Vancouver Sun: Two sides, imprisoned by their own histories

By: Gerry Bellett
Two sides, imprisoned by their own histories

As the rockets fly and the bombs fall and casualties on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border rise by the day -- the vast majority so far being Lebanese -- the repercussions are being felt as far away as the Lower Mainland, which is home to large Jewish and Arab populations.

There are an estimated 40,000 Jews in the Lower Mainland and 20,000 Arabs, of whom 8,000 are from Lebanon.

Neither side gives much recognition to the other's point of view.

To the Jewish community, Hezbollah, the Muslim organization now under attack by Israeli forces, is a terrorist organization that needs to be eradicated. To the Lebanese they are freedom fighters who drove the Israelis out of Lebanon.

To the Lebanese, the deaths of more than 300 civilians is an atrocity and Israel is guilty of war crimes. To the Jews, it's a restrained conflict, not a war, and care is being taken to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.

To the Lebanese the conflict was started by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in an attempt to force Israel to release Lebanese being held since the Israeli occupation ended. To the Jews it was the months of bombardment of civilian areas by Hezbollah rockets from south Lebanon, with the kidnapping of the soldiers being the final straw.

And on it goes, the great divide in perception and attitude.

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Mousaa Noureddine, whose wife and four children are trapped in the fighting in southern Lebanon, suffers the agony of waiting by the phone in his Burnaby home for a call telling him they are safe.

Noureddine, 42, runs a construction company and sent his family on vacation to his homeland a few weeks ago.

He is a member of the Lebanese Canadian Cultural House based in Burnaby. He was born in a small village in south Lebanon called Ghassnieh and his family were on holiday there staying at the home of his sister.

On the very day his wife left the children behind and travelled to Beirut, the Israelis struck.

With her children in the middle of an area being attacked and all communication cut between Beirut and the south, she was unable to get back, said Noureddine who came to Canada in 1990.

"The other day she almost broke down. She is desperate to get to them, but it's impossible. All the power is out, all the bridges are broken. They are attacking cars on the road.

"The Canadian embassy has said they'll evacuate her, but she's not going without the kids. But I don't know how they will get them out. It's too dangerous to go down there," he said.

Noureddine has three daughters, Israa, 12, Kouther, 10, Kadijah, 8, and a son Ali, 18 months. When talking to his children on the phone, he heard the sounds of explosions in the background.

"I talk to them every day. Sometimes they are crying and I tell them all we can do is wait. We can do nothing for them. When the planes attack they go out into the fields because they are targeting the houses," Noureddine said.

Attached by fear to his telephone, Noureddine said he has to force himself to think rationally.

"Perhaps soon they will cease attacking and we can get the kids out. Right now, I don't think anyone from the embassy will be able to reach them," he said.

His feelings towards Israel are implacable. He will be attending a demonstration against the war to be held today on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery and has been asked to speak.

"People hear about the attacks on Lebanon and after a couple of days they turn it off because they feel nothing can be done. But we live beside an outlaw state.

"Israel has got all the weapons you can imagine and they want us just to surrender. They want a peace on their terms. . . .

"If they want to go after Hezbollah, go ahead and attack them, but why target bridges, the airport, gas stations, houses -- everything that people need in the south to live?"

But he has no bitterness for the Jewish people. He has a Jewish friend who called him a few days ago offering sympathy.

"He was very emotional. All I'm getting from people is support. Even if it was from Jewish people I would appreciate it. It's a tragedy for all of us."

Rafeh Hulays, a fellow Lebanese and a member of the Canadian Arab Federation, agrees. "I count lots of Jews as friends, but enough is enough," Hulays said "There are Jews in Canada who support Arab rights, but they are being brainwashed by Jewish organizations to believe that their rights are worth more than other people's."

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There is almost nothing in the above that Michael Elterman, a forensic psychologist and chair of the Canada-Israel Committee, Pacific Region, would agree with. Neither would lawyer Mark Weintraub, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region.

The Canada-Israel Committee is generally regarded as supportive of the Israeli government line, while the Congress concerns itself with issues such as anti-Semitism and racism and has cross-cultural relations with other ethnic groups in Canada, including Muslim organizations.

Elterman believes the overall feeling among Jews in Canada is much the same as those in Israel.

