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Toronto: Disabled man told that taxpayer-subsidized housing is for Muslims only

Aug 27, 2015 2:39 pm By Robert Spencer

Austin Lewis“Here you have a building for Muslims, and normally that would be discriminatory because other religions could not be accommodated there. But the Human Rights Code says if it’s a special-interests organization — religious, philanthropic, educational or social — they can discriminate in that way.”

Oh. Where is the taxpayer-funded housing for Christians only? For Jews only?

Ezra Levant weighs in on this travesty here. “Disabled man told subsidized housing is for Muslims only,” by Marco Chown Oved, Toronto Star, August 26, 2015 (thanks to Eli):

A young wheelchair user has been taken off the waiting list for a publicly subsidized apartment because he is not a member of the Muslim community that established the building — a practice that, while legal, raises concerns that accommodations for cultural and religious groups could be limiting access to affordable housing.

According to a letter that arrived at his mother’s house last week, Austin Lewis, 21, was removed from the waiting list at the Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace building on Finch Ave. W in North York because he is not a member of their faith.

“It was mostly confusing, more than anything else,” he said. “Why would a government segregate its own building?”

The 16-storey building, which provides a range of services to its residents including a prayer room that accommodates 250, was actually approved in the 1990s as part of a provincial program to encourage non-profits and religious groups to build affordable housing, according to its property manager.

Lewis, who has used a wheelchair since a disease attacked his spinal cord when he was 8, says he applied to more than 100 accessible buildings in Toronto, Brampton and Peel Region, and there was no notice that any of them were restricted to a certain community.

“We had no idea. The letter came as a complete shock,” he said.

The city provides a $1.7-million subsidy for 94 rent-geared-to-income units under a five-year agreement, which began Jan. 1, that restricts tenants to “members of the Muslim Jama’at.”

“The City’s mandate policy allows social housing providers to restrict their housing to individuals belonging to an identifiable ethnic or religious group if specific conditions are met,” says a statement provided by city spokesperson John Gosgnach.

There are eight such buildings in Toronto, catering to Muslims, Macedonians, Germans and seniors who are Christian, Chinese, Greek, Hungarian or Lithuanian.

Karin Tahir, Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace’s property manager, said the building does not discriminate on race, colour or ethnicity. “Ahmadiyya is in 200 countries,” he said.

“We’re not bumping anyone off the list,” Tahir added. “The real issue is the 90,000-person waiting list for an affordable unit. Where is the new stock?”

It’s already hard enough to find affordable housing in the GTA, Lewis says, but when you’re in a wheelchair, your options are limited even further.

“It does seem incredibly odd. There is housing for people 50 and over, but there is no housing specifically for people in chairs,” he said.

His mother, Laura Whiteway, is incensed that her son could be turned away from a wheelchair-accessible building.

“They’re being given a licence to discriminate. It’s just wrong,” she said.

Lawyer Barry Swadron, who has extensive experience in disability law, says the Ontario Human Rights Code allows for this kind of discrimination.

“Here you have a building for Muslims, and normally that would be discriminatory because other religions could not be accommodated there.

“But the Human Rights Code says if it’s a special-interests organization — religious, philanthropic, educational or social — they can discriminate in that way,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate, but that’s how the law was written.”

While the intention was to create safe spaces for minority communities, this kind of permissible “positive discrimination” inevitably produces collateral damage, Swadron said….

No kidding, really?

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Filed Under: Canada, dhimmitude, Islamic supremacism Tagged With: Austin Lewis


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Comments

  1. Karl says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    Sad to say it, but he’s probably better off living in the streets than with the Muslims. He’ll be a lot safer.

    • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

      Aug 27, 2015 at 3:45 pm

      In Eden Prairie about 30 yrs ago they built a planned community called The Preserve. Homes, town homes and apartments, all around a few nature areas. It was really quite nice.

      I say “was” because now all of the apartments are strictly for the Moslems, the white people were encouraged to move out. At night there are many cabs in the parking lot. A friend of mine has a beautiful town home a few blocks away, and he ain’t happy about it. Even though he’s an Obama-loving socialist, somehow he makes an exception when it comes to his neighbor Moslems. NIMBY.

      Going over to his place I wince when I see a Moslima in a hijab or even a niqab. My how America has sunk.

      • Westman says

        Aug 27, 2015 at 4:36 pm

        Farmer, I often let my fingers do the walking via Goggle Maps in places that are mentioned in news stories, posts, and comments. If I am in the right place, I landed at the Preserve Association sign and went exploring from there. I saw beautiful landscapes and houses in the area, and a number of apartment complexes. In the past, some European Muslim areas I saw had rather unkept streets but here I see what a very tidy appearance. It seems the US is getting more refined Muslims than does Europe. I also tend to wince at hijabs because they are a sure sign of non-integration.

