Post-Post 911 Arab Canada: Raja Khouri at MESS

Our next Middle East Scholars Society event will be on Thursday November 21: “A post-post-9/11 Canadian Arab community”

LECTURER: RAJA G. KHOURI, Co-founder and President of the Canadian Arab Institute (http://www.canadianarabinstitute.org/)
DATE: Thursday, November 21, 2013
TIME: 5:00pm
LOCATION: MacKinnon Building, Room: 237

The traditional conversation about Canadian Arabs has been largely without them. It was premised on headlines of violence and conflict, Hollywood-driven stereotypes of bumbling sheiks and evil terrorists, and ignorance-motivated generalizations of religious oppression and extremism. All this got heightened following the events of 9/11 which associated the community with national security threats. Canadian governments have traditionally been dismissive of, or disinterested in the Arab community's concerns and complaints, in part because it spoke with a new-immigrant voice.

The community seems now prepared to have a distinctly Canadian voice on matters such as immigration, integration, prosperity, employment, trade, investment and foreign policy, a voice that upholds the Canadian ideals of freedom, democracy, human rights, gender equity and the rule of law. Having accepted and, indeed, adopted victimhood as the normal in its relationship relating with the larger society and its institutions, the Canadian Arab community now appears ready for an empowered, proactive and engaging approach.

- RAJA G. KHOURI is co-founder and President of the Canadian Arab Institute. He is a commissioner with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, committee member of Human Rights Watch Canada, and co-founder of the Canadian Arab/Jewish Leadership Dialogue Group. Raja formerly served on several government and civil society bodies, such as Ontario’s Hate Crimes Community Working Group, the Minister of Education’s Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy Roundtable, Pride Toronto Community Advisory Panel, the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs, and as advocacy co-chair of Human Rights Watch Canada. He also served as president of the Canadian Arab Federation in the period following the events of 9/11, authoring the book Arabs in Canada: Post 9/11.

The lecture is free and open to the public. I hope you will be able to attend the lecture, and that you also might help us publicize it by circulating the attached flyer to interested colleagues. Attached is a detailed flyer: .pdf