Ottawa Star - Volume 2 Issue 5

Ottawa Star

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The Voice of New Canadians www.OttawaStar.com • November 1, 2014 • Volume 2, Issue 5

Montreal’s French invasion

We have to be smarter to stop extremism

Immigrants from France flock to the city

Religion actually has very little to do with creating a home-grown terrorist

By Benjamin Shingler, The Canadian Press

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By Doug Firby CALGARY, AB, Troy Media— Two immediate and overpowering impressions emerge following the shooting death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa.

The first is that our national security sucks. It’s hard to believe that a country that has so openly declared and demonstrated its hostility toward Continued on page 10

Kavya Srivastava at the Diwali—Festival of Lights event organized by India Canada Association.

Story on Page 5 Photo: Ellen O’Connor

Scientists explain Ebola’s scare factor and that what we really should fear is fear itself

By Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

WA S H I N G TO N — E b o l a is giving Americans a crash course in fear.

Yet, they’re incredibly less likely to get the disease than to get sick worrying about it.

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First, the reality check: More Americans have married Kim Kardashian - three - than contracted Ebola in the U.S. The two Dallas nurses who came down with Ebola were infected while treating a Liberian man, who became infected in West Africa. The New York doctor who has tested positive for Ebola had been treating people in West Africa.

Still, schools have been closed, people shunned and members of Congress have demanded travel bans and other dramatic action—even though health officials keep stressing that the disease is only spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected

person, and the risk to Americans is extremely low.

That’s because Ebola pushes every fear button in our instincts, making us react more emotionally than rationally, experts say.

“The worry that people are being subjected to as a result of the hysteria around this is probably doing more damage than the actual disease,’’ said E. Alison Holman, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studied the health effects of populations worried after watching coverage of the Sept.

11 attacks, the Boston Marathon bombing and Iraq war.

“Frankly flu is more serious.’’

Continued on page 14

ONTREAL—When Christian Faure moved to Montreal last summer, the renowned chef saw a chance to start fresh in a new city, freed from the constraints of his native France.

Faure opened a pastry shop and cooking school in a renovated 300-year-old greystone on a busy street in Old Montreal.

“It would be totally impossible to open a similar patisserie in a historic quarter in Paris and Lyon,’’ said Faure, who had a stint as director of the Cordon Bleu chef school in Ottawa before moving to the city.

“In Montreal, it’s still possible.

It’s a city of arts and theatre, and it encourages young people.’’

Continued on page 12

Lawyers argue Ottawa has no right to strip certain people of citizenship

By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press

TORONTO—A Federal Court judge is considering whether Parliament has the authority to pass a law that could see a Canadian-born terrorist stripped of their citizenship.

Two Toronto lawyers argue that the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, which could allow the government to revoke the citizenship of someone who holds dual citizenship, is unconstitutional.

Previously, a person could be stripped of Canadian citi-

zenship for attaining it through false representations.

But the new law expands the list of those vulnerable to revocation to include people born in Canada but eligible to claim citizenship in another country—for instance, through their parents.

It also broadens the grounds for revocation to include several criminal offences including espionage, treason or terrorism.

After a day of arguments in court on Oct 23, Federal Court Judge Donald Rennie reserved his decision. But whichever way he rules, it’s expected the case Continued on page 11

PAGE 2 • www.OttawaStar.com

Community

Organizers of the In-TAC expo pose with Ottawa employers and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Photo: McCarthy Media

Group and Profile Imaging

Expo Shines Light on Bright Future for Skilled Immigrants In-TAC holds second annual career fair for IT and finance professionals

By Brandon Rushton

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eing Canadian-born, it is difficult to relate to the struggles New Canadians face when trying to find fulfilling work in Canada.

After graduating from college, I constantly complained about the job market and its unfairness, unaware that I already had an inside track solely through birthright.

Thousands of immigrants from across the globe, however, face a much steeper climb.

Since the 1990’s, the number of skilled immigrants (those with specific skills, credentials, and workplace experience) entering Canada has grown immensely.

Most are more than qualified to work in their field – trained doctors with PhD’s, professionals with Masters Degrees, and job hunters with years of experience – yet they still face an up-hill battle and receive little to no help as they attempt to re-establish themselves in a new country.

This is where In-TAC enters the picture.

In-TAC (the International Talent Acquisition Center) is an Ottawa-based organization committed to connecting professional immigrants with Canadian employers. It is spearheaded by Senior Manager Ying Xie, an immigrant himself and former diplomat, who understands the struggle that skilled newcom-

ers face when trying to find fulfilling work in a new country.

On Oct. 8, In-TAC held it’s second annual Career Expo for IT and Finance professionals at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Throughout the day, hundreds of motivated and determined immigrants filled the room, hungry for new opportunities.

Dozens of private and public sector companies and organizations that specialize in business, finance and IT had booths set up throughout the centre to provide prospective employees with the information needed to begin their journey in the Ottawa job market.

This year’s expo also featured InTAC’s Entrepreneurs Corner, with representatives from several business development programs such Invest Ottawa, Ottawa Community Loan Fund, and

Carleton University’s Technology Innovation Management program.

In-TAC has a history of success when it comes to connecting skilled immigrants to businesses looking to both diversify and fill holes that Canadian-born candidates cannot.

“We give everyone a chance,” said Xie. The organization’s many programs provide help with resume-writing, communication skills, job-specific training, as well as providing bridging programs that give their clients internship opportunities in the field.

One such client is Annie Raj, a native of both India and Texas, who brought her Master’s Degree in mathematics and high hopes of becoming a business analyst to Canada in 2004.

“I was very excited because Canada being a land of opportunities is what we always know,” said Raj. Many of her peers have the same notions, but like them, she soon came to realize that with opportunity comes challenge.

Raj wandered around the Ottawa job market, applying to many jobs within her field, but heard back only unexpected and harsh responses. She ultimately chose to take a break from it all – “time went past and it was a conscious decision to be with my son in a country where I don’t have extended family.”

The feeling of being blindsided is common amongst New Canadians. In a recent study commissioned by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), most participants admitted to not having a full understanding of the Canadian economy and hiring process, even stating that they would have stayed in their home country if they had known the struggle they would face.

One of In-TAC’s primary goals is to lesson that blow by educating New Canadians in all aspects of employment.

“It addressed what you need to know, how you need to deliver, what you need to focus [on], and how you should prepare yourself. It’s something very useful,” said Raj, who found In-TAC this past year. She has already completed multiple courses and is currently enrolled in the mentorship program.