"I think there's complete solidarity on the right and left in terms of Israel's response to what is happening in Lebanon. Unless you go to the extreme left wing of the Jewish community you will not be hearing a lot of dissent or controversy about Israel's right to defend itself," he said.

He said the kidnapping of the two soldiers followed months of bombardment by rockets launched from areas from which Israel had withdrawn.

"We left Gaza and we got rockets. We left Lebanon and we got rockets. I sense some anxiety in Israel, because the rockets are getting farther south, and there is concern they will eventually be able to hit a major site like Tel Aviv.

"There is a strong feeling that Hezbollah has to be pushed further north and the Lebanese army has to take charge of the southern area," he said.

Elterman said he deplored the damage being done and the number of civilian casualties, but moderate Middle East states appeared to agree that "Israel was doing the right thing in getting Hezbollah out of Lebanon."

"There is also a feeling in the region that the disintegration of Hezbollah will give Iran a black eye and that's not a bad thing," Elterman said.

Given the provocations on the Lebanese border, Israel had been extremely patient, he said.

"They've put up for years with rocket attacks. Once the soldiers were kidnapped, that was the last straw. We had to go in and do something about it once and for all."

As for criticism that Israel's response has been disproportionate, Elterman said it isn't.

The problem with Hezbollah could have been settled quickly if the powerful Israeli army had been sent in right away, he said.

"The population of northern Israel have been living with the threat of having a private army within kilometres of their homes lobbing rockets at them, threatening them -- that's the part the rest of the world hasn't seen," he said.

"It's tragic that civilians have been killed, but Hezbollah intentionally places rockets in civilian areas and puts military equipment in private homes in Lebanon," Elterman said.

When he visited the Beth Israel Synagogue this week, Weintraub prayed for the souls of all who had been killed in the fighting -- Lebanese and Israeli.

"I think it's important that people understand that when the Jewish communities gather in the synagogues, the prayer is a prayer for peace and condolence to all the families suffering by reason of this conflict. We pray for the loss of each precious soul, whether they are of Muslim birth, Jewish birth, or Christian birth.

"I know that might sound Pollyannaish or pro forma, but it's critical to convey what is the mood of the Jewish community," Weintraub said.

(Last week, the Canadian Jewish Congress sent a letter of condolence to the Lebanese community for the deaths of Canadian children killed in Lebanon.)

The Israelis make it clear that civilians are being urged to leave areas, he said.

"If there are civilian casualties it is always accompanied by an expression of remorse, which is different to the terrorist, who will say the civilian is my target," he said.

"Having said that, the loss of life, whether it's a result of war or as an intentional target, matters little to the families who have lost loved ones. There is nothing the Palestinians or Lebanese can say to the Israelis or the Israelis can say to them to give any kind of consolation, because any family who has had to endure such suffering cares little for the explanation," said Weintraub.

"In our hearts, we believe peace is possible. Despair is not an option. There are peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt and there was one with Lebanon, and if the provocateur states of Iran and Syria were brought to heel we would not see the arming of groups who have basically taken over Gaza and southern Lebanon," he said.

As for what this is doing to Jewish-Arab relations in Canada, Weintraub said it is important that whatever happens elsewhere, Canadians deal with such issues "through civil discourse, through listening to each other and not demonizing the other."

"Somehow, human beings are able to go deep inside themselves and carry on. In Canada we must have a way of dealing with these kinds of things and extend mutual support and empathy and solace to each other."

---

Had he been in Mona's -- the Lebanese restaurant at 1328 Hornby -- last Tuesday he would have found his reflections on the magnificence of the human spirit in a small incident that occurred between owner Mona Chaaban and a Jewish customer from the United States, visiting for the first time.

Since the attacks on Lebanon, Chaaban's restaurant has been the clearing house for information on Canadian Lebanese families caught up in the fighting.

She is clearly distraught and disgusted by the destruction of her homeland, but draws a distinction between the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

Her restaurant is popular with faculty and graduates from the University of Arizona, as she earned her degree there, and on Tuesday a group from the university came in for a meal.

"There was a new couple who were Jewish. The gentleman got out of his seat and walked up to me. He hugged me, and all he said was, 'I'm sorry, it isn't fair' and his tears were on my cheeks and my tears were on his."

