But we ain’t seen nothing yet,” he adds with a smile.

In a  piece last year in the National Post, Tasha Kheiriddin argued that “While it might arguably open more doors to learn Mandarin or Spanish, learning any second language will increase a child’s chances for success. And having two official languages sets out entire country apart on the world stage, allowing it to participate in both the Francophonie and the Commonwealth, a unique bridge between cultures and worldviews.”

This notion of bilingualism in the job market is gaining traction.

“Multilingualism of all kinds is increasingly important in a globalized economy,” says Monica Heller co-chair of the sociology department at the University of Toronto.

Bilingualism or multilingualism also tends to be associated with other attributes and cognitive benefits such as dedication, since learning a new language is no small undertaking, and cultural sensitivity. These traits are increasingly valued in the globalized world, says Heller.

And the French language still keeps an important place in the globalized economy.

“The Francophone market is bigger than just Quebec and Canada, but the world. So having French and English is an advantage,” says Heller.

The network of La Francophonie encompasses 75 countries and represents 19 per cent of world exports, offering a great deal of opportunities for those who speak the language.

Data courtesy of OIF

Bilingualism isn’t just valued in Canada.  One in four countries has more than one official language, making bilingualism an advantage on the world stage.

Jones’ says her bilingual skills have been the key to her success in the job market.

“It’s been completely invaluable,” she says.

Although some people in her office speak other languages, it’s those French language skills that allow her to stand out and communicate with clients in both official languages.

Despite competition from other languages, French/English appears to offer a competitive edge in the Canadian job market with higher employment rates and economic benefits.

It’s a tough job market out there and learning another language seems to be an investment for success.

By Rebecca Tromsness

Downtown Toronto, December 2011. Photo courtesy of Abraham Navarro.

If the United Nations were to recognize “the most ethnically diverse city in the world,” would Toronto deserve the title? The typical racialized mosaic seen every day on any given subway doesn’t represent those who actually live in the city centre. Even though almost half of the city’s population are visible minorities, eight out of every 10 people who climb into bed at night within the city core are white. Why?

Toronto prides itself for being Canada’s most ethnically diverse city, and has been recognized by the United Nations as one of the most ethnically diverse cities on earth. Yet its city centre tells a different story. Toronto’s city core is actually 82 per cent white. That’s according to a 2010 study released by University of Toronto professor David Hulchanski. So why is the city centre, referred to as “City #1” on the map, home to majority white residents?

Factors that may contribute to Toronto’s homogenous city centre are income inequality, institutionalized racism and lifestyle choices among economically mobile visible minorities who can afford homes in the out-suburbs of the Greater Toronto Area.

Hulchanski, the man behind all the research and number crunching, says he has some serious concerns about the implications, which include questions like: Is a homogenous core robbing the city of a diverse set of voices? What do visible minority immigrants and Canadian-born visible minorities add to the city?

This picture – of a prized monument of global diversity that’s actually segregated along ethno-racial lines – is pretty dismal.

But the future looks brighter. The ethnic makeup of the city centre is actually becoming more diverse, especially among downtown condo buyers.

Why is the city’s core mostly white?

First, the racialization of poverty is no secret: visible minorities and immigrants represent a disproportionate number of low income persons in the city. Low income directly affects the ability for these groups to choose where they live, perpetuating the ethno-racial divide between downtown and the suburbs.

The city’s inner suburbs – City #3 – contain 66 per cent visible minorities, compared to 18 per cent who live within the city core. In fact, more than one million members of the GTA’s working poor – mostly immigrants – live in about 1,200 poorly maintained high rise buildings, concentrated primarily within the city’s 13 poorly-serviced “Priority Neighbourhoods.”

Poverty among visible minority racialized groups in Toronto rose by 361 per cent between 1980 and 2000 while it fell by 28 per cent among the rest of the population, according to The United Way of Greater Toronto report, Poverty by Postal Code.

Canadian-born visible minority groups have endured a history of racism. “We know in western culture, skin color matters and there is discrimination and it exists,” says Hulchanski.

He was part of a study 10-15 years ago that looked specifically at Toronto’s black population. The result?

“There are some landlords and superintendents that won’t rent to black people. Period,” says Hulchanski. “They [blacks] know not to look in some places. And that’s just a fact. So you end up with concentrations … where black people live and where they don’t live.”

There is no hard evidence of this type of discrimination, says Hulchanski, but the outcome measure shows up on the map. City #1 is only two per cent black, which is a very low proportion, given the fact that 8.4 per cent of the city’s population is black, he says.

Although overt discrimination in the housing market has been considerably reduced, an audit of racial and ethnic biases in online apartment listings in Toronto, released in December 2011, found that there is still discrimination in the city’s online rental market.