It is easy to point out specific reasons as to why skilled immigrants struggle to acclimate to the Canadian system – the language barrier, lack of Canadian experience, and foreign credential recognition.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said he aims to tackle a few of these issues in the very near future.

Set to launch on January 1, 2015, the Express Entry Program will largely affect the current immigration process newcomers face when coming to Canada.

“It will be revolution,” said Alexander, who officially opened the In-TAC Expo and updated the public on the new program in his keynote address.

Through Express Entry, professional immigrants, who meet the criteria for one of the many federal immigration Continued on page 4

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Community

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 3

Spicing up Barrhaven

By Jesse M. Kelly

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restaurant owner who is happy to eat at his own establishment is a comforting sight, and Rajesh Mehta, owner of Chillies Indian Restaurant prefers the sizzlers. He has over 30 years of experience in Indian food, and just last year opened up Chillies on Greenbank Road in Barrhaven. “[The community] is very helpful, very friendly, and I love it, that’s why I’ve been here for 20 years.”\Mehta was born in the Solan District of the Himachal Pradesh State in India.

Though his post-secondary education in India was focused on geography, Mehta found himself pulled into the family business. He worked at his brother’s restaurant Baker’s Oven, which has three locations in two states throughout India.

After immigrating to Canada, he quickly joined Rinag Foods, a company that manufactures and sells Indian food to grocery stores in the National Capital Region. It was his time spent at Baker’s Oven, however, that gave Mehta the experience and expertise he needed to open the door to Chillies last year.

“Most of the time my wife is here, she takes care of this business,” said Mehta. “I’m the one who prepared all the menus and recipes – I’m here to help her.”

Mehta prepared three separate menus, one for lunch, which is lighter on both portion and price, as well as a dinner menu and takeout menu. Mehta said each menu was designed to create the best experience.

“The food is a little different. We have to cook the food according to the demand and the taste of the customer. We always try to use our fresh ingredients.”

He added that using flavours like fresh garlic and ginger in a dish, when compared to their bottled or preserved counterpart, is far more aromatic and makes all the difference in taste.

They also grind their own cumin and coriander in the Chillies kitchen.

While the freshness of ingredients and spices plays a role, Mehta credits a great deal of the quality to his employees.

“Employees are the key of any business,” he said. “My chef is from India and he has worked for us for 23 or 24 years. He was working for us in India, then he came here.”

“If somebody experienced is working in your kitchen, then you get the same quality, same flavour every day,” he said.

Consistent, delicious food and customer feedback are key factors that influence how Mehta chooses to run his business.

“If somebody is giving us any feedback, it’s more than welcome because everybody has their own taste... and we always respect that,” he said.

Mehta said that he is still learning from his experiences and hopes to expand in the future, possibly to another location with a larger kitchen and a larger dining room. But for now he will focus on the three aspects of the current restaurant: dining, take-out, and delivery.

“Whenever you do business, you do business according to your pocket,” said Mehta. “You dream big, but at the same time you should realize how much you can afford.”

Rajesh Mehta. Photo: Jesse M. Kelly

3rd Annual Evening of Celebration Friday, November 7, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.

Marconi Centre, 1026 Baseline Road, Ottawa

Special guest – His Excellency John Chrysostom Alintuma Nsambu, High Commissioner for Uganda in Canada

The SIFA Choir – sharing the richness and beauty of Africa through song & dance

Grateful We’re Not Dead & the Over 60 Blues

Dinner: Tasty Italian cuisine Entertainment: The SIFA Choir & Grateful We’re Not Dead Silent auction: Original painting by Bruce Garner,

Lunch with Paul Dewar, 40-minute flight over Ottawa, and many other tempting items!

Tickets: $50 per person/ $35 for students E-mail Ann Flynn at annflynn@rogers.com or call CanUgan at 613-224-8174 Charity Registration # 843257031RR0001

Lilly Obina – Host

Making a difference in Uganda www.canugan.org

Community

PAGE 4 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Ikebana arrangement by Vincent Roche. Photo: Amanda Dickerson

Ikebana Inspiration melds Canadian and Japanese culture

By Amanda Dickerson

T

he Sogetsu Ottawa Branch in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan presented its annual art exhibit on the weekend of Oct. 18-19. The exhibit, titled Ikebana Inspiration, displayed a variety of Japanese floral art pieces each inspired by Canadian artists whose art can be found in the National Art Gallery.

Sogetsu is a school of Ikebana, Japanese floral art, that dates back or to the 7th century when the art form was brought over from China to Japan.

Ikebana has since been divided into

several different schools as practitioners have created their own interpretations of the art form.

“Ikebana is more than arranging flowers in a symmetrical container. It allows you to see every flower on different levels using lines, space and asymmetry,” said Exhibition Chair Linda Jones.

The art in the exhibit ranged from small scale pieces to large arrangements.

Each had its own composition of flowers, branches and leaves that usually corresponded with the color scheme of the Canadian art that it was interpreting.

The exhibition was put together to show the public that Ikebana is an art form.

“Our materials are different; we don’t use brushes and pencils. We use containers, flowers and branches, but it’s still creative thinking and passion from the heart,” Jones explained. She said that Ikebana can interpret almost anything from paintings, sculptures and even poetry.

The exhibitors were mostly teachers from the Ottawa branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana who teach a rigid curriculum to beginners on the basics of flower arranging. The art exhibited displayed more complex and advanced techniques used in Ikebana.

Expo Shines Light on Bright Future for Skilled Immigrants Continued from page 2

programs, will be placed into a pool from which employers can access and choose candidates. It will basically turn the current immigration system, which can take over a year to process, into a national online job bank that promises to give immigrants both employment and residency within a year.

“We will be looking at a large number of candidates and selecting the best candidates to come to Canada – that is what Express Entry is about,” added Alexander. The program has a lot of promise from an economic standpoint and its

projected sheer speed is impressive; however, many believe there are still issues at ground-level.

What the program doesn’t take into consideration is the immigrant population already living in Canada who struggle to find fulfilling work. Networking continues to be a main roadblock for immigrant but one specific issue, which has troubled immigrants and In-TAC for years, is that employers will be no more informed than they were before.