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=1853

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

Jewish Independent: Community housing needed

May 5, 2006

VERONIKA STEWART

For low-income families looking for affordable housing in the internationally dubbed "best city in the world to live," the wait is a long one. On the bright side, however, there are those looking to help.

The Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) has recently started the Community Affordable Rental Program (CARP). The program asks "community-minded" property owners with residential rental units to offer one or more units below the regular market price.

Andrea Gillman, housing co-ordinator at the JFSA, said property owners are contacted on an individual basis.

"It's slow to start," Gillman said. She said some of the property owners she's spoken to have wanted to help. Others already contribute to the organization in other ways.

So far, the program has located affordable housing for one family, a single father and his son. Gillman said single-parent families make up the majority of people seeking affordable housing. She described the average family seeking help from the JFSA as, "A single, female parent paying $750 in rent, making her living expenses around $820, including utilities." This makes her cost of living higher than the amount she gets from income assistance, according to Gillman.

Gillman's statements are an echo of the 2001 Report on Jewish Poverty, which cited a 34 per cent rate of poverty among single mothers and a 14 per cent rate among single fathers, compared to a 9.2 per cent rate of poverty among two-parent families.

Gillman said single-parent families are a group that has been largely overlooked in the community when it comes to housing.

"What's out there is almost solely for seniors," Gillman said. "There is no community family housing at the moment."

Gillman attributed the trouble families have finding affordable housing partially to rising housing costs, as well as a variety of other factors.

"Rents aren't getting any cheaper," Gillman said. "Technically, you should pay no more than 30 per cent of your income towards housing." Gillman added that most clients pay well over that, some as much as 50 per cent.

Mark Weintraub, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, agreed about the importance of funding housing for the community.

"We think it's a very significant problem for the city as a whole and specifically for the Jewish community," Weintraub said. "There are a significant number of Jewish families waiting for affordable housing and, as a human rights organization, Congress is of the view that the dignity of each citizen must be enhanced and that has to start with proper accommodation."

Weintraub said that although it may seem as if the lack of affordable housing is worsening, there is no way to tell for sure because the plight of those with lower incomes has always been largely ignored.

"It would appear that in light of the attractiveness of Vancouver and the escalating real estate costs that the problem is intensifying, but the concerns of people in the lower socioeconomic levels have never really been of paramount concern," Weintraub said. "So it's hard to know how grave the problem is, compared to past years."

Weintraub said in order to keep a thriving Jewish population in Vancouver, there needs to be housing to accommodate them.

"One of the reasons that the Jewish community was advocating for the housing policy in Southeast False Creek was that it would permit the Jewish community to continue to see Vancouver as a central focus," Weintraub said, "and we consider that while there's a vibrant Jewish community in the Lower Mainland, we must continue to support a powerful Jewish presence in Vancouver proper."

Weintraub praised the JFSA's work in remedying the problem, despite a lack of resources.

"Anything that assists in this problem is of great utility," Weintraub said. "If it even assists one or two families, this is a mitzvah of the highest order."

One in seven people within the Jewish community lives in poverty, according to the JFSA. And more than 1,000 individuals and families are known to the JFSA to be without affordable housing.

Vancouver's CARP is based on a pilot project out of Toronto that's been up and running for a year now, with a total of 32 units provided to the Jewish community. According to Gillman, who worked on that project, residents of the units have reportedly felt less stress due to better housing conditions and reduced housing costs. Gillman said many have also become more involved in their communities, due to the fact that they were given an opportunity to live closer to synagogues, Jewish day schools and community centres.

In Vancouver, there are more than 10,000 households on the waiting list for the 47,000 social housing spots in the Lower Mainland, most of which are provided by the provincial government's housing program. More than half of them are families with children, according to Verna Semoltuk, senior regional planner at the Greater Vancouver Regional District policy and planning department. Additionally, there are close to 1,300 homeless people in the city of Vancouver alone, with another 55,000 families at risk of homelessness, according to 2001 data.

"There are actually a lot of consequences to paying that much, if you're a renter or a homeowner," Semoltuk said. "If you're paying more than 50 per cent of your income for rent, we know that you're taking away from your food and transportation money in order to pay for your rent, which obviously has social consequences."

