Canada Palestine Association

Dear Friends:

We are pleased to tell you that VanCity has reversed its decision regarding closing the business account of B.C. MARKET. David Mowat, their CEO, personally informed us that the decision had resulted from a misunderstanding and also offered an apology for what had happened.

Therefore, we consider the matter resolved. We would like to thank all those people who took the time to write or phone and express their concerns about this incident. We know that it was only because of the overwhelming support that we received that this issue was brought to a successful conclusion. We also know that it was because we were dealing with a credit union, that your input was able to influence the final outcome.

Once again, thanks for helping the Arab and Moslem community feel that they are not alone and that democratic grass-roots actions are worthwhile and effective.

In Solidarity
Hanna Kawas,
Owner, B.C. MARKET

The Honourable Irwin Cotler Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Cotler:

It has came to our attention that Retired Israeli Colonel Zeev Raz, who led the illegal Israeli aggression against Iraq in 1981 and destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor, will be in Vancouver to speak at Temple Shalom on September 17, 2005.

Canada and the UN condemned this terrorist raid that endangered the lives of the Iraqi civilian population and encroached on the sovereignty of a UN member state.

We demand that you immediately ask the Canadian courts to issue an arrest warrant against this war criminal, who is being brought to Vancouver to publicly brag about his illegal exploits.

If Canada truly upholds international law and behaves in an even-handed manner, Colonel Raz should be held accountable for his and his government’s illegal actions.

If Canada does not take action immediately, it will show the world that Canada practices hypocrisy and the worst kind of double standards. It will also clearly demonstrate the total pro-Israel bias of your government and its disregard for the human rights and the sanctity of human life in the Arab world.

Waiting for your prompt action,
Hanna Kawas
Chair, Canada Palestine Association www.cpavancouver.org
Host, Voice of Palestine www.voiceofpalestine.ca

cc The Right Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister
The Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Other Parliamentarians

Following is an open letter sent to VanCity credit union in Vancouver. If you agree that their actions are discriminatory and outrageous, please let them know.

Email: VanCity Board of Directors board_directors@vancity.com
Phone/Fax: VanCity Branch 17 Financial Services Manager Tel: 604-877-7171 or Branch Manager Tel: 604-877-7170 Fax: 604-877-7917
(Please c.c. the chair of the Vancity Community Foundation, Tim Louis vcf@vancity.com, the body mandated “to develop relationships with …. immigrant/refugee groups”.)

Hanna

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August 24, 2005
OPEN LETTER
Re: DISCRIMINATORY POLICIES OF VANCITY TOWARDS ARAB-CANADIANS

B.C. MARKET is a small business in New Westminster, a convenience and Arabic food store, which has banked for many years with VanCity Credit Union. However, on August 15, 2005, VanCity sent a letter to B.C. MARKET, informing us that they would be closing our accounts in a month, because they have “been unable to fully understand the nature of the business’ revenue”.

For the last year, they had intermittently been asking us for confidential financial information, which we diligently provided, even sending them a copy of our official business tax return. We sent a letter, detailing the nature of running a convenience store and how it entails handling a lot of cash. We told them, in that letter of June 23, 2004, that we were long-time credit union supporters and were disappointed with their behaviour towards a small community business. We also questioned if all of this harassment was not motivated by the fact that the business in question is owned by two people of Palestinian Arab descent. At the time, they denied any such intentions.
However, this new outrage, done in such a crude manner, has confirmed our suspicions that we are being targeted because of our racial origins. We are sure that our business activities are no different than any other convenience-type store and we are equally sure that we are being singled out due to anti- Arab hysteria by both our government and this financial institution. We are also sure that the fact that both owners are community activists and staunch supporters of Palestinian rights, and that B.C. MARKET has developed into an information hub about pro-Palestinian and anti-war activity, has only heightened the discrimination we are currently experiencing.

Consequently, we are most certainly closing our accounts at VanCity without delay, not just our business account but also any personal accounts. We are horrified that a credit union could behave in this arbitrary manner and we are calling on all progressive groups and individuals (trade unions, small businesses, church and community groups) to also close their accounts at VanCity and inform them why. We are also telling our broader community, both in Canada and internationally, about this situation, and asking them to terminate any dealings they may have with VanCity.

The Arab-Canadian community is becoming increasingly fed up with these kind of racist actions, be it police and security services harassment towards community members or financial discrimination towards small businesses. Regrettably, it seems Canada did not learn the painful lessons of wrongfully incarcerating the Japanese-Canadian community half a century ago, despite recent apologies to the contrary.

Hanna Kawas
Owner, B.C. MARKET
c.c. VanCity Board of Directors

We do not need to prove our loyalty!

We were alarmed and shocked when we read your weekly Bulletins July 22 and July 29, 2005. We had thought that forming “Canadians for Jerusalem” to defend the Canadian Government’s position had been an isolated incident, but it seems to us that official CAF policy is sinking further into a policy of collaboration and subjugation to the Canadian establishment.

