Opinion Editorials, September 2010

The Canadian Arab Federation calls upon all Arab and Muslim Missions at the United Nations to vote against Canada’s bid to have a seat at the UN Security Council for the following reasons:

• Canada is the only western country that has refused to ask for the repatriation of its citizen, 15-year-old Omar Khadr, from the jail in Guantanamo Bay where he has languished since May 2005.
• Canada detained 5 Muslim Arabs held under Security Certificates for a combined total of 290 months, mostly in solitary confinement.
• Canada was responsible for the detention and torture overseas of 5 Muslim Arab Canadians.
• Since coming to power in February 2006 the Harper government has refused to deal with the Canadian Arab Federation and the Canadian Islamic Congress, the two main national organizations representing Arab and Muslim Canadians, because they advocate for Palestinian rights.
• March 2006: Canada was the first country (after Israel) to cut its assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The aid cutoff, which was designed to sow division within Palestinian society, had devastating social effects.
• July 2006: Prime Minister Harper calls Israel’s invasion and devastation of Lebanon a “measured response”.  Canada refuses at the UN to call for a temporary ceasefire to allow 50 thousand Canadians trapped in Lebanon to seek safety.
• January 2008: Canada was the first country, ahead even of Israel, to withdraw from the UN conference on racism - Durban II accusing it of promoting anti-Semitism.
• January 2008: Canada was the only country at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to vote against a resolution that called for "urgent international action to put an immediate end to Israel's siege of Gaza."
• January 2009: Canada supports Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza that left 1400 Palestinians killed, including 412 children.
• March 2009: Canada cuts funding to settlement programs delivered by the Canadian Arab Federation since 1994 because of its support for Palestinian rights.    
• December 2009:  Canada cuts funding to KAIROS, an ecumenical organization run by a coalition of Canada’s mainstream churches (Catholics, Anglicans, United Church, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Mennonites), because it advocates justice for the Palestinian people.
• February 2010: Canada cuts funding to Montreal-based Alternatives because it argued against Israel’s status as a Jewish state.
• March 2010: Canada yields to Israeli pressure and terminates the grant to Mada al-Carmel, a 10-year-old social research centre based in Haifa that conducts research into Israel’s Arab minority. Two years ago, Mada received a pair of three-year grants from the Canada to study the marginalization of women in Arab-Israeli society and the low level of political participation by Arab Israelis.
• May 2010: Prime Minister Harper welcomes Benjamin Netanyahu one day after Israel’s military raided the Gaza-aid flotilla and killed 9 humanitarian workers, injured dozens and kidnapped 700 international citizens.
• June 2010: 187 Canadian civil society organizations sign a declaration accusing the Harper government of “systematically undermining democratic institutions and practices, eroding the protection of free speech, eroding freedom of the press, and other fundamental human rights.”

In view of the above policies and practices of the Canadian government, granting Canada a seat on the UN Security Council would be tantamount to rewarding Canada for discriminating against Arab and Muslim Canadians, and for its unconditional and blatant support for Israel’s war crimes and violations of international law.

For more information, please contact:

Khaled Mouammar                                
CAF National President                                 
416-879-6766

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

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