Veronika Stewart is a Vancouver freelance writer.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/May06/archives06May05-06.html

Jewish Independent: Jews active for Darfur

May 5, 2006

PAT JOHNSON

Several dozen people, including many from the Jewish community, participated in a rally for action to save the people of Darfur Sunday.

The event, which took place at the Vancouver Art Gallery, was intended to raise awareness of the precarious state of the people of Darfur, a region in western Sudan where Sudanese-backed janjaweed militias are murdering, raping and threatening genocide. The event took place in conjunction with numerous such rallies around North America.

Mark Weintraub, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Reigon, and chair of the national Darfur committee of Congress, said Darfur is the worst humanitarian disaster confronting the world."

For a period of time, we were cautiously optimistic that perhaps the worst excesses would cease. But any basis for optimism has now been crushed," said Weintraub. "The deaths appear to have doubled in the last year and the Sudanese regime seems intent on carrying the conflict over to Chad and neighboring regimes.

"We are here today because we have all failed to do that which is necessary to give meaning to the post-Holocaust anti-genocidal cry for 'Never again,' " he said. "But at least we are here."

Rabbi Shmuel Birnham of West Vancouver's Har-El Synagogue spoke of the Jewish obligation to build a better world. Vancouver city councillor Tim Stevenson and Vancouver-Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry also addressed the small crowd.

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

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/May06/archives06May05-04.html

Canadian Jewish Congess: Letters in response to CJC's work on the Darfur Crisis

Below is a series of emails received by Bernie M. Farber, CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress, and Mark Weintraub, Chair of CJC’s National Darfur Committee, regarding CJC’s work to help the people of Darfur, Sudan.

Subject: Darfur: Thanks

Bernie:

I would like to thank CJC for taking such a strong stand on Darfur. If I can be of assistance please let me know.

Harvey Goldberg
Team Leader, Proactive Initiatives
Canadian Human Rights Commission

Ottawa

Subject: 12-year old's view of your speech last night at the JCC

Dear Mr. Farber,

Following the memorial ceremony (at the Ottawa Jewish Community Centre), my daughter told me that you are her “new hero”. I wanted you to know how deeply your words and the quality of your personal presence touched her.

For my part, I am determined that the next time I hear you speak, I will not hang my head in shame because I have personally done nothing to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur.

Shalom ve yasher koach,

Barbara
Ottawa

Subject: Darfur

Just a short note to congratulate the community for its leadership on this issue, which has been outstanding. The clear national stance that is being taken is simply tremendous.

Best wishes,

Bob

Hon. Bob Rae

Former Premier of Ontario and Federal Liberal Leadership Candidate

Subject: RE:DARFUR

I recently read an article in the Globe & Mail about the CJC’s lobbying Ottawa and the Prime Minister in support of Dafur and the situation in Sudan.

I would like to say as a black woman residing in the City of Toronto, that I am grateful to see your organization supporting the people of Sudan. I have always felt a strong connection to the Jewish community and I have a great deal of respect for the great work done by the CJC over the years.

I have written letters to the US government and other organizations in support of Darfur but, as I watched the situation worsened I wondered when Canada would do something. I think the CJC is an exemplary organization and I appreciate all of your good work.

Thanks,

CarolAnn

Toronto

Subject: Darfur

Mark,

I meant to send this much earlier today but events overtook me. Great front page in the Globe and perfect messaging. The community is positioned as concerned and committed without being adversarial.

Again, great job in the Globe piece. The Congress is making real progress and is showing real leadership.

Cheers, Brad

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=issues&item=132

Globe and Mail: Jewish groups rally for Darfur

By: Richard Blackwell and Jane Taber

TORONTO and OTTAWA -- For Mark Weintraub, it's no surprise that Jewish groups have been in the forefront of efforts to get international action to stop the killing in the Sudanese province of Darfur.

While Jews have always been disproportionately involved in social movements because of their concerns for justice, that's not the whole story, said Mr. Weintraub, chair of the National Darfur Committee at the Canadian Jewish Congress.

"There's no question that in this particular case -- after the shame of Rwanda -- that the possibility the world would sit silent for another possible genocide sent shock waves through some of us in the community," he said.

That was felt particularly strongly among Holocaust survivors, who "knew full well that the silence of the world condemned their relatives and friends to death."

The lobbying efforts of the Canadian Jewish Congress, along with the work of a number of politicians, culminated in last night's "take note" debate on Darfur.

