As many Torontonians know, this fall we will be heading to the polling stations to elect a new mayor. Incumbent David Miller, a left-leaning, accomplished former city councilman, has decided not to seek reelection, and as a result, the city looks to a new batch of candidates for his successor.  


Though the mayoral race has been going on for some six months now, it has only recently intensified, due in large part to the televised debates receiving a lot of wrap-up coverage in print and broadcast media. While there may not appear to be a clear favourite just yet, a small pool of candidates have emerged as the forerunners. 


Joe Pantalone: The Italian-born Ward 19 city councilman is a twenty-five year veteran of City Hall, and the lone immigrant among the leading candidates. He served these last few years as one of the City’s three Deputy Mayors, as appointed by David Miller. Among his campaign platforms are a promise to build Transit City, money allotted for greening the city’s landscapes, and to keep Toronto Hydro under municipal control. 


Rocco Rossi: As the former director of the Liberal Party of Canada, Rossi made some important contacts, which led to positions as manager of John Tory’s 2003 mayoral bid and advisor to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. His career has mostly been carved out in the non-profit sector, so questions about his political qualifications have been abound. If elected, Rossi promises to resolve the City’s budgetary problems via long-term planning and shrewd management of services like the Toronto Hydro and the TTC. 


George Smitherman: The former provincial cabinet minister is atop the polls for now, though only by a slim margin. He spent some years in Dalton McGuinty’s provincial cabinet as Minister of Health, making him the only member of the race to have been an elected official in another setting. Smitherman’s campaign promises include to review the municipal budget line by line and to protect city assets from privatization. 


Rob Ford: The veteran Etobicoke councilor joined the race fairly late, and as a result has the least comprehensive platform. His available platform consists mostly of calls to decrease unnecessary city spending, such as councilor expense accounts and civil servant perks. 


A few other contenders, most notably Sarah Thompson and Giorgio Mammoliti, have received some mainstream media coverage, though its likely the race will be decided when one of the aforementioned four candidates pulls away from the pack.

The infamous case of the 2007 murder of Mississauga teen, Aqsa Parvez, has made headlines yet again. Last week the father and brother of Aqsa pleaded guilty to second degree murder. The sentence they received was life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.

It is debatable whether the sentencing is reasonable for the charge they plead guilty to, but that is not the point of focus of my analysis. What strikes me most about this case is the media attention and the interpretation of the case by the greater community.

There is no doubt that the death of Aqsa Parvez was one that shocked the entire community, and I can speak for myself and say it hit really close to home, literally. She went to a neighboring high school and was a Muslim girl of Pakistani descent (like myself). I would say that we had enough factors in common for me to take the case to heart – and I’m sure that is the case for many other girls a similar position as mine. She was a teen, like many others, who was having problems at home and was uncooperative with her parents. There could have been many reasons for the disagreements and arguments, but teen trouble is not a new story.

The angle that the case has taken through the media is the one that has been largely portrayed to the public over the past few years. All headlines surrounding the case never failed mention Aqsa’s religious or ethnic background. In the eyes of many, she was a Muslim, Pakistani teen who was murdered by her father and brother who took her life to protect their ‘honour’. This somehow was affiliated with their family being Muslim, and the media rolled the whole ball into immigrant families having the adjust to the culture and life of Canada. Where this case makes me uneasy is that the media repeatedly put out there how her being Muslim or Pakistani played a role in the male members of her family killing her. This was simply a case of a troubled family, like many other non-Muslim or non-South Asian families, but the media found it necessary to link her death with her religious and ethnic background.

I feel that this is all a part of the process of tainting and stereotyping certain groups. To prove this, there are many cases of family abuse, and even murder which may make their way into the news, but it is never mentioned whether they are Caucasian or African, Christian or Jew. With this case, the affiliation that is most often linked with Aqsa was Islam, and this is where I have a great level of concern.