The pressure put solely on immigrants, or “candidates” according to Express Entry, is unfair. Try as they might to gain access to or fit the criteria of the

federal immigration programs, most highly skilled, but lesser acclimatized, immigrants just don’t have the base knowledge of the system. It’s true, Express Entry will provide them with a better chance at employment, but it does little to help employers and immigrants understand each other.

In-TAC is doing its part to close that gap by providing Canadian workplace knowledge to interested immigrants. The only aspect yet to be explored is employer education. Xie feels that the next step in the process is to “help employers get ready, get their workplace ready” and also “give [em-

The inspiration for the exhibit was a wide range of Canadian art selected from different eras coast to coast. Some of the Canadian artists that inspired the exhibit were Emily Carr of British Columbia, Mary Pratt of New Brunswick and Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak.

Jones explained that while the intent of the exhibit was to bring attention to Ikebana as an art form, she was surprised to see that the exhibit was also introducing people to Canadian artists they had never heard of.

She said the scope of education for the public was broader than she anticipated allowing for the celebration of Japanese and Canadian culture simultaneously.

During the opening ceremony of the exhibit Ambassador Okuda remarked on the importance of the theme, which creates a bridge between cultures and demonstrates how one culture can learn from another.

ployers] the culture confidence training and get rid of their fear factor.”

Stigmas don’t go away overnight and aren’t expected to in the next few years after Express Entry is unveiled. There is still hope though, that professional, experienced and, most importantly, motivated immigrants will be able to attain “the job” or at least employment in their field. Until then, the struggle continues for those who seem to be forever striving.

Raj continues to take courses at InTAC while working part-time at a financial institution and caring for her family. She has full confidence in herself, her abilities, and that she will one day be able to settle into her dream job of being a business analyst. She and In-TAC are working together to make that happen and it is not lost on Raj. “I am a person who would never give up an association as good as In-TAC, so I’m looking forward to be doing anything and everything to be a part of In-TAC.”

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Community

Diwali: Indo-Canadian’s Biggest and Brightest Festival of Lights Ellen O’Connor

“C

hristians have Christmas, Muslims have Eid, and for us, we have Diwali,” said 15-year-old Shaambhavi Kumar.

It’s a simple statement, but one that effectively sums up what the Festival of Lights means to the Indo-Canadian community: a celebration of light over darkness, hope over despair, and the coming together of family and friends.

This year, Canadians of Indian descent and other members of the Ottawa community gathered at the Algonquin Commons Theatre to celebrate the biggest and brightest of all Hindu festivals with an evening of music and dance performances by local artists.

Diwali is a five-day festival celebrated

by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and others across the world in autumn every year – this year on Thursday, Oct. 23. Different traditions and rituals are practiced each day, including house cleaning and decoration, shopping, and celebrating familial love.

Diwali is day three of the festival and is the main event: people dress in their best outfits, light candles and lanterns, then set off fireworks before sharing a family feast.

Ottawa’s celebration was held Saturday, Oct. 18 and was organized by the India Canada Association, a group committed to preserving and promoting Indo-Canadian culture through festivals and events across the National Capital Region. Diwali is the major multicultural event for the ICA.

Odissi Nrutyayana dance group with Rohini Gupta leading. Photo: Ellen O’Connor

“Ottawa is a hugely diverse place.

You see different organizations and cultures coming together, but it’s hard to keep in touch with your culture when you’re so far away from home,” said Kumar, who typically dances in the Diwali event, but this year worked as a volunteer backstage.

“These celebrations bring a large number of our people together because it’s a way to celebrate and stay connected with your culture. Everyone knows each other.”

The evening’s performances ranged from meticulously performed Odissa and classical dances, to folk singers and children jumping and shaking along to Bollywood favourites.

One stand-out singer was 10-yearold Kavya Srivastava, who’s pure soprano voice rang out across the auditorium as she sang Sawaar Loon, described by emcee’s, Hunsdeep Rangar and Piyus Padhi, as a Bollywood love song sure to transport the audience “to the beautiful world of cuckoos, flowers and sunshine.”

Coming from a very artistic family, Srivastava has often danced at events in the past, but this was her first time singing at the Diwali festival as she just began singing last year. Her father, Vijay Srivastava, took the stage after her to perform a vocal solo, and her mother, Lovina Srivastava, is artistic director of the Darpan Dance

A Business Expo for the Ambitious Woman

By Samantha Ammoun

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or the second time around and the first time in Ottawa, Canadian Small Business Women CEO Dwania Peele, used her networking skills and the powers of social media to gather together strong women entrepreneurs to hold the Immigrant Women’s Small Business Expo where they could share with each other how and where to begin when opening a small business.

“If anyone comes through the door and they really want to start a business, or they are still trying to figure out what to do, they have options here,” said Peele.

Seventeen exhibitors made their way to the Museum of Nature on Saturday, October 4. From makeup and accesso-

ries, to business writing professionals and consulting companies, all of the exhibitors were led by successful immigrant entrepreneurs who were ready to share their knowledge – and even free goody bags.

“There’s a need in Ottawa [for expo events like these]. A lot of the ladies we’ve met so far hadn’t heard of the services offered by the companies here today, and these companies have often been around for quite some time,” said Peele.

Peele said she believes events like the expo help immigrants get the information and the contacts they need to kickstart any kind of business.

Workshops such as How To Be A Polite Professional or No Dollars Marketing were held to help the ambitious women take her business to the next level. A

Mary Kay consultant Mary Ogunyemy. Photo: Samantha Ammoun

panel of experts was also put together to help create discussion around what challenges women face in the business world,

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 5 Group who closed the evening’s show.

Seventeen-year-old Rohini Gupta also took the stage that evening and is on her way to becoming a seasoned performer. A member of the Nrutyayana Odissi School of Dance, Gupta began dancing when she was five and has performed at festivals across the city including South Asian Festival, Festival of India, Tulip Festival and other ICA events.

“I remember at first it was really, really difficult because I wasn’t used to all the bending, stomping, keeping my hands up, and I cried a lot as a kid,” said Gupta, recollecting on when she first began her Odissi dance training. “[My teacher’s] been really proud of my progress and I’m really happy I stayed.”

Originating from the state of Odisha, Odissi is one of eight classical dance forms of India. Gupta said it is very physically demanding due to emphasis on posture and techniques that characterize the dance form.

Along with the dance and vocal performances that entertained the full auditorium, guests also dug into a dinner of India food during intermission and browsed the clothing and jewellry displayed in the foyer by Ottawa-based company Silhouette Asia.

