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

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

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

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

GLOBAL NEWS SERVICE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE

BREAKING NEWS

VANDALS ATTACK HILLEL HOUSE
November 10, 2006

Vandals threw rocks and shattered windows at Hillel House at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Mark Weintraub, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress’ Pacific region, noted that the vandalism occurred earlier this week during Holocaust Awareness Week, a coincidence that “further highlights the heinous nature of this crime.”

“This week is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, when the Nazis began their attacks on German Jews in 1938,” Weintraub said. “Clearly, there are still lessons to be learned.”

http://www.jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=5530&ref=daily_briefing

Terry Glavin's blog: Mark Weintraub on Darfur and Fake Progressives

Terry Glavin

Chronicles & Dissent

Thursday, October 5, 2006

Mark Weintraub on Darfur and Fake Progressives

I hope at least some of the readers of Chronicles and its weblog will have taken the advice of StandNow about what we might do today in aid of the people of Darfur (explained here). If you prefer stylish indifference, this guy will make you feel better about yourself.

But following upon what I wrote here, Mark Weintraub of the Canadian Jewish Congress writes something in today's Georgia Straight that I think warrants some close attention. So I'm reprinting the letter here, with links:

Last week’s article by Terry Glavin “Left is strangely silent on tragedy in Darfur” [Sept. 28–Oct. 5] reveals the hypocrisy and moral corruption of a group of extremists who call themselves progressive. It is disheartening that individuals or groups have decided to ignore a three-year genocide in Darfur simply because the Jewish community is a strong advocate, among many others, for innocent Darfurian victims of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

It should be noted that many organizations and individuals within the left and progressive communities have been partners with the Canadian Jewish Congress on Darfur-related advocacy, including many NDP MPs and MLAs and B.C. labour unions who have worked to convince our government to take a leadership role in ending the suffering in Darfur.

Tragically, these groups of extremists are using the genocide in Darfur as part of their political efforts to advance an anti-Israel agenda. Clearly, the two issues have no relationship whatsoever.

Canadian Students for Darfur—a group that works in coalition with the CJC to raise public awareness about the genocide—has been named a “sellout” by these extremists for its work with the Jewish community on this issue. Such name-calling and intimidation against groups working together with the Jewish community to end the crisis expose these extremists for who they really are. We have to look long and hard at any group that would stand in the way of this effective and collaborative work.

That the groups refer to themselves as “antiwar” and peace-building organizations makes a mockery of anything with which they are associated. Over the past three years, more than 300,000 people have died, hundreds of thousands more have been injured, untold numbers have been raped, and entire villages have been destroyed in Darfur, creating millions of refugees. Yet these so-called antiwar groups would rather ignore this genocide than work with Canadian Jews.

Sadly, in their attempt to avoid working with Jewish advocacy organizations, these groups not only expose their disdain toward the Jewish community but they add to the needless suffering of innocent civilians in Darfur who desperately need all the help they can get from progressive and fair-minded people everywhere, regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or politics.

Until our government hears from all of us with one loud and clear voice, we will have failed in our responsibilities as both Canadians and world citizens. Canada must continue to advocate powerfully for what could be a resolution to monumental crisis in Darfur.