As multi-cultural as Canada is, and as tolerant and accepting as it seems, there are still many areas that need work and still a lot of minds that need to be broadened.

In April 2010, Masjid Toronto began offering a class on Islamic Studies for deaf Muslims. This class, held for the first time in 15 years, aims to teach these Muslims, who are usually cut off from accessing religious information, the basics of the faith.

The students, translators and teachers face special challenges. For example, because the student body is so diverse, many are used to having different symbols for the same word. Students who learned Pakistani, Turkish or Arabic sign language have to develop new symbols as a group to accommodate each others knowledge. Moreover, the class is taught in American Sign Language, a medium that is itself limited because it has no symbols for Islamic terms.

Despite those challenges, the attitude of those involved seems to be optimistic. An attendee of the class even states “in a way, with every class, we are kind of making up a new language on the spot.” That spirit of innovation combined with the thirst for religious knowledge seems to be what drives the class.

May Allah (swt) accept their efforts and give them increase.

Source: The Toronto Star
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Here is an unrelated video of the Qur’an in sign language. 

Having to pay over $600.00 on extra luggage fees might not sound like an appealing proposition, but to Paul Giampuzzi, Rehman Merali, Brendan Wong, Merrick Zoubeiri, Arian Omidzohour and Soren Massoumi, it came with the win. 

The six University of Toronto engineering students, after weeks of trials and tribulations, had the opportunity to see their 120-pound robot, TSA Inspected, win gold at this year’s RoboGames in California. The annual competition, which provides an international arena for those seeking to claim world domination and fame with their handmade creations, hosts a series of matches between competing robots. That which knocks its competitor out of the fight, or simply inflicts the most damage and offensive assault is pronounced the winner. 

With their minds set on victory, the six-man team decided early on, that their robot’s construction would revolve around the concept that the majority of its weight would be geared towards creating the maximum amount of damage possible. So naturally, they used US Army steel. The element used to coat the TSA Inspected, was the same type of unyielding material that coated thousands of US Army vehicles protecting them from the effects of explosive devices. 

Although seemingly simple, the TSA Inspected, with its light battery, and scoop-like shape, simply scooped up its final competitor, The Mortician, whose choice of weapon was a razor-like spinning plate, and smashed it against the wall. Suffering a little hole, and a few dents later, the UofT production came out as the victor.

It was either ‘Go big, or go home’ for the six, and in a way they got what they came for. They’ll certainly be going home, with not only a winning title, but with a big bill as well.   

 

The infamous case of ‘homegrown terrorism’ in the GTA, also known as the ‘Toronto 18’ has finally come to trial. The long overdue trial, which took four years to reach, has now started and information that had never before been publicized is now surfacing. The media is relatively silent on the trial proceedings as compared to the news coverage the story received when the arrests initially occurred back in June 2006.

The latest developments on the story are that one of the defense lawyers, Denis Edney, representing 25 year old Fahim Ahmed, has brought light to issues with the crown’s star witness, Mubin Shaikh. Shaikh is a key part of the government’s case against the arrested men as he was paid a hefty amount to act as an informant. It is now being revealed in court that Shaikh worked as an undercover agent to infiltrate the alleged ‘Toronto 18’ terrorist group and also trained some of the men and boys to use a 9-mm handgun.

Shaikh’s credibility has also been attacked at the witness stand and he is especially known for his previous illegal conduct such as molestation and drug abuse. It is also revealed that he hid certain information from his handlers, namely CSIS and the RCMP, and this can greatly affect the outcome of the case.

The outcome of the trial will ultimately be decided by a jury made up of ordinary Canadian citizens. The trial is expected to last approximately three months, and once all of the evidence is revealed and the facts are weighed, we will be able to better judge whether or not justice is truly served.

You can continue to follow the story on keepingithalal.com in the local news section inshAllah. Always remember to make dua for the oppressed around the world and pray that Allah swt softens the hearts of the oppressors, ameen.

He asked her if she had a boyfriend. 
She said yes.

