Canada
Canada
Syrian bakery, restaurant opens its doors to refugees in search of a better life
September 8th, 20190 OTTAWA, CANADA — Nearly a decade of war, conflict and foreign intervention in Syria has led to a full blown crisis in the once-thriving Middle Eastern nation, as well as the creation of millions of refugees. According to a 2018 report from the Pew Research Center, Canada has become the most common landing place for Syrian...
Canadian Somali journalist Hodan Nalayeh killed in terror attack
July 22nd, 20190 KISMAYO, SOMALIA - A prominent Canadian Somali journalist who was among 27 people killed in a terrorist attack in Somalia’s southern port city of Kismayo Saturday is being celebrated for her efforts to change the narrative about her country. Hodan Nalayeh dedicated her life to telling stories about Somalia that focused on more than...
Canadian Arab businessman awarded $2.5M for suffering hate speech
June 22nd, 20190 ONTARIO, CANADA — An online media personality whose websites frequently air anti-Muslim content has been ordered to pay the owner of a prominent Middle Eastern restaurant chain millions of dollars after publicly accusing him of funding terrorism. Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Ferguson ordered Kevin J. Johnston to pay a total...
Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun lands in Canada after Trudeau grants her asylum
January 13th, 20190 TORONTO — Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun tweeted an image of herself with the caption “third country – I did it” on Friday, January 11 next to an airplane, as she landed in Toronto to begin the next phase of her life. The 18-year-old had been barricaded inside a Bangkok, Thailand hotel room to avoid deportation and...
What happened on the way to Washington
January 30th, 20090 It seemed like a great idea. Tyrone Edwards, who heads up the Remix Project, a Toronto arts and culture organization, organized a trip to the inauguration in Washington. Young people, black and Arab, piled into three buses and off they went. Then they came to the border near Buffalo. Buses one and two got through with no difficulty,...
Israeli decries house demolitions
January 24th, 20090 Jeff Halper is co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a Professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University. He has researched and written extensively on Israeli society and Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands. Jeff Halper, an American-born Israeli Jew, spoke at a Canadian Senate meeting room on Jan....
Killing of insurgent described
January 17th, 20090 A court martial in Canada heard on January 6 the basics of the government's case against Captain Robert Semrau. He is charged with killing a wounded Taliban in Helmand Province on October 19. According to the prosecution, following a battle which began with an ambush by Taliban fighters, the Taliban were beaten. Returning to the...Ontario Union: Bar Israeli teachers
University employees in the Ontario Branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are calling for a ban on Israeli teachers in Ontario universities in reaction to Israel's bombing of Gaza's Islamic University. Sid Ryan, president of CUPE Ontario According to Sid Ryan, President of CUPE Ontario, "In response to an...Thirteen U.S. deserters face deportation
Video frame grab of U.S. President George W. Bush (L) ducking from a shoe during a news conference in Baghdad December 14, 2008. An Iraqi reporter called visiting U.S. President Bush a "dog" in Arabic on Sunday and threw his shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad. REUTERS/Reuters TV In this protest, one size fits all. On...Interrogator appears on CBC
Damien Corsetti, a former U.S. military intelligence investigator who acted as an interrogator at Bagram in Afghanistan and at Abu Graib in Iraq, was interviewed recently on CBC. His interrogation methods were brutal and obscene, as revealed both in the interview and in other reports about his conduct. He screamed at prisoners. He pushed...Khadir wins seat in Quebec
Who said Canadian politics are dull? Canada’s current political crisis began when the Conservative minority government presented an economic update to Parliament. The update had little to say about the economy but included some socially regressive measures. Amir Khadir The one that precipitated the crisis was a measure...Canada must reclaim its human rights reputation
Ottawa — The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), on International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, urged the Canadian government to take concrete steps to reclaim its reputation as an international human rights leader. Since 2001, several incidents have shaken the belief of citizens and the international community...Al Haq lawyers tour in Canada
The National Council on Canada-Arab Relations is sponsoring a Canadian tour by two lawyers with Al Haq, a Ramallah-based human rights organization that monitors and defends human rights in the Occupied Territories. On Oct. 22, they spoke at Ottawa's Carleton University. Their appearance, publicized by a co-sponsoring campus group...Mosque and synagogue together
When Sheykh Zahir Bacchus of Lote Tree Foundation in Brampton (a city near Toronto) and Rabbi Yossi Sapirman of Beth Torah in Toronto met at a seminar on serving the sick and dying, they became friends. And last year, the two were among a group of 13 rabbis and imams invited to a meeting in New York sponsored by the Foundation for Ethnic...Conservatives try to keep the lid on
The Conservative government is going to court to prevent the Military Police Complaints Commission from holding hearings on allegations that Canada ordered its soldiers to hand prisoners over to Afghan security, while aware of torture practiced by the Afghans. Government lawyers make the novel argument that the Commission can only......
Closing for Jewish holidays ends at York U.
For 34 years, Toronto's York University shut down on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The University of Windsor Law School also closed for these Jewish holidays. This practice has come to a halt in both institutions. At York, Professor David Noble, himself a Jew, defied the closure and held class on Rosh Hashana. He also filed a complaint...Said, Halloween treat, not a trick
The late Edward Said said that the West has an imagined, false picture of the East, which he called Orientalism. Halloween weekend was the occasion for a conference held jointly at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, dedicated to the thought of Edward Said, the Palestinian-American thinker and vocal advocate for the...Gitmo prisoners demand information from Canada
Two Guantanamo prisoners, a Mauritanian and an Algerian, who once lived for a short time in Montreal, are taking the RCMP and Canadian Security and Intelligence Agency (CSIS) to court to force them to provide details of interrogations. Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Ahcene Zemiri were interrogated at Guantanamo by agents of the RCMP and CSIS...Another Canadian held abroad
Canadian citizen Bashir Makhtal has been sitting in an Ethiopian jail for two years, having been arrested while fleeing Somalia during the fighting in that country. Kenya, to where he fled, turned him in to Ethiopia, where he was born. Family suspect that Ethiopia jailed him because his grandfather was a founder of the Ogaden......
Islamic Congress loses again
On October 10, the British Columbia Human Rights Commission handed down a decision dismissing charges brought by the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) against Maclean's magazine. The Congress complained to the Commission that an article in the magazine by Mark Steyn entitled "The Future Belongs to Islam" was anti-Muslim hate propaganda,...Arabs among candidates for parliament
While they are not likely to win a seat in the current Canadian federal election campaign, there are two Arabs and a man of Hindu background running for office in the Ottawa South electoral district. Currently, the seat is held by David McGuinty, the Liberal and brother of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. It is likely that he......
Dubai company investigated
Dubai's state-owned Nakheel Corporation, now a 20% owner of Canada's Cirque du Soleil, is currently being shaken by allegations of corruption. Such allegations have led to charges being laid against officials of other state-run companies. Observers blame lack of financial transparency and inconsistent enforcement of...Deserter gets reprieve
Jeremy Hinzman was due to be deported back to the United States on September 23, but a last minute court decision has given him more time. Hinzman, who deserted the army and fled to Canada in 2004 to avoid going to Iraq, remains in Canada till the courts can rule on his request to be allowed to stay on humanitarian grounds.......