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BRINGING HARMONY TO ALL THE COMMUNITIES
Volume 12 Issue 306 Rabi ul Thani 30, 1433 AH / March 23 2012 - $1
Bi-Weekly & Bilingual
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Pakistan Day Muslim leader, Palestinians condemn Jewish killings in France
Healthy Families – Healthy Communities Conference held by PCWS
Pakistani Canadian Women’s Society hosted a conference focussed on mental, physical and emotional well being of families and communities on March 16. More than 200 women attended this annual educational event. See details on Page 11.
Vancouver ranks 56th in magazine list of Canada’s best cities to live in Vancouver — which often takes top spot in international livability surveys — isn’t getting much respect closer to home. In fact, MoneySense magazine, focusing on finances,
says there are 55 better places to live in Canada. Lotusland on the Pacific came in dead last out of 190 Canadian communities for affordabe housing, setting the picture-perfect B.C. burg back far enough to rank just 56th in a new study — Canada’s Best Cities to Live 2012. Vancouver did have a couple of bright spots — No. 1 in culture, No. 6 in ‘walk/ bike to work’ — but the last-place affordability hurt its
chances along with a crime rating of 123 and a jobless rating of 112. Ottawa led the nation, Toronto came in at No. 47, and B.C. communities were better represented in the lower registers than near the top. Saanich led the province at No. 15, followed by B.C.’s second-highest-rated community of Victoria at No. 35. After Vancouver at 56, Salmon Arm rated 61st, followed by Delta at 64, Courtenay at 73, and Nanaimo at 74. Turn the survey on its head — Canada’s Worst Cities to Live 2012 — and British Columbia suddenly is a real contender. Canada’s bottom feeder — New Glasgow, Nova Scotia — takes the last spot in the survey, but has plenty of companions from the Wet Coast. Williams Lake is second worst at No. 189, Port Alberni stands at No. 186, and Prince Rupert checks in at No. 180. On its website, the Toronto-based MoneySense magazine explains its methodology: “Canada’s Best Places to Live 2012 compiles, weighs and ranks 190 cities and towns in Canada by 22 separate categories, for a comprehensive data-driven snapshot of the benefits and drawbacks of our urban communities in Canada. “While we can’t gauge many of the elements that people enjoy in their cities, the nearness of family, the friendliness of neighbours or even great sunsets, we have measured what can be measured and compared what can be compared from towns and cities across our provinces and territories.”
France’s top Muslim leader said Wednesday that a besieged suspected Islamist who claims to have carried out a string of shootings to avenge Palestinian children had acted against Islam. “These acts are in total contradiction with the foundations of this religion,” said the head of the French Muslim Council, Mohammed Moussaoui. “France’s Muslims are offended by this claim of belonging to this religion.” Moussaoui and Richard Prasquier, the head of France’s main Jewish organisation, the CRIF, were to meet Wednesday with President Nicolas Sarkozy as the siege outside the shooter’s apartment continued in the southwestern city of Toulouse. The joint meeting shows “an important thing,” Prasquier said, “that it is absolutely impossible to confuse this person and the Islamist, jihadist, al-Qaedist movement that he represents, with Islam in France, which is a religion like any other. There are French Muslims among this man’s enemies,” he said, adding that nonetheless: “We must avoid all complacency with regard to these movements, which represent a true danger to our republic.” Also the Palestinian missions in France on Wednesday condemned the “hateful” attack two days earlier on the Jewish school. Palestinian diplomatic missions “condemn in the strongest possible terms the hateful attack carried out in Toulouse,” a statement said. “All racist crimes are attacks on humanity in general and on the republic in particular.” “It appears the weapon used in that massacre is the same as that used previously against three French soldiers of different origins, which leads one to suppose the killer is driven by a multifaceted racist hatred,” it said. The statement was issued in the name of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian Authority, and Palestine’s missions to France and UNESCO, which is headquartered in Paris. Meanwhile Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said extremists must stop using the Palestinian cause to justify their acts of violence. “It is time for these criminals to stop marketing their terrorist acts in the name of Palestine and to stop pretending to stand up for the rights of Palestinian children who only ask for a decent life,” the Palestinian premier said in a statement. Source: Al-Arabiyah
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