Their efforts can be seen around the Hill, where MPs and senators are wearing green ribbons -- a symbol of the tragedy in Darfur.

The CJC initially ordered 1,500 ribbons, targeting MPs and senators and members of the British Columbia and Ontario Legislatures. It came up with the idea over Passover and had all of three days to make it happen -- designing and ordering the ribbons and calling officials from the four parties, asking them to give them out to their caucus members.

Yesterday, CJC chief executive officer Bernie Farber said he has placed an order for another 4,000.

"We're just being inundated with calls from people who want to wear green ribbons," Mr. Farber said.

"Canada in many respects is leading the way and the Canadian public has taken it to heart."

The CJC has been concerned about Sudan for years, Mr. Weintraub said. The focus on Darfur emanated from the Vancouver arm of the organization, after the community of Darfur nationals there approached the CJC a couple of years ago and asked that it use its advocacy skills on their behalf.

Around the same time a B.C. senator, Mobina Jaffer, was named as the Liberal government's special envoy to Darfur.

The CJC met with B.C. ministers in the federal government, and persuaded them to take the issue to the cabinet table in Ottawa.

While there appeared to be some progress last year as the carnage subsided, it soon became apparent that those advances were temporary. That prompted the CJC to beef up its efforts, encouraging rabbis to discuss Darfur during Passover, and boosting its lobbying in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, Jewish organizations in the United States set April 30 as the date for a major Darfur rally in Washington, providing a focal point for lobby groups, politicians, individuals, and now -- movie actors -- to get their message to others.

Having actor George Clooney and other Hollywood celebrities discover Darfur has been a huge benefit, Mr. Weintraub said.

"The people of Darfur have suffered from a lack of media attention and celebrities can create that media interest," he said. "We have been trying to penetrate the front pages of newspapers for a long time. Sometimes we were successful, [but] for the most part we were not.

"We wish there were a hundred other George Clooneys," he added.

At the same, a number of politicians have been championing the cause.

When the House of Commons returned after the election, the new government asked opposition parties for their debate priorities. Former finance minister Ralph Goodale, in his new role as Opposition House Leader, suggested a debate on Darfur.

"We were anxious to have a discussion about Darfur," he said. "... we were asked if we had suggestions for special subjects to be considered in special debates and we indicated that Darfur would be one of our priorities."

The debate was originally planned for last Tuesday -- Holocaust Remembrance Day -- but scheduling realities shifted it to last night.

At the same time, Liberal MP Keith Martin has put together a motion calling for Canada to present a resolution to the United Nations Security Council, calling for the UN to assemble and deploy a "peace-making force with a Chapter 7 mandate as soon as possible." (The Chapter 7 mandate allows soldiers to use force to protect civilians.)

Dr. Martin was able to submit his motion with the help of Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott and NDP MP Alexa McDonough. He said the Bloc Québécois was concerned with his motion because it used the word "genocide."

The government has put together its own motion calling for action on the Darfur situation. Dr. Martin, who has seen the government's motion, says it is a "hybrid" of the motion he has on the House of Commons order paper. It does not talk about genocide, but refers to "crimes against humanity," he said.

The government will not introduce its motion until the situation with the peace process becomes clearer over the next 48 hours, Dr. Martin said.

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=1752

Jewish Federation: The Ethics of Modern Jewish Life

By Bernice Miller
May 2006

Philosophers' Cafés at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver were held three times this past winter. Each café drew a large and enthusiastic audience of 50 to 80 participants. Dr. Laura Duhan Kaplan, Congregation Or Shalom's Rabbi, moderated all three sessions, which focused on essential ethical issues faced by the Jewish community.

On January 21, the topic of discussion was the rights and obligations we have as Jews and world citizens. How should we express our own values, claim our own rights and, at the same time, respect the needs and rights of others?

On February 11, Shelley Rivkin and Iris Toledano of the Yad B'Yad Council on Poverty joined Rabbi Kaplan to explore the question of poverty. Few believed that we would ever be rid of poverty, but there was a strong interest in finding ways to try to deal with it. Shelley and Iris not only presented statistics on poverty in our community, but raised our awareness and sensitivity to the realities of the poverty experience in our community. Though the 'Tickets to Inclusion' program is successful and gaining support from Jewish organizations, there are still problems that need to be addressed when scholarships are offered. From costumes for dance classes to expensive books that are required for some courses, instructors and community members need to be cognizant of potential problem areas, sensitive to inequalities and more aware of how to handle these inequalities.