Honourary guests Mayor Jim Watson and Deputy High Commissioner to India Mr. Tsewang Namgyal attended the event and each made a brief speech commending the efforts of the ICA and wishing everyone a happy Diwali.

“Tonight’s Diwali celebration is a wonderful extension of your work and your commitment to the community as a whole,” said Watson. He concluded, “Thank you very much for keeping your ties and love with your home country alive and also, obviously, showing your love to your new country.”

how to get past them and where to seek help when starting out.

As one of the first black women to drive the well-known pink Cadillac with Mary-Kay Canada, starting a small business did not scare cosmetician and Mary Kay consultant Mary Ogunyemy one bit.

“I’ve been with Mary Kay cosmetics for over 18 years and I started out from scratch not knowing anybody, coming all the way from Africa,” said Ogunyemy, who shared her success story at the expo. “I am so proud of these kinds of events because we are able to empower each other as women.”

To connect, inspire and teach. Those were the primary goals of the day-long event, however if Peele were to give her two sense of it all: “No matter how big or small the idea is, if it’s your idea you just continue running with it. People have this idea that they need $100, 000 to start their business and they don’t have that. I say start with a nugget of that business and build it to get to that big idea or reach out the Canadian loan fund.”

Opinion

PAGE 6 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Editorial

Letting Go

Tragedy showed Ottawa’s exemplary strength A

true test of a city’s greatness is how it handles a crisis: the lengths its people are ready to go to help and save others; the restraint they exercise in remaining calm and composed and not swept away by raw emotions of hate, hysteria and the choices and decisions the leaders of the city make.

A brutal attack on October 22 morning on a fine, friendly and unarmed Canadian Forces soldier Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial, and the ensuing gunfight inside the marbled corridors of the Parliament in Ottawa, were without doubt brazen, callous and shocking.

But what stood out from this tragedy are the exemplary qualities that this city and its people exhibited—calm, strong, resilient, and extremely brave in coming to the aid of and protecting their fellowmen.

So as we mourn the soldier, Cpl. Cirillo, we also honour the fine people who heard the shots moments after they were fired at the soldier and ran

towards the danger instead of away from it and the parliamentary sergeantat-arms Mr. Vickers, who took the suspect down and kept our entire Parliamentarians safe. These great men and women encompass and manifest the fine Canadian values and qualities that we all cherish and admire.

Let the tragedy reminds us that we are a city and country that respects democracy, personal freedom and the rule of law. In the wake of the tragedy let us not in the pretext of beefing up the security turn our peace loving nation into a militarized zone. We can argue constructively about what to do next, and work to find the correct balance.

There is no need for a knee jerk or impulsive action to a wrap Parliament Hill in new and unnecessary layers of security. Let security be reviewed, carefully not emotionally.

Canada must remain true to its open, democratic values—especially in the face of such an attack. Let us

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do everything we can to protect our politicians while maintaining an important public space for all Canadians. We have always prided ourselves over the fact that there are no fences separating our parliamentarians from the people. Let us keep it that way.

Like Londoners, who woke up the next day after terrorist had ripped apart their subway and buses and went to work as an act of defiance let us strive for peace, but fight for freedom.

We will not let hatred fan the flames of more hatred and choose to take the high road of a civilized, noble, just and tolerant society that values and nurtures diversity.

Let us rise above the violence and cruelty and continue to protect our hard—fought freedom and our way of life against attacks such as this one. We endured and we emerged with our true Canadian character intact. We will remain, in good times and bad, strong and free.

Editorial by Sangeetha Arya

Publisher: Chandrakanth Arya Chief Editor: Sangeetha Arya Editor: Ellen O’Connor

By Sangeetha Arya

“B

reathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”—Oprah Winfrey So true!

Every day, everywhere we are bombarded with the message to obtain more, reach great heights, acquire more qualifications, and make more money so on and so forth. Of course they are important. However learning to let go of the past, emotions, things, friends and other “baggage” that is holding one back—is often a secret to happiness and healing.

“We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living”.-Thich Nhat Hanh Some people believe holding on to something and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go, then doing it and feeling free and light. It helps when we are able to cry, forgive, learn, move on and “Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.”

Learning to let go is not an easy task. It means leaving of old habits, ideas, people, lifestyle and most importantly one’s comfort zone or familiar situations, habits and thinking patterns. This is stressful, often in the extreme. Therefore, most people simply do not do it. They make excuse after excuse as to why they should not change, rather than embrace change. This is the main block in most people’s way when it comes to letting go of anything in one’s life.

We can’t be afraid of change. I am saying this from my own experience. We have, in my family, always embraced change. Even when things were going very good and we were very secure in our domain we took risks and decided to venture out of it. We believed that you may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea,-much bigger thing waiting for you. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don’t have something better.

“Last night I lost the world” but “gained the universe.”

As you explore letting go, it often helps to remind yourself that “I am in the right place at the right time.”

Remember that your past was perfect, but it is time to move on, let it go completely so that your future can come to you. Interestingly unless you let go, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward with your life. Renew your life. Yesterday is past and gone.

There’s nothing you can do to bring it back. “You can’t “should’ve” done something. You can only DO something.” Today is a new day and it is all yours.

Lao Tzu beautifully summed up my feeling, “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

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Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Opinion

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 7

Treason is hardly a novel concept

By Brian Lee Crowley

O

TTAWA, ON, Troy Media—How could a Canadian do this?

That is a question on many minds in the wake of the two terror attacks this past week, in Ottawa and St-Jean-surRichelieu, Quebec.

But far from being inexplicable, such attacks are part of a phenomenon that every society is familiar with, including ones blessed with liberty, prosperity and the rule of law like Canada and other western democracies.

Treason, after all, is hardly a novel concept.

In the 20th century the west saw much treachery by its own citizens, often, but not exclusively, in the context of the Cold War. Nor is it just the disaffected who betray their country. Too often it is the educated and privileged who actively seek to harm the society that nurtured

them. Think of Burgess and Maclean, the Cambridge-educated members of Britain’s spy service, who ultimately defected to the Soviet Union after having damaged Britain’s safety, caused the death of British agents and undermined the trans-Atlantic security relationship.

The famous “Third Man,” the third traitor whose existence was unproven but long suspected, turned out to be Sir Anthony Blunt, a former Oxford don and curator of the Queen’s art collection. Not exactly the downtrodden of the East End or Wigan Pier.

