Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of National Defence and Minster for Multiculturalism, caused an uproar on social media on Monday after he tweeted a picture of himself with an 11-year-old Iraqi refugee. He captioned the photo, “11 yr-old Xavier is an Iraqi refugee who arrived in CDA via Syria last yr. Already speaks perfect, unaccented English”.
He posted several more tweets and photos of refugee families he met with, describing their struggles and how Canada has helped them. But the tweet about Xavier and his perfect English was quickly deleted after backlash over Kenney’s choice of words.
Canadians started tweeting their confusion over what why “unaccented English” was something to be praised for. “‘unaccented English’…What? Does that imply those with an accent are lesser Canadians or less deserving of praise?” tweeted one person. “I’m sure all the French Canadians in Canada speak ‘perfect, unaccented English’ as well” tweeted another. Some people took immediate offence to the comment, since they themselves speak with an accent, and that shouldn’t make them any less worthy of being Canadian.
Kenney addressed the comment by responding to one Twitter user who asked “So, anyone with an accent isn’t a real Canadian?” in a series of four tweets, which read, “Of course not. I have a serious accent when I speak French! I simply found it remarkable that a youngster who did not speak a word of English a year ago has learned so quickly that he sounds like he grew up in Canada. I meant it as a harmless observation about how quickly a refugee child has taken to living in Canada. I have deleted the tweet as some people were misconstruing it, and I don’t want the boy to be subject of any controversy.”
Sounds like Kenney didn’t mean it the way people are taking it, but that just goes to show you that you have to be careful what words you choose, even when you think you’re paying someone a compliment. He may have deleted the offending tweet, but the Internet doesn’t forget.