Let us not fall into the knee-jerk reflex of feeling we have to prove our loyalties. In fact, our loyalties should not be in question, but rather the commitment of our government to ensure that all people in this country are treated fairly and with respect and that its own policies do not endanger its citizens’ well being and safety. It is our legal right to dissent, to criticize and to call the government to account for any harmful policies.

We do NOT have anything to hide and collaboration does NOT benefit the victim. Here are some of the headlines that were in your July 22 Bulletin:

• CAF Meets With the Honourable Monte Kwinter
• CAF Youth – Police Workshop
• Canadian Imams Issue a Statement Condemning Extremism
• Sharia Law and the Globalization of Political Islam Conference, August 12, 2005 (where a self- professed Zionist Muslim will be speaking – ed)

And the July 29 Bulletin went on with:

• CAF Meets with Chief of Police William Blair
• CAF Youth-Police Workshop

Let us start with the Police and Security Services:

A. The Canadian Arab and Muslim communities are not responsible for any act of terror committed by radical Muslim and Arab organizations, the same way we do not hold every individual Canadian responsible for the acts of the Canadian government’s complicity in Israeli state terrorism.

B. No Canadian police nor intelligence organization has any right to harass, intimidate or question our community on the basis of its ethnicity nor its religion; they have every right to investigate suspected criminals or terrorists. OUR COMMUNITY IS NEITHER.

C. If the Canadian local Police, RCMP and CSIS want to follow the trail of who instigates, promotes and cultivates terror organizations, they should follow the path of Canadian Government policies that work as a green house for cultivating terrorism.

D. The Progressive Arab and Muslim community always took a principled stand against all terrorism and warned the Canadian Government against its biased, criminal, anti-humanitarian and anti- international law policies. We always spoke out, contrary to the behaviour of some pro-Canadian Government Arab and Muslim lackeys.

E. Finally and frankly, we do NOT trust the police or any arm of the Canadian Government; the Canadian government has consistently proven it is not a friend of our community or our peoples in the Arab and Muslim world (we will explain that later). If you really care about our community and want to learn about the racist police treatment of minorities and aboriginal natives, it is well documented and an abundance of examples are available. And if anyone is interested in understanding the Police mentality, check the documentary IPPERWASH: A CANADIAN TRAGEDY to be shown on CBC Saturday July 30, 2005 at 10pm ET/PT (http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonday/feature_200904.html)

Regarding the Canadian Government, we would like to remind the current “leadership” of CAF about the following:

A. Successive Canadian governments supported and were complicit in Palestinian dispossession, and accordingly are responsible for the ethnic cleansing that befell the Palestinian people. For more details see Birthright Denied: Canadian Complicity in Palestinian Dispossession (Download PDF: birthright_denied.pdf).

B. No Canadian government apologized for it role in this dispossession.

C. Successive Canadian governments supported the Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.

D. The Canadian Government considers Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation “terrorism”; while at the same time supporting Israeli terrorism with manpower (Canadians publicly enrol in the Israeli Army), financially (giving tax deductions to the Israeli establishment including illegal Zionist settlers and settlements), materially (the Canada-Israel free trade agreement and other loans and benefits), militarily (mostly kept secret as in the Canada-Israel free trade agreement), on the intelligence level( the close coordination between CSIS and the Israeli Mossad) and politically and diplomatically (protecting Israel at international forums and at the UN institutions).

E. The security of Israel is the “core of Canada’s Middle East policy since 1948” (see http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/middle_east/can_policy-en.asp#01 ). This has been the case regardless of Israel’s repeated violations of UN Security Council and general assembly resolutions, the Fourth Geneva convention, international humanitarian laws, and the International Court of Justice ruling.

F. The Canadian Government’s military, logistical and economic support for the US imperial ventures in the Middle East (examples: Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine) is well documented and known by our Arab and Muslim communities in Canada and everywhere else.
It is extremely regrettable that at this crucial moment in the history of our community here in Canada, the leadership of CAF has chosen to adopt this policy of unconditional support for whatever the Canadian government and its institutions put forth . Our community needs critical and intelligent responses to measures of racial profiling and discrimination. The Canadian government does not have a good track record on protecting the rights of innocent minorities (the Japanese during WWII, for just one example) and this is the area of greatest danger for our community that should receive the full priority of CAF resources.

We call on CAF and our community to boycott any meetings with the Police or the Security Services.

We call on CAF, for the sake of its own credibility, to publicly disclose what happened with the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Toronto’s Chief of Police.

We call on the Arab and Muslim “leadership” including the Imams to denounce all forms of terrorism including US and Israeli state terrorism, and to denounce all those who support and participate in these acts of terrorism and war crimes – and that includes the Canadian Liberal Government.

Hanna Kawas,
Chair, Canada Palestine Association www.cpavancouver.org
Host, Voice of Palestine www.voiceofpalestine.ca