posted by Transmontanus at 2:54 PM
6 Comments:
Scout said...
it's all getting so convoluted....groups mistrusting jews and americans, americans and jews mistrusting groups. the political hangovers of iraq and lebanon/isreal don't seem to be inviting any 'hair of the dog'. it's difficult to know motiviation behind anything anymore.....war has become a private enterprise game with too many benefitting financially, and the reasons for any intervention does raise questions.....we have been betrayed as a natiion and continent. does this not warrant mistrust as a natural outcome?hurling names back and forth to 'blame' isn't really taking the higher road, it only perpetuates the type of mentality that provokes war......it's an easy trap and i can't say i never fall into it. we're faced now with 'picking and choosing' where daddy warbucks places his dollars, a strange position to be in. one dare not answer the phone without screening calls in fear of yet another solicitation for yet another natural disaster or strife-torn country. interesing that weintraub says the left helps, but points the fingers at the extremists. perhaps that answers you questions on 'where's the left on dafure'?at any rate, i vowed to myself to do prayers for dafur today and am about to commence.
11:01 PM
Stephen said...
I think I agree with Scout, if I read him/her correctly. Everyone has an agenda. Some people on the left are averse to Darfur because of the support of the CJC. Conversely, the CJC... well, kudos to them for supporting Darfur intervention, but do they really have to use it as an opportunity to bash the left, which of course it loathes because the mainstream left opposes Israeli government misdeeds.Everybody has an agenda. Meanwhile, the people of Darfur continue to suffer and die.So, I have to say, the letter from CJC does not impress me at all.
12:41 AM
Dirk Buchholz said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
10:51 PM
tglavin said...
I deleted the last comment, not because it was anti-Semitic, but because it was exceedingly vicious and skirted close to a libel against the Canadian Jewish Congress. There'll be no more of that here. Nothing even close.
5:40 PM
Memphis Belle said...
Hi Terry -- I'm not sure what to make of this one. Have you seen: http://ww4report.com/node/2582I'd be interested to know what you think. Thanks for your work.
1:11 AM
tglavin said...
Hi Memphis Belle:Indeed I did see it. A thorough survey, you might say, but I'm not sure how helpful all this is, when the more important matter of giving force and effect to the UN resolution is at hand. There's a lot of connect-a-dot stuff in the piece, which will please the conspiracists and anti-Semites. I suppose one might enumerate each and every Jew who is queazy about a UN intervention, just to disprove the point, but after a while it all gets so silly. . .My guess is that open-minded and intelligent readers of the essay will come away more or less with Jen Marlowe's point, at the end, even though her equation of Israeli and Sudanese "human rights abuses" is completely over the top.My take on the fact that some Zionists may somehow see strategic advantage as well as moral obligation on the question of Darfur is: So what? The Americans didn't join the fight against the Nazis until Pearl Harbour was bombed. By then, Canada and the Commonwealth allies had already been in the thick of the fighting for two years. If the Yanks saw both strategic necessity and moral obligation in joining the fight, so what? Where would we have been without them?If indeed "Zionists" are inordinately represented in the cause for Darfur, then good for them, I say. They would deserve our gratitude, not our resentment.
7:20 PM

Taken From: http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2006/10/mark-weintraub-on-darfur-and-fake.html

Jewish Independent: Darfur still needs aid

September 22, 2006

Darfur still needs aid

Global day of action highlights ongoing trauma.

CASSANDRA SAVAGE

As roughly 200 participants huddled for warmth in the rain outside the Vancouver Art Gallery last Sunday, a speaker at the Global Day of Action for Darfur noted that Darfuri refugees in Chad and displaced people across Sudan endure much worse conditions on a regular basis, without the possibility of heading home to get warm at the end of the day.

Framed most often as a humanitarian crisis, the situation in Darfur, Sudan, has warranted only an occasional blip on the media screen over the past three years. Since 2003, Janjaweed forces (armed fighters claiming Arab descent) supported by the Sudanese government, have exerted brutal control over the Darfuri people and tortured them at will.

Although statistics vary, a 2005 report by the Coalition for International Justice estimates that 400,000 people have died in the conflict. In addition, thousands more have died from starvation, disease and fighting within refugee camps and thousands of women and girls have been systematically raped. The numbers increase daily.

The Global Day for Darfur was a gathering of people around the world to show support for the Darfuri people and encourage governments to take action. In Vancouver, participants were encouraged to put pressure on the Canadian government by sending letters and postcards to Prime Minister Stephen Harper – calling for Canada to uphold its promise that human slaughter would never again be allowed to take place in today's world. At Toronto's gathering, which attracted thousands of people, Sen. Roméo Dallaire (force commander of the United Nations mission to Rwanda, made famous by the film Hotel Rwanda and the 2004 documentary Shake Hands with the Devil) said the crisis in Darfur is indeed shaping up to become a case of history repeating itself.