On March 11, Rabbi Kaplan was joined by guest speaker, Mark Weintraub, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region. The topic of discussion was whether we, as Jews, are obligated to prevent world genocide. The Talmud says that 'Whoever saves even one life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire world'. It was clear that the audience was against mass murder, committed by any state, with the empathy of a people who will always feel the pain of the Holocaust in their blood.

The Philosophers' Cafés were presented by the JCCGV and Simon Fraser University's Interdisciplinary Programs in Continuing Studies, with generous support from Yosef Wosk and B'nai B'rith.

http://www.jfgv.com/content_display.html?ArticleID=183411

Jewish Federation: On Yom HaShoah

May 2006

On Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Canadian members of Parliament were asked to remember Darfur by wearing green ribbons on their lapels. A number of editorials were devoted to the subject and the week concluded with demonstrations held all over North America, reminding the world of the meaning of “Never Again”.

In the words of local lawyer Mark Weintraub, chair of the National Darfur Committee of Canadian Jewish Congress, “On the day we remember the horrific suffering and losses associated with the Holocaust, we must not forget those who are suffering in the tragedy unfolding in Darfur. The lessons and the legacy of the Shoah require no less from all of us.”

Canadian Jewish Congress has launched a section on its website dedicated to information on their work to help the people of Darfur, Sudan. The section includes news articles, comments in Parliament, and other useful information. To read more, click here.

To donate online to support humanitarian efforts in the Sudan visit the donations page at jfgv.com.

http://www.jfgv.com/content_display.html?ArticleID=183412

Speech at Darfur Rally

"Good Afternoon. I am Mark Weintraub, Chair of the National Darfur Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Friends.

We all know we should not be here today.

We all know that the tragedy of Darfur was condemned several years ago as a genocide in the making.
We all know that various United Nations bodies and committees and officials who are confronted with seemingly limitless tragedies, nonetheless declared Darfur as the worst humanitarian disaster confronting the world; the worst massive human rights.

So why are we here today; at least a year after a world concensus that the carnage in Darfur had to stop.

Why are we here today many months after former Prime Minsiter Martin declared protection of people in Darfur as a national priority.

Why are we here today after the previous government, with the active support of all our political parties pledged and actually delivered over 200 million in aid to the African Union to help with the peace?
We are here today because that 200 million, even though it was the largest single contribution of any nation, has been insufficient in stopping the murders, starvation rapes and homelessness. For a period of time we were cautiously optimistic that perhaps the the worst excesses would cease but any basis for optimism has now been crushed. The deaths appear to have doubled in the last year and the Sudanese regime seems intent on carrying the conflict over to Chad and over neighbouring regimes.

So why are we here? Why were the efforts of so many last year seemingly for naught?
The answer is clear. The money wasn’t enough, the will of the United Nations was not enough; the West has not demanded enough; the Chinese government, refuses to rein in a government from whom it buys huge amounts of oil, and the Russian government imposes no restraint on a regime which it supports militarily.

And the vast millions of people who are energized to take to the streets for any number of other causes and and issues have remained silent.
We are here today because we have all failed to do that which was necessary to give meaning to the post-Holocaust anti-genocidal cry for Never Again.
But at least we are here.

We are here in Vancouver, and in Toronto and in Washington D.C. and you will see media coverage especially of the Washington D.C. rally, because finally the American people have been aroused to take to the streets. If only the people in Russian and in China and in Europe could also be so provoked to take two hours of their day to call for a moratorium on the killing and the raping, we could stop this in a moment.

But at least we are rallying today, and the fact is that I ask the question why we are here today, because there were many advocates in Canada beginning several years ago which resulted in Canada taking a lead role in Darfur. And there continue to be many advocates. And even though it is depressing to have to be here after so much time has lapsed, you are here today; and that it is critical. Because while we have been too late for the 400,000 who have already perished, we are not to late for the next 400,000. And your presence and your voices can be heard in Ottawa. And just this last month, as we have all stepped up our advocacy, the voice is beginning to sound like a lion’s roar.