For immigrants, the low income rate is 50 per cent higher compared to low income persons as a whole. New arrivals may take 10-15 years before reaching employment income levels comparable to the Canadian-born population, according to a City of Toronto low income profile from 2010.

Many racialized immigrants come to Canada with high levels of education but can’t get a job in their specialty, Hulchanski says.

“Employers often ask for Canadian experience … but when the Europeans came here in the ‘50s and ‘60s they didn’t need Canadian experience,” he says. “So there is discrimination going on that needs to be dealt with.”

If you don’t come with money, or if your credentials are not recognized, you easily end up in City #3, Hulchanski says. “These are the leftover spaces for those with no choice.”

Newcomers to the city in the last 20 years have been mainly visible minorities, says Hulchanski: some come with money but a lot don’t. “There’s a divide. If you come with money, that means you have a choice.”

Second, many economically mobile visible minorities – those with a choice – opt for the lifestyle and home ownership offered by the out-suburbs of the GTA.

Navneet Alang, freelance writer and co-founder of The Ethnic Aisle blog, says:

“I think part of the immigrant dream or the immigrant narrative is that you move to Canada, you work hard, and you become successful and then you have your own space. So if you’ve grown up in Delhi, where you’re surrounded with millions of people all the time, you move to Canada and you want your detached home with your back yard – because that’s the ideal, because it’s such a privilege and such a luxury to have that space. I think that for a lot of immigrants who do become successful financially – once you hit that level of success – you buy a home in the suburbs because it doesn’t make sense to buy a home in the Annex, even if you could afford it because then you’re living on cramped streets.”

“A lot of the newcomers frankly want the nice new house on a nice new lot in a nice new suburb,” says Hulchanski, noting that Brampton, Mississauga and Markham have growing concentrations of South Asian and Chinese immigrants.

An example of this suburban choice is demonstrated through the lives of six wealthy housewives from South Asian households living in Mississauga, featured in a six-part series on Rogers TV, “Housewives of Lorne Park.” For them, living in the suburbs is a choice and doesn’t mean they are any less cultured than those living in downtown Toronto.

But living in the suburbs isn’t always about space. “Housewives of Lorne Park” producer Alka Dhir says although she loved living in downtown Toronto, she and her husband Puneet opted to move into a large new home in Mississauga in order to raise their children and be close to their parents.

VIDEO: Alka Dhir, producer of “Housewives of Lorne Park”

What are the effects of a homogenous city core on the city as a whole?

Visible minorities or racialized groups (for lack of better terms) are the ingredients that legitimize the word “diversity,” which is often expressed with a sense of Torontonian pride instead of an inquisitive spirit about its meaning and how it is played out on the ground.

City #1 is not only majority white but it also contains the highest proportion of high-income individuals. Most people believe that people choose where to live, but the “haves” will always beat the “have-nots” for the highest quality housing, desirable neighbourhoods, and best access to services.

The visible minority voices that are overrepresented in City #3– both Canadian-born and newcomers – have indeed been robbed.

Are some tax-payers’ dollars worth more than others? Are some tax-payers’ voices louder than others?

Where is the good quality affordable housing and rapid transit in the suburbs? Before they finally climb into bed at night, some people spend four hours a day commuting – between dropping kids off at day care, getting to and from work and picking up groceries.

Within the city core, shelters and other facilities that offer social services face the ever-present threat of displacement as the buying power and lifestyle of affluent home and condo owners continue to change the existing retail and commercial composition of Toronto’s central core. It is highly unlikely that affluent individuals will cast votes in support of social service provision for low-income groups at election time.

“In this city at this time, class always has an ethnic angle,” writes co-founder of The Ethnic Aisle blog, Denise Balkissoon, in the blog’s most popular post entitled “Downtown vs. Suburbs: Yes, It’s An Ethnic Thing.”

Can a city pat itself on the back for being a world leader in ethnic diversity when its inner city is a “virtual ghetto” dominated by whites?

Although City #1 is 82 per cent white, that number actually decreased – though not by much – from 84 per cent in 1996.

Perhaps by 2016 or 2021, the whiteness of Toronto’s city centre will diminish even more. York University professor Ute Lehrer and downtown real estate agent Andrew la Fleur seem to think so.

What does the future hold?

The downtown area is the fastest growing part of the city, and condominiums represent the majority of new residential developments.

“It is precisely the condo tower that eventually will lead to a greater diversity in the inner city,” says Lehrer. What does she mean?

Making a purchase in the city core may seem like a reality reserved for the rich considering the average yearly cost for a downtown condo parking spot is $35,000 or more in the current market. This is just under Canada’s average annual income for a real estate agent or a single parent family. In July last year, one downtown luxury condo parking fee was $100,000 per year.