As Stephen Schachter of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, noted, "Today is not about remembering the horrors of Darfur. Today is about political leadership and the will to end this suffering."

"Canadian Jewish Congress has been lobbying for action in Darfur for close to three years," said CJCPR chair Mark Weintraub after the event. "The genocide is not over. The numbers are increasing. As a community, we have a responsibility to ensure that Canadians do not ignore this issue. On Sunday, organizations and individuals across the country gathered to call on the government of Canada to not only recognize what is happening in Darfur, but to lead the international community with a sense of urgency to stop the killing, rape and displacement."

Representatives from Canadian Students for Darfur, who played a key role in organizing Vancouver's rally, noted that we are witnessing just the kind of tragedy that never should have happened again after close to a million people were slaughtered during the 1994 ethnic conflict in Rwanda.

"Activists and social justice organizations have been calling for an end to this crisis for far too long now," said Shamus Reid of the Canadian Federation of Students, "and so it is somewhat frustrated and with a heavy heart that I stand before you again today, urging the Canadian government to heed the call of the global community and of victims of violence, rape and murder in Darfur."

Don Wright, regional development co-ordinator of Amnesty International Canada's B.C./Yukon chapter, reported on Sunday that the government of Sudan refuses the deployment of UN peacekeepers into the region, while eyewitnesses claim that Janjaweed militia continues to dominate the region. "The Sudanese government has persistently failed in its duty to protect civilians in Darfur from gross and systematic human rights violations," claimed Wright. "That responsibility has now devolved to the international community."

Vancouver rapper Babaluku, who performed at the event, asked people to also think of the many positive things happening in Africa. People tend to think of Africa as a place of poverty and suffering, he said, when there are also millions of bright, healthy, motivated and talented individuals working toward change on the continent.

Babaluku, who was born in Uganda and immigrated to Canada at the age of 12, performed "I'm from Africa," an upbeat piece that had everyone's head bobbing. The message was one of hope, pride and encouragement for other African immigrants to stay proud of their heritage, acknowledge the good in what's happening on the African continent and use whatever talents they have to make a difference back home.

Cassandra Savage is an MA candidate in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University.

The Province: B.C. judge's partner hit with libel penalty of $250,000

By: Matthew Ramsey

B.C. judge's partner hit with libel penalty of $250,000: Lawyer asks court to overturn transfer of assets into the name of the Supreme Court judge

A man who lives with a B.C. Supreme Court judge is alleged to have transferred assets into her name while facing defamation proceedings in the U.S.

Justice Mary Marvyn Koenigsberg lives in a west-side Vancouver house with Lubomyr Prytulak, a self-described "educational consultant" whose writings were the subject of a Canadian Human Rights Commission investigation into a hate-speech complaint.

In a writ of summons filed in B.C. Supreme Court but not yet formally served on the couple, attorney Gary Kurtz of Los Angeles alleges Prytulak's conveyance of his interest in the $903,000 home to Koenigsberg in 2004 should be declared void so Prytulak can pay the U.S. defamation judgment, now more than $250,000 US.

A court action on the allegation, in which Koenigsberg is named as a co-defendant, is pending.

Kurtz has filed a certificate of pending litigation against the property, essentially freezing it until the issue is resolved.

In the meantime, Kurtz is expected to be in a Vancouver courtroom Monday to argue that the Los Angeles Superior Court judgment against Prytulak stands in B.C. because of reciprocal enforcement legislation between the province and the State of California.

Kurtz successfully sued Prytulak in 2004 after Prytulak, the writer behind the ukar.org website, sent a series of defamatory letters to California judges, lawyers and legal organizations.

Reached at his Los Angeles office, Kurtz told The Province Koenigsberg's relationship with Prytulak and her position with the court could be of concern to British Columbians.

