News Release: Rogers OMNI 10/BC Welcomes First Board of Multi-faith Community Advisors Enhanced Dialogue & Outreach Mechanism

For immediate release:

Rogers OMNI 10/BC Welcomes First Board of Multi-faith Community Advisors Enhanced Dialogue and Outreach Mechanism to Benefit All

SURREY (January 30, 2007) – Terry Mahoney, General Manager of Rogers OMNI Television British Columbia, is pleased to welcome the station’s first board of Multi-faith Community Advisors. Like the system of Community Advisors put in place 20 years ago by multilingual/multicultural stations Rogers OMNI.1 and OMNI.2, the new advisory board for Rogers OMNI.10/BC will play an essential role in station’s feedback mechanisms. Collectively, OMNI.10’s multi-faith advisors reflect the various faith and cultural communities served by the station’s programming and will assist in maintaining two-way communications, for the ultimate benefit of viewer and broadcaster alike.

“Rogers OMNI.10/BC has grown rapidly in the relatively brief time we’ve been on-air and the formation of our new board complements this growth,” says Terry Mahoney. “As we evolve, our Community Advisors will bring further reflection to OMNI, its programming and its policies.”

“The process of identifying candidates for OMNI.10’s board of Multi-faith Community Advisors was launched, essentially, with the launch of the station itself,” he continues. “Top of mind for us were individuals with a good understanding of the intricacies of their own faith as well as healthy respect for, and appreciation of, the beliefs of people of differing religious persuasion.”

To put a name to those individuals and briefly introduce OMNI.10’s inaugural board of Multi-faith Community Advisors, they are:

• Mason Loh Q.C., Chair, OMNI B.C. Advisory Board – a lawyer with a long and distinguished record of service to the community; volunteer with one of Vancouver’s largest social service organizations, SUCCESS, for over 25 years, serving as their Chairman of the Board from 1994 to 1998;
• Canon Bernard “Bern” Barrett – Anglican priest; bible scholar and teacher; currently President and Executive Director of the Multi-Faith Action Society of B.C;
• Nusrat Hussain – founder and editor of the first Muslim newspaper of British Columbia, The Muslim Miracle News; award-winning poet; former General Secretary of the Canada Urdu Association;
• Ron Kuehl - Ron Kuehl is currently Senior Vice President of External Relations at Trinity Western University (TWU) and previously, its Vice President of Advancement and Enrolment; TWU is partner with OMNI.10 to explore the impact of religious diversity on cultures around the globe through a series of interfaith forums entitled, Faith Forward: Exploring Religion, Culture and Conflict;
• Jean LaRose - First Nations citizen from the Abenakis First Nation of Odanak; currently Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN); former Director of Communications for the Assembly of First Nations;
• Sukhvinder Vinning – Member, Multi-Faith Action Society of British Columbia, involved with inter-faith initiatives such as developing and maintaining dialogue among communities and managing peace and justice issues; also, coordinating producer for their multi-faith calendar;
• Mark Weintraub - Current Chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, and a partner of the Law firm Clark Wilson; internationally renowned keynote speaker at such auspicious events as the Tokyo Conference (on) War Crimes & Redress.

Among the Multi-faith Community Advisors’ many key functions is that of maintaining two-way communications: providing OMNI.10/BC with information, feedback and advice from their own particular community – and enhancing the community’s awareness of the station. All Rogers OMNI Television stations value the input of their Community Advisors, all of whom take an active role in their respective community.

About OMNI TV BC:
OMNI TV BC is the re-branded and renovated licence resulting from Rogers’ purchase of NOW TV (CHNU) and the subsequent approval by the CRTC Decision Public Notice 2005-207 (http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/db2005-207.htm). This decision also included the approval of a rebroadcast transmitter for Victoria to be in place mid-2007 and operate on channel 21B. NOW TV Vancouver formally re-launched as OMNI TV BC/OMNI.10 (over-the-air, UHF channel 66) on September 5th 2005, continuing its mandate to deal with the religious and spiritual concerns of the Christian and other faith communities in its broadcast coverage area.