The City of Toronto notes that those moving downtown Toronto are childless, well educated, full-time employed under-40’s and confirms that “household incomes among this group tend to be relatively high.”

“At the end of the day, it’s an expensive city. As you go further downtown it’s expensive,” la Fleur says.

But you don’t have to be rich to buy a condo downtown, Lehrer and la Fleur say. “Someone with an average to upper-average income can afford a condominium downtown but not a house, townhouse, or semi in the inner city,” Lehrer says.

“The towers have the capability to represent a much wider range of Torontonians than the single family structures of the Annex, or even Parkdale,” she says.

The makeup of the city centre is actually becoming more diverse, albeit among condo-buyers. Most of la Fleur’s clients who are interested in buying pre-construction downtown Toronto condos are visible minorities.

“The condo market is … definitely not driven by white people,” he says.

The market has completely changed since about 2003, Lehrer says. Up until then, unintelligent advertising strategies with images of young white people – on billboards and websites, in newspapers and sales offices – attracted majority white clientele to the downtown core. Condo developers simply bought the “formula” of images offered by the limited number of advertising firms in Toronto, she says.

But developers have come under fire for using white-centric promotional materials. They realized they needed to change advertising strategies and begin to diversify the people used in advertisement visuals, Lehrer says, pointing out an example: One City Hall Condominiums.

Advertisement visuals of One City Hall Condominiums, 2006. Photo courtesy of Ute Lehrer.

Regardless of whether the developers have been successful, more and more people of diverse backgrounds are moving into condos in Toronto’s central core, say la Fleur and Lehrer.

Condos may represent an answer for some, but in the end, “The 82 per cent white issue should be addressed,” Lehrer says.

Discrimination and income inequality are still very real and pervasive issues that shape Toronto’s city landscape and exacerbate the condition of marginal voices.

“Whatever the objectives of protesters involved in Occupy Wall Street, they have succeeded in engaging the country in a conversation about income inequality.”
- Dylan Byers, Politico.com

“Inequality has been growing in Canada for many years; correcting it will not be easy or fast.”
- Jeffrey Simpson, Globe and Mail

“Is income inequality becoming the new global warming?”
- Charles M. Blow, New York Times Opinion Pages

By Jeff Fraser

With tremors of the recession still felt around the country, charity campaigns have responded by inventing new ways to attract donors.

Student stops to donate to Habitat for Humanity, Toronto, Ontario 2012

There is less to give and more who need it.

Need is increasing for Canadian charities, as over half report that demand is higher than a year ago and that donations are not sufficient.

“Charitable giving tends to mirror the economy,” says Stephen Faul, Vice-President of Imagine Canada. “When times are going well, it’s reasonable to say that people can afford to give a little more. But when the most recent recession occurred in 2008, 2009, donations did suffer. The ability to meet the need was challenged.”

With over 5,000 registered charities in Toronto alone, organizations must stand out from the pack to attract donor dollars in a time where people have much less to give.

With this in mind, charities have risen to the challenge by developing innovative and engaging campaigns that entice donors to reach that little bit further in to their change pocket. These campaigns go far beyond simply deducting a set amount from your chequebook each month.

A leader in this new fundraising trend is Australian born Movember, where ‘Mo bros’ take over the month of November, sporting a handlebar or a Tom Selleck ‘stache to raise money for prostate cancer treatment and raise awareness about preventing the disease.

“We’re at the point where you’re out of the loop if you don’t have a mo’ because everyone can do it,” says Pete Bombaci, National Director of Movember Canada.

Participant Nick Hnatiw agrees, “Guys think it’s funny to grow a mustache because it’s almost from a bygone age. This past year it really blew up and kind of crossed over in to mainstream where a lot more people were talking about it.” #Movember is always trending on Twitter at some point during the campaign.

“I think people like that it goes for a month rather than just a day. It’s cool to be a part of a bigger group of people doing something for a longer period of time,” says Hnatiw.

Bombaci says some charities, get stuck inside the box when it comes to fundraising, “In most charities, they start out with a cause and they look around and see what other charities are doing and say ‘Oh we’ll do a golf tournament or a walk’ and the focus becomes narrowed.” Movember started with a fun idea between friends and layered on a cause.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation for HIV/AIDS made sure to keep a broad focus for their unconventional Dare Campaign. Participants ask for donations in order to take on dares that challenge them physically, mentally or spiritually.

Keely Wallace, Dare Campaign organizer, explains, “It’s the campaign to take on acts of courage, acts of ingenuity and acts of strength, and it’s to parallel the daily challenges and issues the people on the front lines of the pandemic face every day.”

Organizers say that people are attracted to the campaign because they are not being pigeonholed into a single event. Participants get to decide the parameters of their dare, which can be as wild as getting a tattoo or as simple as giving up your cellphone for a week.