Kurtz said he anticipated that the people of B.C. could be distressed to see the connection between a B.C. Supreme Court justice and a person who has created, maintained and updated a website that resulted in a hate-speech complaint.

Steve Rambam, a U.S.-based investigator who has unearthed Nazi war criminals, has also squared off against Prytulak in a separate defamation case. Represented by Kurtz, Rambam won the case but the ruling was thrown out on appeal due to jurisdictional concerns. Prytulak began sending his letters defaming Kurtz during the Rambam case.

Rambam says he is "extremely concerned" about what may happen in the court tomorrow, though he has faith in the Canadian judicial system.

Prytulak's website (which is no longer online) was investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2003 on the basis of a Canadian Jewish Congress complaint. Prytulak launched the site in 1994 in response to a CBS 60 Minutes report that outlined anti-Semitism in the Ukraine, his birthplace. A CJC investigation in 2005 requested that Prytulak respond to concerns that the site engaged in Holocaust denial, promoted anti-Semitism and was likely to expose Jews to hate. The CJC and Prytulak settled before the file made it to the tribunal stage. CJC Pacific Region chair Mark Weintraub declined to comment this week on the latest allegations.

In April of this year on an online discussion forum called the "Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust," a segment of an e-mail Prytulak wrote to Paul Fromm was posted explaining the removal of ukar.org from the Internet. Fromm is a far-right politician and former schoolteacher who founded the Canadian Association for Free Expression, an organization active in the defence of Holocaust deniers.

In the e-mail, Prytulak insisted the website removal was the result of a "non-aggression pact" reached between himself and the Jewish Congress.

"I decided that 10 years on the front lines, without pay, had brought me to the limit of my contribution to writing on Ukrainian issues," he wrote. "As the objected-to materials constitute only a small proportion of UKAR . . . I am free to leave most of it up, but decided to remove the entire site so as to leave me unencumbered and undistracted to pursue other interests, mainly education and scientific method."

Prytulak answered the door of his home yesterday, but declined to comment.

"I won't be answering any questions," he said.

Rambam said he would like to purchase Prytulak's website and use it to post information about Ukrainian war criminals.

Prytulak's brief biography states he received a BA in experimental psychology from the University of Toronto in 1966, a PhD from Stanford in 1969 and worked as an assistant and associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of Western Ontario from 1969 until his retirement in 1980.

Koenigsberg was called to the bar in Ontario in 1976 and in B.C. in 1981. She represented the attorney-general of Canada in the high-profile native-rights Delgamuukw case in 1991 before she was appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court in 1992. In recent years, Koenigsberg dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought against broadcaster Rafe Mair but her ruling was overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal. Koenigsberg came under fire in 2001 over her decision to release an alleged terrorist on bail.

Speaking in 2005 about Koenigsberg's ruling that the legal-services tax was unconstitutional as it pertained to low-income people, Attorney-General Wally Oppal, a B.C. Court of Appeal justice at the time, said he had the "highest respect" for the judge, referring to her as a "stellar jurist, well-experienced in the law."

Oppal declined comment yesterday, saying it would be inappropriate as the case is now before the courts.

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=1840

Vancouver Sun: Op-eds

An exclusive forum, an intolerant forum: 'World peace' gathering didn't want to hear other voices

By: Mark Weintraub and Michael Elterman

This week marks a disappointing milestone for the principles of pluralism, inclusion and participatory democracy.

As the World Peace Forum draws to a conclusion, regardless of what the organizers may claim, it is evident for those who believe in balance and openness that the event has not met the mark.

Instead of serving as a true forum for ideas, engagement and identifying shared values -- everything that such a forum ought to be -- this initiative determinedly excluded those who bring a different perspective to the table.

The organized Jewish community was one of those groups excluded from the proceedings, notwithstanding our best efforts over a period spanning more than a year to play a constructive and meaningful role.