About Rogers OMNI Television:
Rogers OMNI Television is a free over-the-air system consisting of four regional broadcasters covering nine markets in British Columbia (Victoria, Vancouver, and Fraser Valley), Manitoba (Winnipeg), and Ontario (Ottawa-Gatineau, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area). All Rogers OMNI Television stations are owned and operated by Rogers Communications in the Rogers Media division, and have the collective mandate to reflect Canada’s diversity through the airing of inclusive and accessible programming. In addition to specializing in Canadian multicultural, multilingual and multi-faith programming, OMNI TV also carries well-known American and International series and films.

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Media Contacts:

• Sandy Zwyer - Programme Information Coordinator - (416) 260-3590 sandy.zwyer@rci.rogers.com
• Andrea Gagliardi – Director of Public Relations – (416) 260-3803 andrea.gagliardi@rci.rogers.com
  
  
  
  

Vancouver Sun: Spiritual thinkers, leaders look at fostering peace activism

A noted group of thinkers and spiritual leaders will gather in Vancouver on Saturday to explore how the public can cope when confronted by often-overwhelming conditions in the world, particularly following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

A one-day conference, titled Finding Hope in a Time of Despair, will look at fostering peace activism and interfaith dialogue in a time of increasing global tension, violence, poverty and destruction of the planet.

Speakers include Donald Grayston, an Anglican priest and former director of Simon Fraser University's Institute for the Humanities; Toni Pieroni, who leads groups in eco-spirituality; Ron Dart, a political scientist and religious studies instructor at University College of the Fraser Valley, and Mark Weintraub, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress Pacific Region.

Sponsored by the Thomas Merton Society of Canada and Canadian Memorial Church Centre for Peace, the event takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1825 West 16th Avenue, Vancouver.

For more information, go to http://merton.ca/HOPEconfguide.html

BC News Release: Premier Marks Holocaust Memorial Day

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Office of the Premier

2006OTP0079-000481

April 25, 2006

PREMIER MARKS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

VICTORIA – The Province paid tribute today to the more than six million victims of the Holocaust in a ceremony attended by over 90 Holocaust survivors at the provincial legislature to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

“The lingering scar of the Holocaust stands out in human history as a profound and painful reminder that we must all stand united in the goal of stamping out hate and upholding the fundamental rights of every individual,” said Premier Gordon Campbell. “Today is a day to remember and reflect. We are honoured to be joined by those who endured so much and we pledge that their suffering and sacrifice will always be remembered.”

As part of the ceremony, six survivors lit six candles to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children killed by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. Holocaust Memorial Day is also a day to remember the over five million people who died during the same time period because of their physical or mental disabilities, race, religion or sexual orientation.

“It is through commemoration and remembrance that we pass on the lessons from this dark time in history to future generations,” said Mark Weintraub, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region. “We must combat racism and dehumanization in our time, so the millions of people who paid the ultimate price of hatred and fear did not make their sacrifice in vain.”

“In British Columbia, we value the diversity and equality that is demonstrated in our multicultural communities,” said Wally Oppal, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism. “Today we reflect on the painful lessons of history and remind ourselves that hate and racism have no place in our society.”

Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked around the world. The Holocaust Memorial Day Act, passed in 2000, declares Yom Ha’Shoah, the Day of the Holocaust as determined each year by the Jewish calendar, as Holocaust Memorial Day throughout British Columbia.

British Columbia was the second province in Canada to enact legislation marking Holocaust Remembrance Day as an official day on the provincial calendar. Ten provinces have now passed this legislation.

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Media contact:
Mike Morton
Press Secretary
Office of the Premier
250 213-8218

For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.

Vancouver Sun: Two arrested in connection with synagogue vandalism

Kim Bola

Relieved members of the Jewish community were praising the RCMP Monday after two men were arrested in connection with an anti-Semitic attack on a Richmond synagogue a week earlier.

Richmond RCMP confirmed there were two arrests but said they would not provide any details because charges have not yet been laid.

Cpl. Peter Thiessen said Monday he could not comment because "we are still in the midst of an investigation."

But the head of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, said video camers at the Beth Tikvah synagogue that captured images of the suspects during the April 15 attack were instrumental in identifying the two people picked up in the case.

"Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region and Beth Tikvah synagogue have worked closely with law enforcement throughout the investigation and we are pleased to say that the RCMP demonstrated to our community from the outset that the incident was being treated very seriously," regional congress chair Mark Weintraub said. "We are thankful to the RCMP and the BC Hate Crimes Team for all of their effort and are relieved that the perpetrators were caught."

The synagogue, on Geal Road, was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti including a picture of a hanging man, with the word Jew written over it, swastikas, and anti-Jewish profanity.

It was the second time in recent months that Richmond RCMP have been called to investigate anti-Semitic vandalism.

kbolan@png.canwest.com

Holocaust Remembrance, April 16, 2007

Jewish Independent Opinion: Canada's security weakened

MARK WEINTRAUB

After the 9/11 attacks, the Canadian government came to the start realization that Canada was wholly unprepared to respond effectively to the now undeniable threat of international terrorism and its domestic manifestations. By the end of that year, Canada's legislative response, the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), was on the books. Since then, Canadians have been passing judgemen ton how well it met the most fundamental challenge facing any democracy: how to provide for the safety and security of its citizens while minimally impairing the basic civil liberties that underpin their society.

The Parliament of the day "sunsetted" two of the most contentious measures, mandating their expiration in five years in the absence of votes to renew by both the House of Commons and the Senate. These two provisions - recognizance with conditions (placing express constraints on the activities of suspects or permitting their preventive arrest for up to 72 hours as sanctioned by a judge to prevent an imminent terror attack) and investigative hearings (compelling individuals to testify and provide documents about a terror attack that has occurred or will take place) - seemed to epitomize the difficult balance of protection of security versus protection of human rights. Five-and-a-half years later, after heated, acrimonious debates, the measures died on the floor of the House of Commons.

We believe that these two powers were critical elements to be used judiciously to head off future attacks, or successfully investigate ones that had already occurred.

The fact that neither provision had actually been implemented since the fall of 2001 proved grist for both mills: "They are totally irrelevant," said some. "See they have not led to widespread abuse," countered others. From the perspective of Canadian Jewish Congress, though, it is most unfortunate that a compromise could not be struck to extend the two measures with additional safeguards put in place.

We would argue that one need not approach the debate from the "either/or" perspective of security versus rights. If terrorism is rightly regarded as an assault on human rights, it stands to reason that the implementation of counter-terrorism measures necessarily protects the highest priority right of life, liberty and the security of the person, the foundation of all other rights and freedoms.

These actions themselves must always be rooted in the rule of law. A properly framed and implemented counter-terrorism policy enhances civil liberties and core Charter of Rights values and protects them as part of our way of life whose essence is threatened by terrorism.

As a package deal, the ATA met this challenge, but the failure to renew the two sunsetted provisions has eroded Canada's safety and security from both international and domestic attacks. As such, it is incumbent upon the government and all parties to work co-operatively toward crafting new legistlation to replace the two ATA measures on which the sun has now set.

These powers may be gone, but Canadians should not be lulled into a false sense of security - the threats that these provisions were intended to combat is most assuredly still with us. It would be the ultimate irony if, in striving to maintain civil liberties, we strip authorities of the necessary powers to stop terrorists from destroying our open and free society.

Mark Weintraub is chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/Mar07/archives07Mar16-12.html

Victoria Times Colonist: Religious leaders urge B.C. to lead on climate change

Religious leaders urge B.C. to lead on climate change: Churches of all stripes ask province to set targets in battle against greenhouse gas emissions

Page: A3

Section: News

Byline: Judith Lavoie

Religious leaders of all stripes are coming together in a coalition of strange bedfellows to fight the overarching threat of global warming.


A letter asking that B.C. set mandatory, provincewide targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sent to Premier Gordon Campbell this week, is signed by 45 community leaders including Rt. Rev. James Cowan, Anglican Bishop of B.C (which includes Vancouver Island); Mark Weintraub, chairman of the Pacific Region Canadian Jewish Congress, and ministers from the United Church of Canada.


Other signatories range from Stewart Philip, president of the B.C. Union of B.C Indian Chiefs and Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, to leaders of environmental and business organizations.


