1. EVERY ACCOMMODATION IS "REASONABLE"

The traditional populations of European countries are declining as birthrates fall and they must now focus on attracting new immigrants to preserve their economies and infrastructures. Germany is even creating a new ministry of Immigration and Integration in response to this growing 21st-century challenge. Governments are now beginning to reformulate existing policies and plans to encompass the need for direct involvement. Integration is becoming tied to direct federal actions, including responsibility for providing training, addressing discrimination, and meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of new immigrants. This is a virtual sea-change in attitude from the recent past, when immigrants were routinely and falsely accused of not wanting to integrate.

2. MICHAEL ADAMS: AN UNLIKELY UTOPIAN GIVES MEANING TO POLLS

Today, Muslims - numbering nearly 800,000 according to the latest numbers — are "the new other" in our society and the fastest-growing religious and cultural group. As a result, Canadians are seeing more examples than ever of "reasonable accommodation": hijabs on soccer fields, niqabs at the polling booth; or the modest restyling of professional uniforms for everything from the local Tim Horton's server to VIA Rail conductors. . . .

Whatever it is at the core of our collective national psyche, we have made this country the destination of choice for more immigrants - 250,000 annually - than any other on the planet. Today, one in five Canadians is foreign-born and two in five are first- or second- generation offspring of immigrant parents. Only Australia has a higher proportion of foreign-born in its population.

Apart from sheer numbers, perhaps the biggest challenge facing 21st-century Canada is that for the past 15 years, more than half of our new immigrants come from non-Christian nations. We are becoming not only a multi-ethnic nation, but a multi-faith one as well; and among the major non-Christian religions, Islam is one that does not make a formal distinction between the secular and spiritual life as large segments of Christendom once did. A staggering 90% of Canadian Muslims are foreign-born and have forever changed the professional and technological landscape of our nation - most would say for the better.

3. FEAR OF ISLAMIC SCHOOLS BASED ON FALSE STEREOTYPES

Here are some pertinent facts. Islamic schools are operating in just about every province of this country. They are publicly funded in British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec. Yes, Alberta, despite being Prime Minister Stephen Harper's power base, and Quebec, despite sharing Quebec Premier Jean Charest's "safety concerns" for hijab-wearing girls on the soccer field, both fund Islamic schools. . . .

An overwhelming majority of women representing the mainstream Muslim community support faith-based schools. In fact, Muslim mothers usually insist on Islamically educating their children, even though the added expense often imposes genuine strains on parents' limited budgets.

4. RIDLEY CHALLENGES CRITICS WHO CAN'T SEE PAST HIJAB

Once a hard-nosed, hard-drinking Fleet Street reporter, Yvonne Ridley today is a proud, pious and unapologetic Muslim. Islam is "the biggest and best family in the world," she says, but also a family that is deeply misunderstood.

The 48-year-old London-based journalist and political activist brought her campaign against the West and its war on terror to Canada last month, visiting Toronto, Waterloo and Montreal to speak at fundraising dinners for the Canadian Islamic Congress. . . .

Ridley has been called an Islamist dupe and an apologist for terrorism. Remarks attributed to her include a reference to Jewish critics as "those nauseating little Zionists who accuse me of being an anti-Semite" and a characterization of London cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred, as "quite sweet, really."

Asked prior to her Toronto talk to comment, she denies nothing. Those reported remarks "are regurgitated by people who have an agenda against me," she said. Yes, she called al-Masri sweet, but "that was part of a one- hour, 20-minute talk in which he was featured for about 30 seconds." She was quoted "totally out of context," she says. . . .

Would she characterize a Muslim who calls for violence as un-Islamic or radical? "Historically," Ridley points out, "violence has worked." The Irish Republican Army, for example, "bombed their way to the negotiating table."