For the record, our concern is specifically directed to the WPF board and directors and the Middle East Working Group. We applaud the hundreds of participants who engaged in activities and open discussions that aimed at promoting world peace. Indeed, many Jewish community members were active participants. However, those principals did not apply on the subject of the Middle East.

In essence, as Paul Tetrault, chair of the WPF Mideast Working Group, explained to the WPF executive in a letter written on behalf of his committee, our participation in the event would show "bad faith" to the other participants. The rationale for the call to exclude our organizations was our support for Israel. In further elaboration, Tetrault confessed that when it called for open participation, the WPF's Middle East Working Group did so "without the least expectation that the [organized Jewish community] would be a participating group in the forum." The arrogance of that attitude, shared by others around the WPF executive, is matched only by its hypocrisy.

Recognizing the potential maelstrom its Middle East subcommittee created, the WPF executive half-heartedly sought to resolve the situation. Our organizations were told "Take an 'oath of allegiance to the principles of the WPF' and we will support a parallel program or workshop in which you can participate."

Effectively, their solution amounted to blatant discrimination.

To our knowledge, not a single other prospective participant organization or individual was asked, let alone required, to swear fealty to a resolution.

The irony is that for the better part of a year we worked to organize and sponsor a series of programs and workshops at the WPF that spoke directly to interfaith dialogue and relationship building between Palestinians and Israelis.

Examples included potential workshops focusing on grassroots initiatives to build understanding and mutual respect, and the role of women and education in peace. Yet in the eyes of the "progressive" organizers, we were tainted because of our support for Israel. Although they professed that the content of our proposals was excellent, we could not be included in the conference program because of who we are.

Well, we don't apologize for our support for the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and the repatriation of a displaced indigenous people to their ancestral homeland after 2,000 years of exile. Indeed, the organizers of the WPF would have done well to take a lesson from the Jewish state.

In Israel, Jews and Arabs sit together in parliament -- in many cases as colleagues in the same political party. In Israel, Jews and Arabs sit together on the supreme court -- as colleagues and equals. In Israel, Jews and Arabs lie in adjoining hospital beds as they heal from the wounds of terrorist attacks.

Throughout this experience, we have held to the "high road," earnestly trying to find space for the contribution we felt we could offer to the discussion.

Each rebuff by the WPF was answered with another attempt to demonstrate our goodwill. However, prejudice is simply not responsive to reason, discrimination is unreceptive to inclusion.

For us in particular, our profound disappointment is threefold.

First, we truly believed we had a legitimate contribution to offer -- on interfaith dialogue toward peace in the Middle East as well as the dozens of conflicts raging in places like the Congo and Sudan.

Second, we truly believed others could benefit from hearing our perspective and discovering that we share more in common than they might otherwise think, and they were denied that opportunity.

And finally, we grieve that the best efforts of some noble individuals associated with the World Peace Forum, like the Reverend Dr. Barry Cooke, Executive Director of the BC Multifaith Action Society and WPF board member, who tried valiantly to work within the leadership of the WPF to shift their internal process to a positive and inclusive approach, but fell on deaf ears.

We, however, will not give up. We will look for partners across the entire political spectrum with whom we can collaborate in building momentum for peace.

We will search for voices that share our dream of a safe Israel living in peace alongside her neighbours. We will seek out those forums where all are welcome to contribute to the call for peace.

Mark Weintraub is chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region; Dr. Michael Elterman is the chair of the Canada-Israel Committee, Pacific Region.

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=oped&Rec=174

Jewish Independent: Discrimination kills

Oct. 6, 2006

Discrimination kills

Editorial

Discrimination and prejudice harm in unintended and multitudinous ways. The intended objects of prejudice are rarely its only victims. The perpetrators are also victimized in complex and unique psychological manners and sometimes, completely unrelated people suffer, too.

Schoolkids, regardless of their sexual orientation, are routinely victims of homophobia, for example. A Surrey high school student, Hamed Nastoh, was driven to suicide in 2000 by incessant homophobic bullying. His parents insisted he wasn't gay – not that that should matter – but he was a victim of homophobia nonetheless. How many countless anonymous victims have suffered similarly – even if the outcome was less violent?