The letter says B.C.'s emissions are up 30 per cent since 1990 and the mountain pine beetle is threatening the future of dozens of forest-dependent communities while extreme weather is disrupting B.C.'s economy and society.

"We therefore call on you to help B.C. become a leader by legislating worldleading, provincewide targets for mandatory emissions reductions," the letter says.

The letter follows a demand by Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, that the province set binding targets for reducing emissions.


Ingham said in a letter to Campbell that care of the planet "has become one of the most pressing ethical, moral and spiritual issues of our time." The push by churches, synagogues and mosques to stand up for the Earth is welcome said former environment minister David Anderson, a practising Anglican.


"I have been puzzled and saddened by the reticence of the Church to speak out forcefully and frequently on this issue," he said.


"I think this is a fundamental moral issue. Our civilization has to face up to its responsibility and we are not doing so.

What right do we have, for the benefit of our highly selfish lifestyle, to destroy the lives of people in third world countries." Anderson, who led climate change debate for five years as Liberal environment minister, said his insistence on the urgent need for action was the reason he was fired from cabinet in 2004 by former prime minister Paul Martin.


"I was pressing far too hard. I know that's why I was fired as environment minister and dropped from cabinet," he said.

Muslim Naz Rayani said climate change was the hot topic this week when he took a group of about 60 people to visit his mosque in Vancouver.


"Man has been given the responsibility to look after Mother Earth for future generations. It's up to us," he said.

In Islam, the biggest struggle is keeping a balance between the spiritual and wordly life and the environment must now become part of that personal equation, Rayani said.


In Victoria, faith-based climate change action is being led by the recently formed Care for Creation Committee, a joint effort by the Anglican Church of St. John the Divine and First Metropolitan United.


"This is a problem that will affect everyone on Earth and it is an issue we can work on together, regardless of our belief systems," said St. John the Divine parishioner Clare Attwell.


The Care for Creation Committee is putting on a presentation of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth followed by a community discussion at First Metropolitan, Feb. 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.


Between Feb. 21 and April 4, there will be a series of Wednesday noon forums at St. John the Divine on "God, Climate Change and Us."


Edition: Final
Story Type: News
Length: 575 words

Vancouver Sun: B.C. environmentalists seek global warming controls

Published: Thursday, February 01, 2007

Global warming is heating up into a major issue in British Columbia politics with a warning Thursday from a broad coalition of labour, environmental, aboriginal and religious leaders that Premier Gordon Campbell must set tough standards on green-house gas emissions.

In a public letter on the eve of today's release of a United Nation's International Panel on Climate Change, which concludes humans are "very likely" contributing to global warming, the B.C. group is demanding Premier Campbell take local action to reverse the province's upward trend in greenhouse gas emissions believed to accelerate climate change.

The coalition's letter -- which was distributed by Vancouver environmentalist David Suzuki's foundation -- warns "there can be no doubt that bold and immediate leadership is required of governments around the world to combat global warming."

The leaders -- who include B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair and Grand Chief Stewart Philip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs -- say British Columbians have already gotten a taste of global warming's potential havoc with the recent wild winter weather as well as the relentless march of the mountain pine beetle, the tiny insects that are destroying much of the province's pine forests thanks to warmer winters.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ed8d3dff-a16e-4863-98d9-bb485a5df4a2&k=80969

Jewish Independent: A hope for peace in Darfur

A hope for peace in Darfur

"We need to continue to put the pressure on," says CJC chair.

RON FRIEDMAN

Darfurian Peace negotiator Nouri Abdalla recently returned from peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria. Advocacy leader Mark Weintraub from Canadian Jewish Congress met with him in order to hear about the current situation in Darfur and strategize about future co-operation.

"The best-case scenario is to have a robust UN peacekeeping force, highly experienced, well funded and equipped," said Abdalla.In August, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1706, ordering the expansion of the current African Union (AU) mission in Western Sudan to a 22,000-strong hybrid UN and AU peacekeeping force. China, the main consumer of Sudanese oil, has not signed the resolution, even though it contributed to the peace talks. It claims that the resolution impinges on Sudanese sovereignty.

However, Darfurians like Abdalla view the implementation of the resolution as their only hope after the collapse of the Darfur Peace Accord (DPA), which was signed in May.