Then there were the communist-inspired Red Brigades in Italy, and the Red Army Faction in West Germany, both of which carried out horrific terror attacks against their compatriots. Ditto for many groups in the U.S., including the Symbionese Liberation Army and far-right Minutemen types, including Timothy McVeigh who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma, killing 168 and wounding hundreds more. And, of course, all four of the successful assassins of U.S. presidents were themselves Americans.

The Cold War may have given rise to much treachery allegedly inspired by admiration for communist ideals, but

treason was not limited to that conflict.

Local spies for Germany were hard at work in allied countries during the Second World War. During the long conflict between Britain and Ireland, lots of English acted against the interests of their home country, including author and civil servant Erskine Childers, executed by firing squad in 1922.

In our innocent and naïve Canadian way we think that we ought somehow to be immune to this, but why anyone would think this is rather mysterious.

How soon we forget the cowardly bombings and kidnappings carried out by the FLQ in Quebec in the late 1960s and the assassination of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte.

Before that, we had our own issues of treason during the Cold War, including the scandal caused by the defection of Soviet embassy cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko with information on a major Canadian spy ring trying to steal nuclear secrets for the Soviet Union. Member of Parliament Fred Rose was imprisoned for his role in the ring, and a Royal Commission on espionage set up.

Our very first political assassination, that of Father of Confederation Thomas

D’arcy McGee in the streets of Ottawa, was carried out by a Canadian with Irish nationalist sympathies.

While most of us think Canada is the most blessed country on Earth, this view is vigorously rejected by a tiny disloyal minority. It used to be that they were mostly seduced by a utopian vision of an earthly communist paradise.

Today, the Canadians who hate what Canada stands for are more likely to be drawn from the ranks of a fringe of radicalized Muslims who believe that we are irredeemably ungodly and corrupt.

The solution in both cases is the same: a clear-eyed assessment of the dangers that we face and a commitment to preserve what the vast majority of Canadians love about this country. That means strong and unapologetic surveillance and police actions as well as personal vigilance against those who would do us harm. But it also means jealously guarding our freedom. It’s a balance we have struck before in the face of domestic threat. We will do so again.

Brian Lee Crowley is the Managing Director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an independent non-partisan public policy think tank in Ottawa. Article courtesy www.troymedia.com

The day that didn’t change Canada

By Peter Stockland

H

AMILTON, ON, Troy Media— Toronto Liberal MP John McKay was, at that moment, the admirable embodiment of the honest politicians who lead us.

“That is an excellent question,” he said. “I have absolutely no idea what the answer is.”

We were standing at the corner of Metcalfe and Albert streets in Ottawa, a few hundred metres south from where a gunman was shot dead in the Hall of Honour of Canada’s Parliament and a few blocks west of the War Memorial, where Hamilton-based soldier Nathan Cirillo had just been murdered by that same gunman.

The question put to McKay was the obvious ambient mystery of the day: how on earth, after killing Cirillo in broad daylight, could that gunman have made his way onto Parliament Hill carrying a loaded long gun, then gotten past Parliamentary security into the building itself ?

Because of the location of the Liberals’ weekly caucus meeting room, McKay and

his colleagues were able to exit the building, unlike their Conservative and New Democrat counterparts who barricaded themselves inside rooms that flank the entrance hallway where the shooting occurred.

He was close enough, though, to hear the “pop, pop, pop” of gunfire —“more than three, fewer than 10”— which he thought was the sound of construction work before he was ordered to dive for cover.

And, having made his way to safety, what was McKay doing? His duty. He was standing patiently talking to a group of reporters in a “scrum,” trying his best to explain what had just happened, openly acknowledging what he did not know.

To state the blindingly obvious, he was experiencing shock from the terror mere moments old. He had to fight to control tears. Yet he did his polite, deferential, instinctive duty to communicate, through the media, what he could to his fellow citizens.

Another ambient mystery already percolating even as police teams swarmed through cordoned-off downtown Ottawa hunting no-one-knew-what was: Will this change us? Will we be a different Canada the day after than we were in the minutes before the killing of Nathan Cirillo, the gunfire assault on our Parliament? Watching the sheer, utter normalcy of John McKay dutifully answering questions at the confluence of the chaos, I knew the

answer was “no.” It won’t change us.

Why? Because we are Canadians.

To say that we are Canadians is not to say that we imagine ourselves as some agglomeration of super heroes – or hyper stoics – immune from the vicissitudes of an outside world gone mad. To say that would be to say that being Canadian is being delusional. In our hearts, if not always on our lips, we acknowledge we have no such immunity. To pretend we believe otherwise is either myth making or mischief making or both.

We know, in our present moment and in our history, that we are indelibly, painfully marked by the world. Nathan Cirillo was guarding our War Memorial when he was killed. In less than three weeks, on November 11, we will lay wreaths there as an act of memory for those who died doing their duty all along the boundary where the world touches Canada. We will be reminded, contra myth makers and mischief makers, that we are a people who fight and die to stand on guard.

We are known as a polite and deferential people, because by and large we are.

During Wednesday’s events, a group of us snuck up to a spot outside the National Arts Centre to watch activity at the police command post. Spotting us, an officer rushed over and ordered us out, telling us that we were putting ourselves in danger.

“You don’t have to shout,” I said.

“There was nothing that said we couldn’t be here.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but you’ll have to move.”

I’m sorry but you’ll have to move. In the middle of that emotional tinderbox. I have been in other countries where the response in such tense circumstances was a gun barrel pointed at my head.

Though we are dutifully deferential, however, we do not defer to fear. We never have. I believe we never will. There is something in us, as people, that will not admit it.

Sure, there will be reviews and inquiries and reports and reassuring sounds that we’re looking into it so it never happens again. Sure, there will be “security upgrades” for access to Parliament Hill, whatever that means in an age where, as Wednesday’s events proved yet again, security means enduring time-consuming inconvenience to obtain the illusory comfort of the impossible.

But we will not be changed by fear.

And if the question of how that is possible when much of the rest of the world reacts by hunkering down, blockading in, assuming the protective position, is put to us, we will answer, following the admirable lead of our honest politicians: “That is an excellent question. We have no idea what the answer is. We’re just being Canadians.”