“This is something that really resonates with people. It’s not a walk, its not a run, it’s not a 24-hour famine; It’s whatever you want it to be and whatever is most meaningful for you.  It’s great to see people so enthusiastic and they get really innovative with their dares,” says Wallace.

This new type of campaign gets participants involved in a whole new way not traditionally used by charities, says Dare Campaign participant Toby Samson

“You’re taking on something that isn’t meant to be easy. By doing dares, you form a deeper connection with the campaign. It connects you with the charity and connects your donors too,” she says. Samson’s dares included exploring the city of toronto

Another challenge for charities is responding to donor trends. The 2011 Cygnus Donor Survey, which polled people across North America, noted that middle-aged donors between 35 and 64 are much more selective in choosing where to funnel their donor dollars, giving to fewer organizations than in the past.

Those in the workforce naturally have a larger disposable income than students, so there is a concern that the younger generation will not mobilize enough to fill the giving gap.

“The sector rests on the young people; the next generation of future leaders, philanthropists and volunteers. This is where the out of the box thinking comes from.
They get people to give a little more than they normally perhaps would,” says Faul.

One youth charity brought in $67,500 during their interactive campaign on Feb. 9.
Tokens4Change is run by students from 30 schools across the GTA who canvassed at TTC subway stations, raising money for homeless youth in Toronto. The event culminated with a performance in Toronto’s Dundas Square, which included breakdancers, spoken word and song.

“A reoccurring problem in the youth shelters was that students couldn’t get to work or school, so we decided to come up with a way to raise money and tokens,” says event organizer Maggie Linus.

SOURCE DATA: Canada Revenue Agency, 2012

Participant Christina Daponte, once homeless herself, says student involvement and enthusiasm is key to attract donors, “You have so many youth themselves helping out with this and even if they don’t understand the experiences other youth are having, it’s still a away to relate more. It’s not just asking for money it’s asking for a smile, it’s asking for attention because a lot of homeless youth remain invisible.”

Experiential campaigns are another inventive strategy being used by charity organizations. Habitat for Humanity surprised Torontonians by spending the night in makeshift plywood cabins they built on Ryerson University Campus, braving the harsh sting of winter winds. The 24 hour Home-a-thon raised just over $2,000 from gathering loose change.

“People are definitely shocked by the campaign,” says Curtis Hector, Head of Habitat for Humanity York Chapter. “They think we’re a little crazy but they’re also inspired by it. The general public has been very generous in donating to us.”

Hawa Yusuf, a former nursing student at Seneca College, stopped to donate, impressed by the uniqueness of the campaign, “You don’t really see houses being spray painted in the streets, it stands out.”

SOURCE DATA: Statistics Canada, 2010

Other innovative campaigns include 5 Days for the Homeless, where participants live on the streets and panhandle donations, or Plan Canada’s arm wrestling tournament for their becauseiamagirl.ca campaign.  Fundraisers are also using flash mobs and impromptu talent shows to rally people around their cause.

Even the Ford brothers have jumped on the innovative charity bandwagon with their weight loss challenge, partnering a personal goal with a needy cause. Though they struggle to win popularity at City Hall, they have lost 40 pounds cumulatively and raised just over $400 so far for  various Toronto charities.

This year, the charity sector hopes to turn the tides of giving in their favour. While the Cygnus survey showed 48 per cent of people held their giving back last year, a promising 79 per cent claimed they intend to give the same or more to charitable causes in 2012.

“I think charity organizations nowadays are always trying to think outside the box, and there are some very talented people in our member organizations who show that,” says Faul.

What sets these campaigns apart is how they engage with participants and donors. You are giving to a participant, who is in turn giving something of themselves for the cause. This resonates with donors, evident in dollars.

These inventive campaigns cannot solve the poverty problem on their own, but their impact and reach are only beginning to be explored.

Bay Street, Toronto

A Canadian law degree was viewed as a golden ticket to a well-paying, successful career, complete with a mansion and Mercedes. However, the value of a law degree today is  questionable given the astronomical increase of tuition fees, leaving graduates with high debts rather than riches.

“The stark reality is that it isn’t your golden ticket necessarily,” Thomas Wilson says. He is a law student at Osgoode Hall Law School, who estimates he’ll graduate with a $50,000 debt.

“Unfortunately, the perception exists and I don’t know if maybe the perception fuels the tuition fees, but it’s something I don’t think is going away any time soon.”

Shouldering this financial burden, students trudge off to find articling jobs. In order to practice law, it is mandatory that law students complete an articling term, which is like an apprenticeship. But as more students graduate from law schools, the number of articling positions available is decreasing annually. This problem will become even worse in 2013 when Lakehead University opens a new law school, adding to the number of graduates flooding the job market. Articling has  become a game of musical chairs, with more students entering the game, but fewer chairs available, resulting in more students with law degrees who are ineligible to practice.