"We were hoping that after the signing of the DPA, peace, stability and tranquillity would come to Darfur," said Abdalla. "As a matter of fact, what has happened is exactly the opposite, the situation actually got worse."

Since 2003, more than two million people have been internally displaced, another 250,000 refugees have crossed the border into neighboring countries and 400,000 people have been killed as a result of the violence.

Units of the Janjaweed militia, who are responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the conflict, are constantly raiding the villages and terrorizing civilians and aid workers. While the Sudanese government, led by Omar al-Bashir, denies responsibility for the actions of the Janjaweed, reports indicate that the Khartoum government recruits, arms and pays the militias, often performing co-ordinated attacks with them.

"The Sudanese government is trying to resolve this conflict militarily; they are still using their helicopter gun ships, their Antonov airplanes, bombing villages and still mobilizing, arming and unleashing the Janjaweed militias," said Abdalla.

Sudan peace talks
The main sticking points in the DPA concern issues of wealth and power sharing. The Darfurians want economic autonomy, equitable representation and adequate compensation for victims and survivors.

"We calculated an amount of $800 million to be put in the compensation fund on account of resident population and villages destroyed. They [the Sudanese government] ended up putting $30 million in," said Abdalla, who was part of the power-sharing commission at the peace talks.

"Just as important as protecting innocent civilians and trying to reverse the humanitarian and security situation in Darfur, is addressing the key fundamental demands for the people of Darfur and trying to resolve the root causes of the conflict," he said.

Peace efforts are becoming more challenging due to the splintering of the rebel groups: two out of the three have refused to sign the treatise.

"We do not refuse negations, but how can we negotiate with someone who [is] committing genocide against our people," asked Abd-al-Wahid Muhammad Nur, a leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement in a recent interview with the BBC.

The Khartoum government is currently implementing a separate peace accord with its southern region, also under UN supervision.

World needs to act
In addition to supporting the peace talks and taking the issue to the UN, the international community provides billions of dollars for humanitarian aid to Sudan. Canada alone has provided assistance of approximately half a billion dollars.

Abdalla credits this achievement in part to the work done by advocacy groups and CJC in particular."

I take some measure of satisfaction in that the media in Sudan and the leadership of Sudan points the finger at the Jewish communities of Canada and the United States as being behind the advocacy efforts," said Weintraub, chairperson of CJC, Pacific Region, and of the national Darfur committee of the CJC. "That tells me that we have made some progress."

The North American Jewish community has made it a priority to advance awareness of the situation in Darfur and attempt to bring a peaceful end to what many refer to as a genocide.

"The reasons for that are obvious - we are a people living under the shadow of our own genocide. We are the people who have demanded from the world a commitment to the formula 'Never again,'" explained Weintraub. "All aspects and dimensions of the Jewish community have always been supportive because it was intuitively understood that if we remained silent here, we were really abdicating our principles as a people."

The main thrust of the advocacy effort surrounds the notion of individual responsibility to action, said Weintraub.

"We have tried to communicate throughout that, if grassroots movements [and] ordinary individuals can have an impact on one crisis, then that gives us optimism for working together as a world community for all of the other tremendous problems that face us," he added. "If we can get one success under our belt in terms of shifting world opinion and intervention, then that will give us confidence to go to deal with the next."

The Darfur crisis has already expanded to neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic, with the Janjaweed raiders attacking villages in these countries. According to Abdalla, if something is not done, the whole region may go into a situation that the international community will be unable to maintain.

"There is much more to be done, and what we have to do is communicate, not only to our Jewish community, which has been quite solid on this, but to other communities, that we need to continue to put the pressure on," said Weintraub. "The media and political leadership have a short attention span. Darfur is no longer on the radar screen because, in some sense, we have been successful in institutionalizing the pressure through the peace talks.

"We are hoping that, in this final stage, the media, political leaders and educators will pay attention again."

Ron Friedman is a reserve officer in the Israel Defence Forces and a student in the master's program in journalism at the University of British Columbia.

For more information on Darfur

darfurwall.org

www.csfdarfur.net/home/index.php

www.darfurassociation.ca

www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8821.doc.htm