        The Preserve sign mentions a Bear Point Lake but the nearest lake is named Neill Lake on the map. Am I looking in the right place?

    • Dr. Divinity says

      Aug 28, 2015 at 10:55 pm

      MUCH SAFER ON THE STREETS THAN MIXED MUSLIM HOUSING.

  2. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    In a queer way, it’s good to see that Canada is as lawless as the United States. This is the country that filed a criminal “hate crime” charge on Mark Steyn… for telling the factual truth! The potential humiliation finally forced the Canuck elites to drop the case. Mark’s sorta the Geert Wilders of North America.

    In Canada, as in America and Western Europe, and Down Under, the people are cowed into silent anger at the crookery and injustice operated by the elites, who are profoundly confused people unknowingly hell bent on civilizational suicide. Just look at Geller and what’s she and Spencer have gone through with all these AFDI disputes and lawsuits.

  3. Westman says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    Imagine that – taxpayer funded Segregation.

    In all fairness there must be facilities for Bahá’í, Druze, Yazidism, Mandaeism, Gnosticism, Yarsanism, Samaritanism, Shabakism, Ishikism, Ali-Illahism, Zoroastrianism, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons.

    If not, time to get crackin’.

  4. Shmooviyet says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    Wonder to which side Canada’s civil liberties crowd will fall in this story?
    Just kidding.

  5. Huck Folder says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    All he has to do is say: “There is no god but mo, and allah is his profit.” Then: “Where do I sign?” And he can’t indulge in the SUPERSTITIOUS calisthenics because of his wheelchair.

    BTW, these are not REAL moslems. I wonder what would happen if a ‘real’ one would apply, without figuring out why they would. Would these HYPOCRITE AHMADIS (tautology) refuse registration? And on what grounds?

    Ditto if there are any ‘real’ mo subsidized housing blocks. What would they say to the ‘wrong flavor’ mo, let alone an apostate ahmadi? THAT would be interesting. As well as the SINISLAM leftard water-carriers twisting themselves into pretzels bloviating and trying to decide who to back!

    (Are there not also Jewish old peoples homes, which have Christians and even mos as residents?)

    It just shows you what IDIOTS get to ‘serve’ (rule) in office. If this building and organization receives ONE CENT of government funding from any level, they should be told NO DISCRIMINATION. They are too DUMB to see what they are doing.

    “TORONTO — A Toronto city councillor says a provision that allows only Ahmadiyya Muslims access to a city-subsidized apartment building is not unfair.

    “We want people to live in a culturally-appropriate setting,” said Councillor Joe Cressy, of Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina.”

    I.e., if they establish a Tower Hamlets (UK) like NO GO ZONE, or “culturally-appropriate setting” as Councillor Joe Cressy puts it in NewSpeak, that’s AOK!

    How about the indigenes get to live in a “culturally-appropriate setting” sans islam?

    The migraine inducing obvious fact is: All of this is a government/social experimenter induced problem: No islam; no islamic problems.

  6. mortimer says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    Muslims have a HUMAN RIGHT that no other group has: the right NEVER TO HEAR SOMETHING THEY DISLIKE.

    That means that you may never say something in front of Muslims which he/she doesn’t approve.

    If you say ANYTHING a Muslim doesn’t like to hear…you are a facist, racist, etc. Moreover, Sharia blasphemies MUST BE ENFORCED by Leftarded Western cultural Marxists because Muslims are their collaborators in the destruction of free Western civilization and nothing must stand in the way of that project.

    Disagreement with Big Brother MUST be crushed.

  7. Nodhimmi says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    You ask in the pretext, where the christian only housing is.

    According to your quoted text, there is one for senior christians only.

    Just saying. Love your blog for the accuracy so don’t let me down 😉

    • Cecilia Ellis says

      Aug 27, 2015 at 9:52 pm

      Nodhimmi, from what I could find on the internet, there is no “taypayer-funded housing for Christians only” in Toronto. The following extract from a germane article is provided:

      “There is a senior’s residence in Toronto for retired Christians (but it is also a retirement home, not subsidized housing partially paid for by the government).”

      http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1853882-Toronto-subsidized-housing-allows-discrimination?p=35901833

  8. Angemon says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 8:40 pm

    While the intention was to create safe spaces for minority communities

    Where are we, the 1950’s? Are women not allowed to vote? Are black people forced to go to the back of the bus? If minorities are “unsafe” then who grants them the right to a “safe space”? Their tormentors?

    this kind of permissible “positive discrimination” inevitably produces collateral damage, Swadron said….