If students are lucky enough to snag articling positions at large firms in Toronto, the hope is that the high salaries will allow them to pay off their debts within a few years. But the allure of higher salaries trap many into giving up their dreams of entering areas like human rights, criminal, and family law, where the salaries are significantly lower. After receiving six-figure salaries, it isn’t easy to leave the luxuries behind to enter areas of social justice and many become shackled by Bay Street’s golden handcuffs.

A law degree may provide a good education and could make students more attractive to a variety of employers, including outside of law. But only for those who can afford it. For those still under the misconception that a law degree is their ticket to partnership at a Bay Street firm, they are in for a rude awakening. With increasing tuition, higher debt, and greater competition for articling jobs, there are more law graduates in a far worse financial position without the high-paying jobs to show for it, leading many to wonder if a law degree is worth the economic burden.

Audio Slideshow: Tamera Burnett, law student at the University of Ottawa

Increasing Tuition Fees

Second year University of Toronto law student, Katy O’Rourke, came from a working class family in Hamilton. With provincial loans, bursaries, and a line of credit, she estimates she’ll graduate with around $100,000 of debt. However, she isn’t letting her debt influence what area she practices in and wants to pursue social justice. She says the money will work itself out.

In the past few years, law school tuition in Ontario has skyrocketed, with U of T winning the prize for most expensive tuition at $25,389 annually for 2011-2012 first year students. Tuition at Osgoode and U of T has more than doubled in the past decade.

Lawyer Peter Repetto chose to attend McGill for law school, where tuition was substantially lower than in Ontario. For 2011-2012, fees are only 3,874.40 for Quebec residents.

Repetto was able to graduate without a debt, but wouldn’t have if he had attended any other law school.

Chart of tuition fees from law schools across Canada

“I don’t think it would have been worth it for me financially had I done the degree at U of T and paid $12,000 extra a year in tuition,” says Repetto. However, he sees the situation at McGill as unique.

“I can’t really see how it makes particularly good financial sense for almost everyone else to attend law school. There might be other really good reasons to attend, but financially, I think it sets people back a fair bit and probably doesn’t set them on a particularly good footing in their late 20s and early 30s, when they are taking on a lot of other responsibilities. It’s obviously compromising most people’s ability to freely choose what career they’re going to pursue after they graduate.”

As law tuition increases with no end in sight, the ability of people to enter social justice fields is disappearing. Even if people can afford the high tuition fees, obtaining jobs in social justice remains a barrier.

Liz Majic decided to attend law school at the University of Ottawa with hopes of starting a career where she could bring about social change. However, she no longer believes a law degree is worth the high fees.

“I think if I didn’t have the savings that I had, I would not advise going into debt for this degree,” Majic says. “If I didn’t have the financial cushion that I had through my work experience, I wouldn’t have applied to law school and I wouldn’t recommend going into debt for law school.”

Majic intends to graduate, but is unsure if she will proceed to get called to the bar.

She’s not alone. Lisa Di Valentino, a third year law student at Western, has applied for grad school and may forego becoming a lawyer. She wants to focus on privacy, civil rights issues, or intellectual property. However, she doesn’t know if she would article, even if a position in her desired area of practice was available, as a result of her debt.

“If I had an opportunity to work a job that was perfect for me, but very little money, I wouldn’t be able to jump at it.”

According to a 2008 Career Choices Study, the average debt when entering law school is just under $26,500. The average debt incurred during law school is $45,246. As tuition fees continue to rise, the debt load will only get worse.

Audio Slideshow: Lorne Sossin, dean and professor at Osgoode Hall Law School

Articling Crisis

To get called to the bar in Ontario, a law student has to complete a 10-month articling position. Without it, students will have attended law school, and incurred expenses for three years, only to graduate without being able to practice law.

In 2011, 12 per cent of students graduating from law school did not have an articling job. This number has more than doubled since 2008.

In the last three years, the number of law students without an articling job has doubled.

The pressure to obtain an articling position begins early. Many law students apply for second year summer positions with hopes firms will hire them back for articling positions. The competition is fierce and can create havoc on morale for  those who don’t get a second year summer position.

Marcel Malfitano, an Osgoode law student, was unable to secure a second year summer job and found the process a blow to his self-confidence.

“Conventional wisdom is that if you’re going for a corporate job, which typically pays more, and you don’t get it during second year, it’s all the much harder to get one for your articling rotation. I found personally that’s very true because a lot of the bigger firms aren’t hiring anymore because they just take from their summer pool.”

“It’s frustrating,” Malfitano says, “because here I have all this debt and paying tuition, massive amounts of tuition from law school, and I can’t even work to pay off that debt.”

