July 11, 2006

Bill Ayyad (e-mail address removed) wrote:

(Nabil "Bill" Ayyad is a member of the Board of Directors of the Nepean-Carleton Conservative Riding Association (Pierre Poilievre's riding).

Dear brother M...,

Likewise, I don't have to tell you how much I value, respect and trust you as well. 

M...., for the benefit of those who are copied on this email and have become part of this on-going dialogue, I'd would like to give some background on how this Stockwell Day event took place.  As many of you know, Stockwell Day called on a Sunday afternoon and asked me to invite a few of my Muslim friends and leaders of the Muslim community to my home for a gathering to discuss the events (the arrest of the 17 people) that took place in Toronto a few days earlier.  By all accounts, we had a very good meeting with the Minister and he made some promises to us including an important one to Monzer, and that is to keep the dialogue open and to consult and meet with us in the future.

We felt that the Minister took a good (unprecedented) first step to reach out to us and has been very good in the media and in the manner in which he, his department, the RCMP and CSIS have handled the events in Toronto.  Many are on record as being thankful and congratulatory on the way the government and the agencies have handled this matter.

Some in attendance at my home (for the record, I wasn't one of them although welcomed exploring the idea further) felt that Minister Day should be recognized for his effort(s) along with the RCMP and CSIS and that we should have a dinner with a much larger number of community members.  We also saw an opportunity to also extend an olive branch to the Minister and ENCOURAGE him to do more by having the community recognize his good first step(s) and also ask for more.

I was tasked with getting a date from the Minister and clearly told him that a larger group of Arabs and Muslims would like to have a dinner for him, the heads of the RCMP and CSIS to promote cooperation and have all sides get to know each other better.  He was very receptive and gave the go-ahead to his assistant to give me a date for the event.

In the meantime, at a CAPCA meeting this event was discussed and CAPCA agreed not to participate (good) but many members of CAPCA confirmed that they would attend.

Ahmad Murad called me and told me that CAPCA would not have the event under its name but members will attend and that he will approach other community organizations and members of the Arab community to participate.  I went ahead and booked a date for evening of August 4 with the Minister and Ahmad booked the NPC for that evening.

Now, where do we go from here?  I will be very honest with you, Monzer, that I am a little uncomfortable in "honouring" this minister or any other minister at the moment.

But, I am wholeheartedly with the idea of doing something for/with Minister day (especially since we have committed already) and feel strongly that, as a community or as individuals, we better start building bridges and establish personal relationship with Ministers and MPs, including/especially those who do not see eye-to-eye with us on all issues.

I understand from Ahmad that the tickets have been printed.  We can either take advantage of this opportunity and thank the Minister/CSIS/RCMP for their outreach initiatives and for standing with the community AND ask them to do much more, especially the Minister, on the issue of the recent developments in Israel-Palestine.  This is a big issue for me (and the community) and I plan to speak to the Minister about it (while we have his full attention) at this event.

While it is a little late and perhaps a little unreasonable to have this event cancelled, I would like us to work together instead of you "directing your energy to oppose this event" and come up with a reasonable accommodation to please those who are opposed and those who are already committed to this event.

Although I don't have sole ownership of this event, I am open for any suggestions you may have, Monzer, and will work with other organizers to reach a solution.

With thanks and salaam to all,

Nabil

***********************

On Honouring Stockwell Day and Being Naive

Commentary by Ron Saba, Montreal Planet Magazine

To dispel any spin to the contrary, as the following excerpt from an e-mail 
explanation from the instigator makes clear, the intent of the Stockwell Day 
Dinner was to RECOGNIZE and HONOUR Stockwell Day!!!!!!:

(Whether or not participating groups had been made aware of this intent is 
another question all together)

"We felt that the Minister took a good (unprecedented) first step to reach 
out to us and has been very good in the media and in the manner in which he, 
his department, the RCMP and CSIS have handled the events in Toronto.  Many 
are on record as being thankful and congratulatory on the way the government 
and the agencies have handled this matter.

Some in attendance at my home (for the record, I wasn't one of them although 
welcomed exploring the idea further) felt that Minister Day should be 
recognized for his effort(s) along with the RCMP and CSIS and that we should 
have a dinner with a much larger number of community members.  We also saw 
an opportunity to also extend an olive branch to the Minister and ENCOURAGE 
him to do more by having the community recognize his good first step(s) and 
also ask for more."

I must admit I've heard alot of naive things before, but this takes the 
cake.

Everyone I've spoken to regards the big "Toronto 17" bust as scare mongering 
and the targeting of a bunch of hothead Muslim youths as patsies in the made 
up "war on terror".  The RCMP and CSIS should be dragged in front of a 
Parliamentary Inquiry for this rather than be "Recognized".

And the idea of recognizing Stockwell Day because he "took a good 
(unprecedented) first step to reach out to us" seems to overlook the fact 
that his government WAS THE FIRST IN THE WORLD TO CUT HUMANITARIAN AID TO 
THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.

One thing you gotta say about Stockwell Day is that he has some in the 
community just where he wants them.

I imagine he must be laughing himself to sleep every night.


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