    There’s no such thing as “positive discrimination”, there’s only discrimination. In the 1950’s a school or class for black people only would be reviled and decried as segregation but nowadays the same school or class would be a “safe space”. Where’s the sense in that?

    http://www.therebel.media/university_diversity_officer_bans_white_people_from_event_claims_minority_women_can_t_be_racist_or_sexist

  9. gravenimage says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    Toronto: Disabled man told that taxpayer-subsidized housing is for Muslims only
    ………………………..

    How is this even legal?

    And Muslims at the “Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace building” are whinging that some Infidels said something insulting about the “Prophet”:

    http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2015/06/countries/canada/toronto-new-coverage-of-ahmadiyya-abode-of-peace-vandalized

    By the way, I have found *no* indication that many of these Mohammedans are disabled–all the ones I have heard referred to are perfectly able-bodied–but “filthy Infidel” Austin Lewis is out in the cold.

    In fact, the Ontario authorities–no joke–agreed to terms at this building that they would “restrict residency to the Muslim Jannat”.

    By the way–this building is huge–this isn’t some tiny enclave. It looks like it takes up a whole city block. You can find a picture here:

    http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/27/notallmuslims-keep-disabled-toronto-man-out-of-subsidized-housing/

    You know what would be ironic? If *orthodox* Muslims were to move into the “Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace building”–they would quickly begin oppressing and murdering the “heretical” Ahmadis. Not, of course, that I would like to see that.

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 27, 2015 at 8:53 pm

      Typo: “Jannat” should be “Jama’at”.

    • RonaldB says

      Aug 27, 2015 at 11:33 pm

      ” If *orthodox* Muslims were to move into the “Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace building”–they would quickly begin oppressing and murdering the “heretical” Ahmadis. ”

      Yes, it’s true. Chances are the building restricted to the Ahmadiyyas will be much safer and cleaner than buildings housing any run-of-the-mill Muslim. I very much see the point of Ahmadiyyas wanting to keep other Muslims away. I’ll also go out on a limb and say if Austin Lewis were to be put in the middle of them, he would not be subject to violence.

      But, this is subsidized housing. When public funds are involved, there is no right to discriminate, at least from the US perspective. If they want to limit access to their communities, they need to pay for the communities themselves. The government has no business promoting community or religious identity.

      Canada is even further socialized than the US, so at some point the government takes such a high proportion of your income, it’s impossible to build anything larger than a closet without government subsidy. I’d like to see the proponents of closed communities push for a rollback of government involvement.

      Of course, the Ahmadiyyas support the objective of Muslim supremacy, like other Muslims, but they do so peacefully.

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/uk-home-secretary-theresa-may-pledges-government-fight-against-islamist-extremism-and-neo-nazi-extremism/comment-page-1#comment-1286639

  10. Guest says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 10:37 pm

    Good. The more such divergences there are between real human rights needs and purely islamic interests, the more people will wake up!

  11. zulu says

    Aug 27, 2015 at 11:19 pm

    “No infidels allowed”: Disabled man denied subsidized housing because he’s not Muslim
    http://www.therebel.media/_no_infidels_allowed

  12. K. says

    Aug 28, 2015 at 4:43 am

    Regardless the puke factor of that piece of news, in this case it is probably better for him.

  13. CraigAustin says

    Aug 28, 2015 at 8:42 am

    It is a shame that our disabled citizens are so desperate that they might even consider living in a building like this, or even a city like this. These types of arrangements aren’t found in “bad neighbourhoods” they define them.

  14. Christian A. Beltram says

    Aug 28, 2015 at 11:37 am

    I will not be surprised if non-Ahmadi Muslims someday bar Ahmadis from moving into their own subsidized housing units because they consider Ahmadi Muslims to be false Muslims due to their unorthodox beliefs. If this form of discrimination is already practiced in countries where Ahmadis are persecuted like Pakistan, it will soon spread to countries like Canada where some Muslims are exploiting the special accomodations they are given by law in order to discriminate against people who do not believe as they do.

  15. Uncle Vladdi says

    Aug 28, 2015 at 11:53 am

    Ontario is run by liberals, and has been for decades. This is one result. Another is that the province, although having less people than the State of California, has a larger debt, a fact which just forced the Canadian dollar, long on par with the US one, down to 75c.

  16. threepercentcan says

    Aug 29, 2015 at 8:41 am

    This is absolutely disgusting that tax payer dollars are being used in the furtherance of racism and segregation.

    I live in Toronto and unfortunately this wouldn’t cause more than some water cooler talk at best. Canadians as a whole have been completely infantilized and gelded through the years by our govt. The fact that we allowed hate speech laws to be passed in this country is very telling.

    There are a few warriors such as Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn that have been sounding the alarm however, no one seems to be able to rise from their slumber to mobilize against this encroachment.

  17. Buckeye Girl says

    Nov 17, 2015 at 4:52 pm

    karma. 😉

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