‘That’s okay. I have a wife, and we could be secret on this too’.

On Wednesday, April 21, Steve Ellis, a former immigration judge, was found guilty of attempting to coerce sex from Ji Hye Kim, a refugee claimant, in exchange for an affirmative ruling in her upcoming case.

The beginning of the bribery dated back to July of 2006, when Ellis was overseeing Ji Hye Kim’s refugee hearing, but decided to defer his judgment and withhold his decision. Kim found Ellis waiting for her at the restaurant at which she waitressed at, in order to ask her out for coffee, two months later.

Suspicious of the judge’s antics, and suspecting an intention of foul play, Kim’s then-boyfriend and now-husband, Brad Tripp, devised a plan. 

Kim: wired.
Brad: in a car across the street, video camera in hand.
Ellis: thinking he was on a date, and about to get lucky.

Ellis and Kim’s Strabucks patio date lasted a little longer than the 43-minutes of sound and video recordings that the couple had managed to acquire that night.

Upon playing of the evidence in the Crown’s case, a staggering amount of incriminatory evidence was found against Ellis. It showed the 51-year-old judge telling the young South Korean “I really like you, and I really want to be friends with you”, along with him repeatedly advising her to keep their meeting a secret from her boyfriend. Ellis also revealed to Kim that the love from his current marriage was gone, and that he was planning to dispose off his current Filipino mistress. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to be demanding. I’m not going to ask you to move in with me or anything like that. . . . I’m not going to fall in love with you.”

With both sides having presented their cases, Ontario Superior Court Justice Thea Herman found Steve Ellis guilty of ‘breach of trust and an Immigration and Refugee Protection Act charge of bribery’. A sentence hearing is due on June 4, 2010.

And what ever happened to Ji Hye Kim?
She remains happily married to Brad Tripp, and is now a landed immigrant.

While working the night shift a guest calmly asked me, “Are you dangerous?”. Not knowing where this question was coming from I jokingly replied, “Only slightly”. The guest went on to explain that his friend had told him to ask all long bearded men whether they were dangerous. He seemed rather ecstatic explaining this to me. All the while his company informed me he was from Germany as if this was an explanation to the racist remark I had just heard. He went on to say, “I don’t think you’re dangerous”. Well, thanks?

I was awestruck by this. I didn’t know what to say. Later that night I experienced another guest mocking my name.

All I know is that racism has not been eradicated despite popular belief. No matter what naysayers may say; it’s healthy and live. It might be in a different form but it is there nonetheless. This may be a mild case of racism but if you want to see further evidence of racist thinking visit any Muslim related articles’ comment section on major press’ websites and you will see the sound of logic dummified.

First Nations groups have been participating in active, but peacefully demonstrations around the city of Toronto. These activists are demanding action from the McGuinty government, and are trying to make them acknowledge the long-term health effects mercury contamination in their water can have on their communities. Mercury poisoning has been occurring at Grassy Narrows for decades, and it has been given very little attention  because this area is namely made up of First Nations people.

The devastation of these communities is great and it is imperative that the McGuinty government take responsibility for the damages done. This has been an ongoing issue for over 40 long years, and now the health issues are starting to get worse. Downtown Toronto protests are pushing the provincial government to take “responsibility for allowing the Dryden Pulp & Paper Co. to dump 9,000 kg of mercury into the Wabigoon River between 1962 and 1970.” (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/791803--protesters-demand-action-on-grassy-narrows)

Any minority group that is being oppressed or discriminated against and is not given fair and safe living conditions in a nation such as Canada has the right to protest and voice their discontentment. The First Nations have been exploited and oppressed long enough, and it is about time that the majority starts to realize that issues of minorities are important and need to be addressed. Minorities are what make up the majority of Canada’s population, and if we do not stand together as citizens of a great nation in the name of justice and stand up against wrongdoing, the purpose we serve as a nation would be a failed one.

I’ll end off with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea.”