Peter Stockland is Senior Director, Publications and Media with Cardus, and publisher of Convivium. Article courtesy www.troymedia.com

Community

PAGE 8 • www.OttawaStar.com

Me, You and Egypt

Malak Ghanem Photo: Anaïs Lynn Voski and Participants. Photo: Anaïs Lynn Voski Anaïs Lynn Voski

T

he Egyptian Students’ Association at Carleton University hosted its annual Me, You and Egypt gathering on

Oct. 26 in the Residence Commons on campus.

For the fourth year in a row, attendees enjoyed authentic Egyptian food, music, dances, performances and even a funny

play about a confused Egyptian student who upon arrival tries to navigate Canada and Carleton’s campus for the first time.

“With over 200 attendees, this is by far the biggest Me, You and Egypt event

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014 we’ve ever had,” said Amr Daouk, advisor of the Egyptian Students’ Association (ESA).

“Attendance is increasing, so by next year we’re probably going to have to change the venue location because the current one won’t take the amount of people we’ll be getting,” he added.

The ESA stands to promote Egyptian culture on Carleton’s campus as well as help Egyptian students fit into Canadian culture and eliminate homesickness.

Despite the association’s large popularity and success, it traces humble roots.

The ESA was founded about four years ago when a couple of Egyptian students moved to Ottawa and decided to create an association in order to make themselves and others feel more at home.

Daouk said he felt something was missing after moving to Canada six years ago, which is why he was seeking a student club that would help him navigate his new country and new life.

“I wanted to fill that void I had and it definitely worked, to the extent that now I’m part of the association in order to help other students fill their void. So it’s a nice cycle,” he explained.

As Egyptian culture is extremely family-oriented, it is most commonly their relatives that Egyptian students miss when moving to Canada. However, the ESA has found a way to cope with this problem as well.

According to the club’s president Abdel Rahman El Beheri, the association has developed into more than just memberships and friendships.

He thinks the club has truly become a family and a place to call home for many members.

“Half of our guests are students who are already graduated working professionals or in their graduate studies. Yet they still want to continue contributing to the ESA family.”

El Beheri thinks teaching newcomers how to blend in with both Canadian and Egyptian cultures turns their initial culture shock and loneliness into an advantage.

“I think they should mix the opportunities available to them here to succeed professionally with the traditions and culture of Egypt,” he said. “To get the best of both worlds is great, not everyone gets a chance to do that.”

According to Malak Ghanem, Carleton student and singer at the event, the Canadian side of those two worlds is a space for creativity that one would not find in other places. “It is a great place to be what you want to be,” she said simply.

When asked what’s the best thing about Ottawa, she thinks the amount of respect people automatically give each other is fascinating because one does not find that everywhere.

“Here, people are raised to respect everyone regardless of their colour, interests, sexuality, and I find that very refreshing. It’s nice to be in that kind of environment.”

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Canadian prisons becoming ‘bloated human warehouses:’ advocacy group

By Clare Clancy, The Canadian Press

R

EGINA—An advocacy group that says Canada’s prisons are becoming “bloated human warehouses’’ has released its own ideas on how to address overcrowding.

“We’re not in a position to implement any of these things, but we are certainly in a position to advocate and point out some very concrete, common-sense ideas that would ultimately lead to greater public safety and fix a broken system,’’ said Shaun Dyer, a spokesman for the John Howard Society of Canada in Saskatchewan.

“The progression is not towards a more effective and just and humane system. We are seeing a lot more people go to jail for longer times and for lesser crimes.’’

For one thing, pretrial detention is “plodding’’ and people are spending too much time waiting for their day in court, Dyer said.

He suggested the federal government is taking the wrong approach to incarceration.

“What we often hear from the government ... is the idea that we are safer if we put more people in prison for longer, which is actually fundamentally flawed,’’ he said.

“The answer to the overcrowding, the answer to public-safety questions, is not found solely by building more prisons.’’

Some of the things the John Howard Society is emphasizing in its plan released Thursday include respecting the presumption of innocence, effectively treating mental illness and properly implementing rehabilitative programs.

In July, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association released a report that said the use of pretrial custody across Canada has risen nearly 300 per cent over the last three decades. During the same time, crime rates have declined, with 2012 recorded as the safest year since 1972.

“Quite frankly there are a lot of people in remand who are innocent, because they haven’t been pressed through on the principle of innocent until proven guilty,’’ Dyer said.

A study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released on Oct. 6 said that double-bunking in Canada’s federal prisons has become standard. The practice refers to placing two inmates in a cell designated for one.

The problem of overpopulated prisons is nationwide, but is especially critical in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Dyer said.

Author Jason Demers, who wrote “Warehousing Prisoners in Saskatchewan,’’ interviewed prisoners who complained of strained food services, lack of access to rehabilitative programs and inadequate health care.

Demers, a professor at the University of Regina, interviewed an inmate held at the Regina Correctional Centre who said there was no escape from high temperatures in the summer and no in-cell washroom to use, prompting inmates to defecate in waste baskets.

Continued on page 10

Canada

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 9

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PAGE 10 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Canadian As feds plan new anti-terror laws, some ask why current ones aren’t being used prisons becoming O ‘bloated human warehouses’

By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

Continued from page 9

“Hallways in some instances are being used to house prisoners,’’ Demers said.

Rehabilitation programs are not effectively delivered because of overpopulation, he said.

“You could boil this down to an adult version of a time out,’’ he said. “It’s really not doing anything helpful for adults.’’

Demers said many of the inmates he interviewed in Saskatchewan’s provincial facilities commented on the deterioration of conditions during their time in prison.

He said one prisoner told him that when he first arrived in jail, there was enough food at every meal and he had access to programming.

“Then all of a sudden the entire prison is just stuffed to the brim and you can only spend time in your cell,’’ Demers said. “These are the people that expressed the most disdain.

“It’s a policy-driven epidemic of over-incarceration.’’

Saskatchewan corrections spokesman Drew Wilby said “without a doubt’’ the province faces a remand issue just like other jurisdictions in Canada. He acknowledged that sometimes areas meant for programs have been used.

“We have more inmates than we have cell space in our facilities, but at the same time there is enough room in our facilities for all the inmates,’’ Wilby said.

“Taking space that was designed for one purpose and turning it into something else is not ideal.’’

Wilby said the Justice Ministry “is working to drive down demand to reduce the numbers of those incarcerated,’’ but he did not provide specifics on what is being done.

Dyer said the bottom line is that prisons simply cannot keep up with the incoming number of inmates.

“You are having to use ... program space and gym space, just to provide a sleeping space for them. The logical conclusion ... is that the programs that are supposed to be helping people prepare for living well on the outside when returning to community, they’re not being provided,’’ he said.