The Jewish community living in the shadow of our own genocide determined several years ago that we had to advocate long and hard for an end to the ethnic cleaning; the humans rights violations and indeed let us call it for what it is; the genocide in Darfur.

At the Victoria Legislature just this last Tuesday, we commemorated the Holocaust but we insisted that the Legislators wear green ribbons to bring awareness to Darfur. And indeed during the ceremonies and in the Legislature sitting Darfur was on the lips of all speakers. That in turn received coverage in our media. Let me read from one of the interviews.

And the green ribbon campaign which Canadian Jewish Congress took to the Ontario legislature and Parliament also precipitated an editorial in the Toronto Star this week demanding our government do more; and then an editorial in the Globe followed; and then there were statements in the various legislatures and Parliament not only about the horrors of the Holocaust; and the strength and resilience of the survivors but of the necessity to demand an end to the mass killings in Darfur. And so there will be a discussion in the House this week.

And so as well there is a buildup political activity through the efforts of so many such that I was pleased this morning to read the following in the Province.

Yes we should not be here today; our advocacy should have succeeded a year ago, but it did not not and so we are here again; and this time there is a greater anxiety in the world as the numbers increase and this time perhaps this time all of the efforts will succeed. And your presence here today are part of those efforts; and for that we thank you for taking time to be here; and we thank you for the petition you will sign and the letters you will write; we thank you for raising the issue in your mosques and your churches and your synagogues and we thank you for phoning your Members of parliament to demand that Canada continue to play a lead role and that this government clarify precisely what it intends to do with its Sudanese policy.

We must combine a knowledge of what we have done; what we can do with the fact that other nations must play their part as well; we have been too silent in demanding that Russia and China reign in their client state; The Russian people and the Chinese people know well horrific suffering; they have ancient moral teachings and we have no reason to believe that their leadership wants to see unecessary suffering; the oil can still flow to China without the devastation of milllions of people. The arms can still be sold but need not be used on millions of innocents.

I want to thank the organizers of today's rally and specifically our good friend Clement Aapak who has worked with Canadian Jewish congress staff on various projects over this year. Clement came with us to Victoria to mark Holocaust Remembrance day and has distinguished himself as a steady and constant and often frustrated voice to raise awareness for the people of Darfur. His colleagues and friends in his organization who have helped with this day are very dear to us and on behalf of all of us thank you.

Let me conclude in recognizing two other British Columbians who are not not here but who have worked tirelessly for the people of Darfur. Nouri Abdalla of the Darfur Association has been in Abuja for the peace talks. If he were here today he would be speaking but he sends his regards and is hopeful for a breakthrough in the peace talks and urges us all to keep advocating.

Senator Mobina Jaffer was the former Special Envoy to Sudan. She travelled on numerous occasions to Sudan and to the peace talks and was a highly respected voice in Africa for her work in bringing more women into the peace process and raising the Canadian profile as a moral force in the region.

We owe her a great debt gratitude for what she has done on our behalf for several years.

Thank you friends."

Rally for Darfur Invitation

Invitation to Darfur Rally in Vancouver, April 30, 2006 from 12 pm-5 pm

We invite you to the first Darfur Rally in Vancouver planned for April 30th from 12 pm-5pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Our organization, Canadian Students for Darfur (CSFDarfur) is founded and operated by students whose mission is to increase public awareness throughout Canada about the ongoing crisis in Darfur, fundraise to assist aid agencies working in Darfur and urge the Canadian government to become further involved in resolving the crisis.

Since the conflict began in 2003, over 400,000 people have died and over 2.5 million people driven from their homes, largely as a result of the government-backed Janjaweed militia. Countless civilians now face death from starvation and disease because the government of Sudan and militias prevent humanitarian aid from reaching them.

Regards.

Clement Apaak

Clement Abas Apaak (BA, M.Phil, PhD Candidate, Archaeology)

President, Simon Fraser Student Society

Local 23, Canadian Federation of Students

Producer and Host, African Connection 2-4pm on Sat., CJSF 90.1FM

Founder and Chair, Canadian Students for Darfur(CSFDarfur)

E-mail: caapaak@sfu.calpres@sfss.ca

Office Phone: 604-268-6564

http://www.csfdarfur.net/home/index.php