Arab Canadians Call Upon Prime Minister Harper to Restrain Minister Jason Kenney

Delegates of Arab organizations from across Canada meeting in Toronto on Sunday March 8 2009 stand in solidarity with, and express their support for, the Canadian Arab Federation and its leadership. The delegates categorically reject the baseless accusations against the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) made by the Canadian Jewish Congress, B’nai Birth, the National Post and Jason Kenney; Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Arab Canadians are Semites and hail from various faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other faiths. We oppose all forms of racism, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and enjoy strong allies in both the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities. We are apprehensive about the threats made by Minister Kenney to withhold funds from CAF’s settlement services. We are deeply concerned that the inflammatory remarks made by Mr. Jason Kenney, both in Canada and overseas, are creating a wedge in Canadian society and have inflamed a campaign to marginalize and demonize the already targeted Arab and Muslim Canadian communities. These stereotypes against the Arab and Muslim communities is being propagated on several websites and through countless media outlets on a daily basis.

These escalating campaigns cannot be simply in response to an unfortunate use of language by CAF’s President who quoted Jewish American author Dr. Norman Finkelstein and described the Minister as a “professional whore who supports war.” The campaign of intimidation launched by the Israeli lobby and their supporters is seeking to delegitimize Arab Canadian institutions, services, access to public funds and to silence all critics of Israel - following its war on Gaza that resulted in the death of 418 children and 108 women - by equating such criticism with anti-Semitism being anti-Semitic. Besides CAF, the campaign has targeted prominent Jewish Canadians such as Naomi Klein and Judy Rebick, and CUPE Ontario, CUPW, the Canadian Federation of Students of Ontario and student organizations on campuses across Canada. We are dismayed by:

• attacks against unions who have a history of democratic practice;
• threats to withhold private donor funds from those academic institutions that uphold the principles of open political debate and freedom of expression for all their students
• the rise in racist attacks against Arab and Muslim students and other racialized groups on campuses.

We call upon Prime Minister Harper to restrain his Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and to put an end to his dangerous campaign of attacking CAF with slanderous and damaging accusations for which he has provided no evidence. It is time that we put this incident behind us and unite in serving those in need, which CAF has done and continues to do, and safeguarding the rights of all communities to live in a safe and non-discriminatory environment.

• Ahlul Bayt Centre – Ottawa
• Al-Huda Lebanese Muslim Society
• Al-Nahda Social and Cultural Club
• Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians – Ottawa
• Canada Palestine Association – Vancouver
• Canadian Algerian Foundation of Quebec
• Canadian Arab Society of London
• Canadian Druze Society – Toronto
• Canadian Lebanese for Dialogue
• Canadian Muslim Forum – Montreal
• Canadian Palestinian Foundation of Quebec
• Centre R D International Blossom
• Coalition of Canadian Arab Professional and Community Associations - Ottawa
• El-Hidaya Association – Montreal
• Hamilton Palestinian Association
• Iraqi Canadian Society of Ontario
• Moroccan Association of Ontario
• Moroccan Association of Toronto
• Niagara Palestinian Association
• Palestine House
• Palestinian Association of Brantford
• Palestinian Solidarity – Montreal
• Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance


For more information, please contact:
Mohamed Boudjenane at 416-889-6764

Click HERE for a CAF Backgrounder on Jason Kenney

Click HERE for 'Memo to Minister Kenney: Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism'
By Judy Rebick and Alan Sears