“When people leave prison less able and less equipped to live well in a community than when they went in, that is a public-safety issue.’’

TTAWA—The Conservative government is expected to give police and spies new tools to fight terrorism as early as next week.

But some point out that anti-terror laws already on the books aren’t being fully used to stem the threat of attacks by homegrown radicals. Under existing provisions, leaving Canada to take part in terrorism abroad is a criminal offence.

In addition, police have the power to make a preventive arrest of anyone suspected of planning a terrorist attack.

They can also require people with information relevant to the investigation of a past or future terrorist act to appear before a judge.

The Conservatives, however, are hinting more powers are needed to make pre-emptive arrests following deadly attacks on soldiers in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. That would come in addition to longplanned legislation that would give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service more power to track terror suspects abroad and provide blanket identity protection for the agency’s human sources.

University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese said Friday he hopes the government doesn’t “rush to introduce a series of new bells and whistles’’ that

don’t actually achieve anything.

“All we’re hearing from the government is that there’s something wrong with the laws.

And that’s not uncommon,’’ Forcese said.

“It’s the usual response to a crisis, especially from a federal legislature. There’s a reason why the Criminal Code’s as thick as it is.’’

Calm reflection might suggest that successive governments have developed workable anti-terror laws and have spent a lot of time and resources on improved security capabilities, said intelligence historian Wesley Wark. The Conservatives must evaluate what’s already at hand before making legislative changes, Wark said this week.

It’s important to understand why police have been reluctant to use the existing pre-emptive measures—originally brought in after the 9-11 attacks on the United States, said Forcese.

There have been suggestions the evidentiary threshold is too high, but Forcese says he can’t see “how the burden of using this measure could be any lower, frankly.’’

“The obvious operational reason for not using it is that once you pick someone up and subject them to a peace bond then your covert investigation is now over,’’ he said.

“So it’s a tool of disruption that you would presumably only use in the most dire circumstances when the wheels fall off the other aspects of your investigation.’’ There

might also be hesitation on the part of authorities about “spilling beans in open court.’’

“If that’s the reason why it’s not being used then obviously that might require a conversation about legal reform and a debate about whether we want to go there or not.’’

In the House of Common on Friday, Liberal MP Marc Garneau noted there were 80 individuals known to have returned to Canada after being involved in terrorist activities abroad—actions that are illegal under the Criminal Code. “Why have they not been charged?’’ he asked during question period.

Roxanne James, parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, said the government is “always willing and able to facilitate these efforts’’ by police, but she did not elaborate. “We are always examining tools to make the system more effective to protect all Canadians.’’

One rumoured change to anti-terrorism laws would involve following the lead of Britain and essentially outlawing the glorification of extremist acts and symbols.

“As soon as you start banning that sort of expression, you force it underground,’’ Forcese said. “You don’t quash it, you don’t quash the beliefs that animate it.

“You’ve now martyred ideas, and you may give them a street credibility, if you will - an image of resistance that they might not otherwise have.’’

We have to be smarter to stop extremism Continued from page 1

extremist organizations like al-Qaeda and ISIL would not have been better prepared for the inevitable retaliatory strike on our home soil. There should have been a lot of armed guards on the grounds of Parliament Hill.

Granted, we can’t forget than an intruder did recently manage to get into the White House in Washington, a place that is known to set a higher standard of security than Ottawa. U.S. Secret Security chief Julia Pierson resigned over that one.

Perhaps heads will roll in Canada, too.

This is not the observation of a Monday-morning quarterback; it is the simple question many Canadians much surely be asking as they assimilate this tragedy. How could a guy who had just used a shotgun to kill a Canadian solider at the War Memorial then make his way to the Centre Block and get inside unobstructed? It seems inconceivable that our security experts could not have taken more thorough precautions to short-circuit such an attack.

News reports point out that in 2012 Canada’s auditor-general identified gaps in security around the parliamentary precinct. Frankly, failure to act on that report is no excuse. The RCMP is mandated to protect the grounds, and it is clear they

didn’t do so because they were still thinking of Canada as a place militants couldn’t be bothered with. Such 1950s thinking doesn’t work in our 21st century reality.

The second impression is that we now have all the proof we need that it is time to do some soul-searching on why young Canadian men are being drawn into extremist organizations.

There have been a series of news reports of young Canadians, including a number in my home town of Calgary, who have been gone overseas to fight for ISIL. Such organizations use techniques that westerners consider barbaric and even evil. Yet, there are still many misconceptions as to why.

MI5, the British intelligence agency, has looked at the issue in depth. Its research suggests that the majority of recruits are not driven by deep religious faith; a finding that runs contrary to the popular notion of Muslim radicals. MI5 found instead that “a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalization.”

Instead, they are drawn by political reasons, or personal causes, such as economic disadvantage. Some of them just end up with the wrong crowd, such as friends or associates who are involved in criminal activity.

The religious term “jihad” is reinterpreted in a way that serves their personal objectives

or ideology. The phenomenon is not so different from what leads to the formation of any street gang in any city.

More research is needed, but the MI5 findings suggest a course of action. Youth who are marginalized seek out their own communities of interest. Sometimes, those communities get up to no good. If our society expects to change the trend, then we’ll have to find ways to make those young (mostly) men feel fully integrated into our society.

In other words, we have to invest in our youth to a greater degree than we are doing now. Make sure they have the jobs they need to succeed. Ensure they can afford to attend school. Make it easier for them to become part of the larger social network. Listen more carefully to them, so that we can respond more quickly to their needs. And, whenever possible, keep them out of our jails, which have proven to be nothing more than highly effective recruiting grounds for vulnerable, alienated youth.

The alternative is to attempt to shut down the shadowy enemy within by further stripping Canadians of once-intractable civil rights. We tried that after 9/11, and all it did was make airport trips unbearable.

Let’s try to be smarter this time.

Doug Firby is Editor-in-Chief and National Affairs columnist for Troy Media.

Canada

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

MPs, senators unanimously make Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai honorary citizen

By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press

O

TTAWA—Parliamentarians and senators have unanimously supported bestowing honorary Canadian citizenship upon Pakistani teenager and co-winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai.

The teen is being made an honorary Canadian in recognition of her bravery in her fight for the rights of women and girls to go to school, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons on Oct 21.