The articling search process was a do or die situation for Malfitano. He applied to many firms, including those in areas of law that he had no interest working in. He was fortunate to obtain the articling position he wanted with a corporate Bay Street firm.

Second year law student Devanne O’Brien hasn’t abandoned completely the idea of articling, but wants to take some time to figure out what she will do. She’s interested in pursuing social justice, but says there aren’t many articling jobs available for the areas she’s interested in.

O’Brien is now trying to find a summer internship abroad and hopes that this practical, unpaid experience will help her eventually.

Audio Slideshow: Devanne O’Brien, law student at the University of Ottawa

The Realities of being a Lawyer

Even those lucky enough to get an associate job aren’t making as much as they may think. Statistics show that between 1980 to 2005, the income of those in professional fields, including law, has remained relatively flat. In comparison, those in managerial positions have seen their salaries increase since 1990.

While it used to be that lawyers remained at the same firm they articled at throughout their career and eventually became partners, in recent years, fewer lawyers have reached partnership level.

“Twenty years ago, if you were at the firm after six years and you were an associate, you were automatically invited into the partnership,” Warren Bongard says. He is the vice-president of ZSA, a legal recruitment company. He says that it used to be 50 per cent of associates would become partners.

“Now, you see a major firm across the country adding two or three partners a year at most … where they used to have added maybe 10 to 20 a year. They’re adding fewer partners and creating greater leverage between the partners and the associates.”

Feldstein is familiar with the harsh realities of the economy’s influence on lawyers. After being called to the bar in 1994, he faced a poor economy, where jobs were difficult to find. Many were starting their own firms, including him. Today, his family law firm in Markham has grown to 12 lawyers.

However, Feldstein says it was a lot easier to open your own firm when tuition was $2,000 a year, compared to $20,000 a year.

“If someone who doesn’t get a hire back at a firm after articles wanted to pursue an area of law by starting their own practice, the economic reality of it can make it very difficult when you’re sitting on significant debt and now you want to start a new business on top of that.”

Feldstein says that in family law, you aren’t getting paid the same as a security lawyer in a downtown firm. But there is an emotional reward.

“You are able to help people in family law in a very different way than you can in any other area. When you see that you’ve helped someone get a child back who has been abducted, you can help someone get money when they’re desperately in need of it, you can help someone see their child when they haven’t seen their children in some time, it’s very rewarding.”

Audio Slideshow: Emma Holland, lawyer

By Asher Greenberg

PHOTO: Hannah and Hope Moore enjoy grapefruit and an iPhone.

Crystal Moore and her family live in a quiet suburban corner of Peterborough, across from a park. The church where Crystal preaches, the locks where her children skate, and the private Christian school where they go to school are all within a five minute drive.

With four girls, ages two to 10 years old, the house is lively and warm. Hope and Hannah, the two youngest, dart in and out of the room, playing on their mother’s iPhone, sitting on their father’s lap or demanding a snack. Crystal jokes about reversal of the traditional gender roles. She is the pastor, while her husband gets all the attention when he gets home from work.

Crystal sends her children to Rhema Christian School. There are 130 students from kindergarten to grade eight. She is keen to stress that Rhema is accredited and follows the Ontario guidelines. But, “all of their teachers are Christian,” she says, and they pray with their students in the morning.

The children have “freedom to discuss their faith, to pray in class. [The teachers] own personal walk with the Lord is evident even in how they conduct themselves with the kids,” Crystal says. So in science, for example, it’s not just about atoms or molecules, but that “there is a creator behind all of that, she says. Homosexuality is left out of sex education.

In Crystal’s earyl teenage years, she says, “Church was just something I did on Sunday. It wasn’t a component of my everyday life. I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus.” It was after her father died when she was just 17, that she made a commitment to change her life

“Committing my life to Christ and choosing to put him first was urgent and easy to do all at the same time.” While originally trained in pre-med, she decided to become a pastor.

Crystal and her husband decided to foster a Christian environment for their children, both at home and at school.

AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Crystal Moore discusses why Christian education is so important to her family, despite the rising costs.

Full-time tuition was $7,000 per family when she began at Rhema seven years ago. Now it’s over $12,000. While tax incentives are available, it’s harder to cope. As enrolment has dropped and tuition has risen, Crystal says that among the parents she’s seen a shift to white-collar professionals.

Rhema’s tuition is fairly typical for the non-Catholic Christian system, says Ray Hendricks, of the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools (OACS). A large percentage of the costs go to teachers’ salaries, he says, and “we very much want to pay our teachers at a level that is fair.”

But there is not necessarily much support for merging the Christian schools into the public system.