Prejudice, it is often noted, victimizes the perpetrator, too. The psychological impact of hate and discrimination is a complex affair, but carrying a burden of intolerance is not healthy.

On a global scale, discrimination manifests itself in perverse ways, such as in the aftermath of a massive earthquake in Bam, Iran, in 2003. More than 43,000 people were killed in the Richter 6.6 quake, an estimated 30,000 were injured and as many as 75,000 made homeless, according to official estimates. But when Israel, by necessity and experience a regional and world leader in the management of disaster and mass trauma, offered assistance, it was rejected. The fanatics who run Iran preferred to watch their own citizens die than accept assistance from the despised Zionist entity. Hate kills in unintended ways.

Now, in an allegation as disturbing as the Iranian rejection, Vancouver's Georgia Straight newspaper reports that the involvement of Canadian Jews in the movement to prevent a broader genocide in Darfur, Sudan, could be preventing more involvement in the issue by "progressive" and left-wing Canadians.

"Sadly, after two years, I don't see a lot of movement," Clement Apaak, head of Canadian Students for Darfur, told Straight writer Terry Glavin. "I consider myself centre-left and I have been very active and vocal on a lot of issues, but I have to admit I have been very disappointed about the blatant silence of the left on this issue."

Already, as many as 400,000 Darfurians have died and millions more live a precarious existence at the whim of the Sudanese government-backed Janjaweed militias.

It has not gone unnoticed that the regular suspects who appear at many or most rallies for social justice issues and other good causes around the Vancouver area have been largely absent from the various events in support of the people of Darfur. While a rally against Israel's "apartheid wall" or against the various "imperialist" wars and American foreign policy can instantly mobilize passionate crowds of young and old activists, the Darfur issue has failed to catch fire among many in this segment.

Why? There are several possibilities Glavin elucidates in last week's article. Mohamed Haroun, the president of the Darfur Association of Canada, has said that too many Muslims "do not consider us African Muslims as equals."

But there is another possibility, carefully alluded to by Apaak and Glavin: Jewish Canadians have been central to the Darfurian cause here in Canada.

While Glavin characterizes this as an "irrational suspicion," the fact is that Jewish leaders, beginning with Canadian Jewish Congress's Pacific Region chair, Mark Weintraub, and expanding out into a national mobilization, have been motivated by the lessons of Jewish history to refuse to stand silent while a people is threatened with genocidal aggression. In fact, the tiny Darfurian community in Canada has been aided greatly in their efforts to bring attention to the crisis by Canadian Jews, including Holocaust survivors like Vancouver's Robbie Waisman and by members of the second and third generation.

In large part because of this Jewish activism, Darfur became a Canadian issue and, in turn, Canada became a leading voice in a world still far too unconcerned about the fate of Darfurians. Little thanks to the "social justice" activists who set the agenda of the Canadian left.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/Oct06/archives06Oct06-17.html

Globe and Mail: Air tycoon flies medicine into Darfur

By: Colin Freeze

Air tycoon flies medicine into Darfur
Libyan-born businessman says people should not wait for governments to act.

A plane carrying valuable medicine left Amsterdam yesterday en route to the refugee camps of Darfur. While the shipment is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Canadian philanthropist who sent it says it amounts to only one drop of compassion in a desert of despair.

"What the news says is happening [in Darfur] is exactly what is happening, sometimes a little bit worse," said Walter Arbib, president of Toronto-based SkyLink Aviation. "People are using different terms, but what I have to say is there's a need to give help."

The immigrant tycoon said he is acting because people shouldn't wait for governments and relief agencies to sort out humanitarian problems. And people close to Mr. Arbib are urging other Canadians to follow his lead and do what they can.

