Well, not just education either… armoured vehicles too. While many are skeptical of the morals of big business, these problems are in the public sector too. Recently there has been controversy because of the Canadian government’s plan to sell armoured vehicles to Saudia Arabia, a country with a poor reputation for human rights issues, including the treatment of women, dissidents and prisoners.
And so it was only fair that people would cry foul over the fact that both Algonquin College and Niagara College would receive some criticism over offering programs in the Saudia Arabia that are only open to men. Of course, it is the culture there that men and women are educated separately, but does that mean that Canadian colleges should take the “when in Rome approach” or refrain from doing business in countries whose values are in direct opposition to ours in certain areas?
What nags at us most is the very fact that these are public agencies doing business. If it were private, it wouldn’t be as glaring a problem. Here are examples of ignoring national values is order to add to public coffers. There is definitely a lack of integrity here.
Read a somewhat less opinionated and more factual article in the Globe and Mail