“From our perspective,” Hendriks says, “the most important thing for parents to do is pass on their faith to their children. The education [the children] receive deeply affects how they look at the world.” In addition, many parents “believe that the schools they establish are also more accountable to them.”

GRAPH: An unscientific survey of 31 Ontario Christian private elementary schools. Tuition rates are for the school year 2011-2012. Data was obtained from phoning the schools and from their websites. Some schools use a family-based tuition while others charge per student. The above graph represents COMBINED (total) tuition for two children.

The OACS has 976 registered independent schools in Ontario, with over 126,000 students. The organization says that if all the independent schools in Ontario shut their doors next year, it would cost the government an additional $1.6 billion to accommodate the influx.

This series explores how Jewish, Christian and Muslim parents are coping with the rising cost of private religious education in Ontario. For more on the debate about government funding, click here.

Tithing is considered mandatory by some devout Christians, but the recession has caused many to question whether they can afford to give.

Canadians feeling the impact of the economic recession have scaled back on their religious donations.

Data courtesy of The Barna Group’s 2007 study on Trends in Tithing and Donating

Tithing is an ancient practice where parishioners give 10 per cent of their net incomes to their churches, regardless of financial status. This has complications for some of the nearly 77 per cent of Canadians who claim to be Christians.

Since the late 2000s, religious charitable donations have gone down and fewer Christians tithe than ever before. For some, the pressure to tithe, combined with the inability to pay the 10 per cent, has led to a crisis of faith and rampant feelings of guilt and shame. Some even admit to feeling like “bad Christians” for not tithing.

Wes Prang, a Christian living in Olympia, Wash., believes that tithing nearly ruined his life.

“I didn’t have a job, I was diagnosed as disabled and I was living on unemployment,” he said. “I had a monthly income of $339 a month, but I was tithing and I continued to tithe when my rent went up but my cheque did not.”

Prang recalled being told that those who did not tithe had “desperately wicked” hearts and that tithing would change them into good people.

In one Biblical verse, Christians are told to “bring back the tithe” or risk a curse if they don’t. Such verses make it difficult for Christians to negotiate between their faith and their fiscal realities.

Some common solutions that stem from this crisis of faith include spending less on personal luxuries, giving in installments throughout the year, giving less than 10 per cent, or giving nothing at all.

Prang had been a member of his church since he was five-years-old. He began tithing in his early 20s because his pastor stressed that tithing every Sunday was essential to salvation.

“We were taught that we should not burden the church with financial troubles, but somehow it was okay for the church to go into debt and insist that we give more to bail them out,” he said. “I’ve heard ‘Give ‘til it hurts!’ more than once.”

He said parishioners at his church were explicitly instructed to tithe even though they couldn’t afford it.

Chris Smit, an Australian who runs an anti-tithing website, has also experienced guilt and fear over tithing.

“I was told by a pastor that the spirit of God had shown that the major cause for cancer—and even financial cancer—in the church and in the world today was because people were not tithing,” he said.

“I’ve been probed by other Christians about my finances, as if I would not be blessed with financial security because of my stance against tithing.”

Some church leaders have been known to request T4 slips from their parishioners and demand that each individual give 10 per cent of the net income listed on the form. This is to ensure that congregants don’t shirk their tithing responsibilities.

Rev. Cheryle Hanna of Toronto’s Yorkminster Park Baptist Church spoke out against corrupt churches for shaming parishioners.

“That is awful and just ridiculous. That’s legalistic, that’s controlling and it’s not of God,” she said. “That wouldn’t be consistent with what we teach about generous, faithful and joyful giving.”

She said tithing, while mandatory, should not be done if the parishioner feels “bitter” or “angry” about it. In some cases, particularly if the parishioner is in debt, it is “absolutely acceptable” to tithe less than 10 per cent, she said.

Tithing—which literally means “one-tenth”—is an Old Testament concept, when it served as a tax in ancient Israel.

The tithe now generally goes towards maintaining the church and paying church staff, but there is occasional “benevolence spending” that supports overseas missions.

“Tithing is a way of being very practical in our expression of putting God first,” Hanna said. “I heard a man say once, ‘Well I tip the waiter 15 per cent, how can I give God any less?”

The debate over tithing is both lively and polarized. While some are firm believers in its role in Christianity, others are unsure. Both the economic impact of the tithe and the exploitation of churchgoers for personal and financial gain by leaders of “megachurches” have fueled anti-tithing sentiments.

For some, the solution is simple: get rid of tithing since it has no place in modern society.

“I think it is irrelevant,” said Terry Robinson, a Protestant father of two. “But my church doesn’t demand it. If it did, I would have to rethink whether to stay or leave it.”

In most churches, tithing is a voluntary practice, although it is still heavily encouraged.

