E-Arabica Newsletter

• The NCCAR is calling for candidates for the 2008 Parliamentary
  Internship program which provides interns with exposure to the Canadian political process and serves as an eye-opener to the challenges and opportunities the Canadian-Arab community faces in the Canadian political arena. The objective of this program is to coordinate a six-week internship placement for a young Canadian of Arab origin with a member of Parliament on Parliament Hill. The six-week internship will run from May 2008 to June 2008, so those who wish to support this excellent program, can email admin@nccar.ca.
  
  
• The NCCAR will be sponsoring an event in Montreal on Saturday,
  May 10th at 2 p.m. at St. George's Antiochian Orthodox Church located at
  555 Rue Jean-Talon Est. The event, Peddling Pictures: A Documentary Film, will present plans to make a film documentary on Canadian movie pioneer, Ameen Lawand who immigrated to Syria in 1911 and helped establish the long-lasting independent theatre chain in Montreal.
  Theatres such as the Rialto, Empress, Chateau and the Outremont are just a few examples of Lawand's legacy. A short trailer about the film is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uC6y4YiH4E.

• A letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen was published on
  April 11th from NCCAR President, Bahija Reghai in response to an article written by David Matas, published April 7th entitled Palestinians weren' t the only refugees. Reghai responds to the article by commenting on Matas' selective concept of justice regarding Palestinian and Jewish refugees who wish to return to their respective countries. Reghai states that Jews who wish to return to their homeland should be allowed to do so and/or claim compensation from the Arab states they left. But Palestinians should be allowed as well.

• NCCAR Vice-President Mr. Hassan Al-Shawa arranged a meeting in
  Ottawa on February 29th with Mr. Paul Fitzgerald, the Senior Policy Advisor at the Transport Minister's office. The meeting was to present a formal request by Egypt Air to improve its operations to Canada
  including:

  - Increasing its weekly frequency from two to five flights per week and having direct flights year round, instead of the summer season only.
  - Adding Toronto to its route schedule as they intend to start the new operation in the summer of 2009.

  The request was presented by Mr. Yasser Hodhod, Egypt Air's General Manager in Canada. Mr. Fitzgerald was quite receptive to the idea and explained to NCCAR that Egypt Air can achieve an increase in its flight frequencies to Montreal in a short period and in time for the season's start. Egypt Air has already started working on their application.

  Contacting your Member of Parliament (MP) is an effective way to take action and to be heard. If you have any trouble finding your MP or need help, use the following link requiring only your postal code:
  http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPost
  alCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

   

  NCCAR Volunteers

  NCCAR benefits from the help of many volunteers. We are now introducing a section to salute some of these volunteers who provide many hours of help to the organization.

  Hoda Mroue, is a third-year student at at Carleton University studying Political Science with a concentration on International Relations and with a minor in Human Geography.

  Hoda explained her reasons for volunteering at NCCAR by stating that “the news of the Arab world occupies a substantial part of Canadian media and that very news has on many occasions been misrepresented. Part of NCCAR's objectives is to counter that by increasing Canadian knowledge and awareness of the Arab world through a variety of ways.

  By volunteering for NCCAR, I am able to contribute to this effort. In addition, volunteering with NCCAR has provided me with the opportunity to gain experience in my field of study. We send out our warmest thanks to Hoda.