"Individuals can make a powerful difference," said Mark Weintraub, who, like Mr. Arbib, is a member of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Mindful of the terrible lessons of the Holocaust, the group has been lobbying to make Darfur an urgent issue. "We say to all Canadians, dig deep, your individual contribution can make a difference and save lives," Mr. Weintraub said.

Conflict in Sudan's war-torn Darfur provinces has killed at least 200,000 people -- and displaced 10 times as many survivors. While the international community is struggling to help refugees, basic needs are still not being met.

With some help from friends in Jewish groups and international humanitarian agencies, Mr. Arbib has arranged for the shipment of more than $400,000 (U.S.) worth of medicines now on the way to Sudan. The drugs -- which include antibiotics, deworming medicine and penicillin --are expected to arrive in Darfur by next week.

Mr. Arbib, a Jew who fled violence in his homeland of Libya, started a highly successful company after he immigrated to Canada. Privately held SkyLink holds aviation-related contracts around the world. They include business interests in Sudan, such as a contract to provide Canadian-funded helicopters to African Union peacekeepers.

With a head for business and a heart for philanthropy, Mr. Arbib has sent previous shipments of medicine to Darfur, and to disaster zones in Pakistan, Indonesia, Iraq and Sri Lanka.

The Canadian Jewish Congress lent logistical support to the shipment of medicines. A U.S.-based organization called Counterpart International is taking the lead in making sure it gets to the refugee camps.

The aid group often works closely with Mr. Arbib.

"Whenever we're in trouble, Walter's my first call," said president Lelei LeLaulu. He added there are many advantages in working with a tycoon -- including the fact that SkyLink operates airports in Sudan.

The situation in Darfur is "dreadful" he said. "They need everything. They need more and more. It's pretty desperate."

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=issues&item=160

CJC News Release: CJC works with Skylink to deliver medical supplies to Darfur

May 26, 2006 - CJC works with Skylink to deliver medical supplies to Darfur

TORONTO – Following Canada’s recent $40 million aid commitment to Darfur, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has facilitated a private shipment of $430,000 worth of medical supplies to the Darfur region of Sudan which were donated by Walter Arbib, President of Canada’s Skylink Group of Companies and a CJC lay leader, in partnership with Counterpart International and Medicines for Humanity.

The shipment is expected to arrive in Khartoum by May 29. International Medical Corporation (IMC), a non-governmental humanitarian organization providing aid in Darfur, will meet the shipment and distribute the supplies as needed in the region.

“As citizens of the world, Canadians have a moral obligation to help stop the tragedies unfolding around them,” said CJC National President Ed Morgan. “CJC has long worked to bring attention to the needs of the people suffering in Darfur – Walter Arbib has answered that call,” he said.

“I am proud to do what I can to help,” said Arbib. “The legacy of the Holocaust is a constant reminder to me, as a Jew, that we must protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

“We welcome Canada’s latest aid commitment to Darfur, but we recognize more needs to be done. We hope this altruistic gesture by a private Canadian citizen will be replicated by others,” added CJC National Darfur Committee Chair Mark Weintraub. “We are also grateful to the American Jewish World Service for its assistance in connecting CJC with IMC to ensure delivery of the medical supplies to those who need it most,” he said.

Since 2003, millions of Darfurians have been forced from their homes and hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have been tortured, raped or slaughtered by the Janjaweed militia in Sudan.

-30-

Contacter:

Stephen Adler
Director of Public Policy, Ontario Region
Canadian Jewish Congress
416-635-2883 ext. 175 (office)
416-728-6376 (cell)
sadler@on.cjc.ca
www.cjc.ca

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=803

Jewish Independent: Sacred memories are shared

May 5, 2006

Sacred memories are shared
About 90 survivors honored by B.C. as Yom Hashoah is marked.

PAT JOHNSON

In a moving and momentous ceremony of remembrance, Premier Gordon Campbell greeted almost 100 survivors of the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, last week.

The annual ceremony at the legislature April 25 saw two busloads of survivors from Vancouver joining survivors from Vancouver Island in a ceremony of remembrance and a commitment to never forget.