But for many devout Christians, including those who follow the New Testament, donating to the church should be a no-brainer since the Bible instructs Christians to “obey God” and bring “the tithe to the storehouse.”

“In my household, it is not negotiable,” said Careesa Gee, who began tithing from an early age. “For my parents, there’s not even a question that they will give 10 per cent to the church.”

Data courtesy of Canada Industrial Relations Board, 2001.

Since moving out of her family home in Winnipeg, however, Gee has stopped tithing – both because she no longer actively belongs to a church and because she makes considerably less than her parents.

There are still smatterings of her faith in her Toronto-based apartment. Nestled among The Hunger Games and books on Facebook and mixed martial arts, her Bible sits on her nightstand, ready for her next spontaneous moment of faith. On her bookshelf, there’s a tiny copy of the New Testament that hasn’t had its spine cracked in months, but still sits at the forefront.

“Not tithing does make me feel guilty,” she said. “It makes me feel like I’m not as good a Christian.”

These feelings of guilt are intensified when other Christians stress the importance of tithing.

“Tithing is mandatory whether it’s a recession or not – it shouldn’t matter,” said Angela Tang, a Christian from a missionary family. “I believe that I should give 10 per cent back to God because everything I got came from him anyway.

“I believe that tithing should be observed because the Bible says so.”

Meagan Gillmore, a Christian from Brantford, Ont., tithes regularly even though her main source of income is from the Ontario Disability Support Program.

“Scripture tells us to be obedient – Jesus Christ is very clear about that when he said ‘If you love me, you will do as I say.”

Gillmore admitted that there are “a lot of things” she cannot afford because of tithing, but that she is disciplining herself to make it a lifelong habit. Like many Christians, Gillmore makes sacrifices to be able to afford the tithe.

“You need to be generous because God has given you something that doesn’t just belong to you. You need to tithe.”

Prang, who also lives with a disability, experienced a crisis of faith after obeying the law of tithing for many years.

“I took the bus everywhere [and] I wore clothes from the clothing bank because I could not afford them,” he said. “After paying tithe, rent, utilities and disabled monthly bus fare, I had less than $40 to live on for the whole month, but I still tithed.”

Prang was told that, if he tithed “faithfully,” God would turn his finances around. He was instructed to make tithing his top financial priority in order to be considered “righteous” enough for his life to improve.

“I tithed and I tithed, but I didn’t get any financial blessings,” he said. “I did not get off government assistance. I did not get a job, a car, or a better apartment.”

It was not until Prang discovered that his head pastor owned 50 houses that his crisis of faith began.

“I realized that he earns more in a week than I did in a whole year – how was I supposed to tithe to him?”

Many stories have been written about the rock-and-roll lifestyles of some Christian leaders, like Kenneth Copeland of the Word-Faith Movement, who owns his own private airport. These stories help to further divide anti-tithers from pro-tithers.

Current statistics show that only about four per cent of Americans actually tithe, down two per cent from last year.

Data courtesy of The Canada Revenue Agency, 2011.

In Canada, recent studies have shown that religious-based giving has dramatically declined in recent years. The Canadian Revenue Agency found that, from 2009 to 2010, religious donations dropped from $6.04-billion to $4-billion, an all-time low.

These studies suggest that, after a period of financial insecurity, Christians may be  becoming more cautious about donating.

The economic recession has also led to an increase in anti-tithing websites on the Internet. On these sites, Christians come together to share tithing horror stories, as well as to speak out against corrupt churches and leaders.

Russell Kelly, a 67-year-old retired theologian, runs one popular site. He is a conservative Christian, but became opposed to tithing after his father was fired from his Sunday school teaching position for not paying the full 10 per cent.

He now devotes his time to speaking against tithing and using Biblical passages to debunk the idea that all Christians should tithe.

“I hope the economic depression leads people to question,” he said. “If you get a paycheque and you can’t buy your groceries or your medical bills or pay for your housing, and…your church says ‘Oh you got to give us the first 10 per cent” – that is not Biblical.”

Kelly and others promote “sacrificial giving,” where Christians give in proportion to their income.

“Ten per cent may not mean anything to someone who is really rich, but it will mean a lot to a person without a job. The person who has more should give more.”

Hanna also stressed that parishioners who make less, should give less.

“What is important is not the amount, but the faithfulness. God doesn’t care about the amount.”

As more Christians experience the conflict between what they’ve been instructed to do and what they can afford to do, others are redefining what it means to be a modern-day Christian living in unstable economic times.

Prang, who is still a devout Christian, said he has learned to follow the Bible instead of obediently listening to church leaders.

“I stopped tithing because I finally studied the Bible and…asked God what it means,” he said. “I started going to God because following the pastor’s teachings, and letting him tell me what God wants, wasn’t getting me anywhere.”