"It's a very important day for British Columbia and it is an important day for Canadians," said Campbell in welcoming the guests. "We remember the most unbearable losses that millions faced. Six million lives stolen from the world. Six million lights extinguished by the darkest of shadows. Six million hearts and minds and souls filled with light, laughter and love. So filled with ideas, passions and dreams and then denied the most basic of human rights and, ultimately, the fundamental right to live. So many faces, so many children, so many families who now only live in faded black and white photographs ... and in the memories of the survivors we are so honored to welcome here today."

The premier promised the survivors that Canada would not forget.

"It is critical for them to know that those memories will carry on," Campbell said. "Their stories will not be forgotten.... We cannot escape its legacy and, indeed, we must not try. It is our shared duty, our shared responsibility and our shared desire to remember."

Wally Oppal, the attorney general and minister responsible for multiculturalism, emceed the noon-hour event."

It's a day to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children killed by the Nazis," Oppal said. "Holocaust Memorial Day is also a day to remember the more than five million people who died during the same time because of their physical or mental disabilities, race, religion or sexual orientation."

Survivors were called forward to light six candles representing the six million.

Rita Akselrod, president of the Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society, spoke on behalf of survivors.

"The Holocaust deprived me of my childhood," she said. "The world was indifferent and uncaring."

She said she was heartened by the show of solidarity made by legislators.

"As a survivor, I can tell you that one of our greatest concerns is that the Holocaust may be forgotten," she said. "This event offers an important opportunity to ensure remembrance and help us to reflect on the moral responsibility of individuals as well as communities and governments."

Mark Weintraub, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, which helped organize the event, said the lessons of the Holocaust remain profoundly relevant.

"How is it possible for so many to refuse to see the humanity of their neighbors?" asked Weintraub, whose organization had distributed green ribbons to remind people of the current humanitarian disaster in Darfur, Sudan. "A 2,000-year teaching of contempt laid the fertile soil for the Nazi pathology, which began with the most vile hate speech. As our own Supreme Court of Canada opined, 'the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers. It began with words.' "

The "Final Solution," Weintraub said, was the culmination of a longer process of dehumanization that "incubated in one of the best educated, the most modern and the most technically competent of all nations. Every aspect of German and other societies were complicit, including the legal and medical professions, business and academia, the military and civil service."

Richard Kool, president of the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education Society, raised the profound question of life after the Holocaust.

"Our parents were not meant to live," he said. "We were not meant to exist. How did those of the second generation, children of Holocaust survivors, how do we live with the grief in our past? The question, of course, is what do we do in the post-Shoah world? How do we live in the post-Shoah world?"

Isa Millman, another member of the second generation, told the hushed audience that she has always dreaded the inevitable day when the actual survivors and witnesses are so few that those who came just after the scene must maintain the memory.

"But this is how history continues and, for Jews, it is how we have handed down our history, from parent to child throughout all the generations of our being a people," she said.

Millman spoke of growing up in the shadow of the Shoah.

"Here's what I knew: we were alive by the skin of our teeth," she said. "We lived in a foreign land. We spoke a dying language. We were very much alone. I asked my parents, what was a bubbe, a zayde, a grandmother, a grandfather, because I had none. Now, I am a grandmother, a grandmother who has no choice but to want to speak about my lost family, those who were forbidden to leave a trace. For this fleeting moment, I restore them to life by speaking their names. Who else will remember them? And they are in the minutest fraction of the sum of everyone murdered and they are my Holocaust."

Peter Gary, a survivor who lives on Vancouver Island, was the keynote speaker at the first Yom Hashoah held at the legislature. He was moved by this year's ceremony.

"It was very, very beautifully done," he said. "Everyone was speaking from the heart. It doesn't get any easier when you're 82 years old. But it has to be done, because that lousy four-letter word 'hate' is still ruling our little shaky planet."

Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest, www.mvox.ca.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/May06/archives06May05-05.html