Yousafzai, now 17, became the target of Taliban assassins for being an outspoken advocate for the right of girls to go to school in her region of Pakistan.

She survived an attempt on her life two years ago and has since gone on to become an international spokesperson for the importance of access to education.

“She serves as a model and an inspiration to Canadians and to the entire world in her fight for universal education,’’ Harper said in the motion.

The Conservatives announced their intention to make her Canada’s sixth honorary citizen in last year’s throne speech.

Nothing more was said until earlier this month when Yousafzai was declared as the co-winner of the Nobel

Malala Yousafzai at Girl Summit 2014.

Russell Watkins/Department for International Development.

Peace Prize and the government announced she was coming to Canada.

There’s no official procedure involved in making someone an honorary citizen though precedent has been for the House of Commons and Senate to approve a motion before the honour is officially granted.

“We are honouring Malala today but really it is our honour for us to bring her within the family of Canadian citizens because her aspirations mirror the very best of our own values,’’ Liberal Senator James Cowan said during the Senate debate on the motion.

“Today we are standing as a nation and telling the world: ‘we are all Malala.’’’

Here are five things to know about honorary citizenship:

—The first person to ever receive the honour was Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued thousands of Jews during the Second World War. He was granted citizenship posthumously in 1985. Wallenberg is believed to have died in a Soviet prison in 1947.

—The other four were the Aga Khan (2010), Aung San Suu Kyi (2007), the 14th Dalai Lama (2006) and Nelson Mandela (2001). All except Suu Kyi were presented with their honorary citizenship at ceremonies in Canada; Suu Kyi received hers from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird during his visit to Myanmar in 2012.

—There is no formal procedure required to make someone an honorary citizen; it is a purely political decision. Over the years, however, several MPs and senators have called for a more codified system, including the suggestion of an all-party committee to review recommended recipients.

—Precedent has been for a joint resolution to be passed by the House of Commons and Senate in order to grant someone the honour. In Yousafzai’s case, the motion was introudced Tuesday afternoon.

—The honour is symbolic. Honorary citizens do not have any rights or privileges associated with Canadian citizenship, such as a passport or the right to vote.

Ontario, Quebec want social, community groups to reach out to radicalized youth The Canadian Press

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont.— The premiers of Quebec and Ontario say helping identify radicalized young people and reintegrating them back into the community cannot be left only to police and security services.

Premier Philippe Couillard says he called the leaders of Quebec’s Muslim community to thank them for their quick condemnation of October’s deadly attacks against soldiers in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. Couillard says authorities have to engage the communities so young people that become disillusioned with life don’t find a solution in violence or radicalization.

He says the way to do this is through social workers and through mosques, for example, but not through the police.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

Ottawa Premier Kathleen Wynne. xxxxx.

Photo courtesy: Philippe Couillard.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she agrees that community organizations need to be directly involved in helping deal with the problem of radicalized youth.

Wynne says it’s an issue for the broader community—not just a single ethnic group—and she promises the

province will work with social agencies as well as security services to help deal with young people who may pose a threat.

“There isn’t one solution to this,’’ she said. “This is all of us figuring out how young people are falling through the cracks or are getting onto a path that makes them dangerous to everyone else.’’

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 11

Ottawa has no right to strip people of citizenship: Lawyers Continued from page 1

will be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The challenge was launched by lawyers Paul Slansky, who represented the Constitutional Rights Centre, and Rocco Galati, who has been a thorn in the side of the Conservative government by successfully challenging the appointment of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court and has also challenged the appointment of a Quebec Court of Appeal judge.

They argue that Parliament did not have the authority to legislate on the issue based on language about citizenship in the constitution.

The public should pay attention to the case, Slansky said, because even though the government will say these changes only deal with treason and terrorism offences, it could go further.

“If the court says they have authority to do this, what’s to stop them from next week, next month, next year, from saying, ‘Well, we’re going to say you’re no longer a citizen if you’re convicted of any offence, or convicted of serious violent offences, or if you don’t vote for the Conservative party?’’ he said outside court.

Government lawyer Greg George says the provisions are not yet being enforced, but “if and when’’ they are, they will be used against someone who has committed “some of the most serious, serious things that can be done against the state.’’

The judge wondered if the law creates two categories of Canadian citizens.

“We’re saying citizens that hold dual citizenship can be removed to another country,’’ Rennie said. “Citizens that don’t, aren’t going to be removed. And that creation of a distinction within the concept... has to be problematic.’’

No one would be rendered stateless under the law, George said.

“The only time a person would not be treated equally, so to speak, is if, again, they’ve committed some heinous crime, some very serious crime in regards to the state,’’ he said. “It’s not that these provisions will be used against a group of people, ethnic, religious, what-have-you. It’s about individuals and their own choices.’’

The provisions will apply equally to naturalborn and naturalized citizens, he said.

Galati said people born in Canada are citizens, “period,’’ and once a citizen has been naturalized they have the same rights as someone who is natural born. Galati, who is himself a naturalized citizen, said unless there has been fraud in the naturalization process, the government does not have the legal authority to “yank back’’ that citizenship.

PAGE 12 • www.OttawaStar.com

Canada

Harper waited among MPs, terrifying unknown on other side of doors

By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—For a few moments that must have felt like an eternity, the prime minister of Canada stood hiding in a closet-like space within the Conservative caucus room.

The Mounties who are assigned to protect him on a daily basis initially stood on the other side of the doors to that Parliamentary Reading Room, doors that suddenly seemed too thin, the locks too flimsy.

Already, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has announced a change to Harper’s security detail.

“Now we have adopted a condition where we will stay with the prime minister in his protective detail 24/7, no matter where he is,’’ Paulson said at a news conference Oct 23.

The dramatic accounts of what happened Oct 23 morning on Parliament Hill continued to spill out in the aftermath, and have raised questions about the quality of safety in those marble and limestone halls.

MPs toured the hallway outside their caucus rooms Oct 23, looking incredulously at the bullet holes left in the walls after the shootout between slain shooter Michael Zehaf Bibeau and House of Commons guards and RCMP officers.

In the case of the NDP’s meeting space, the Railway Room, a bullet had passed directly through the main doors and into the padded, sound-blocking door behind it. There is another bullet hole in the wall outside the Conservative room.

The day began as most Wednesdays do when Parliament is sitting. Conservative and NDP MPs filed into their rooms on opposite sides of the Hall of Honour around 9:30 a.m. Often they give up their smart phones to uphold confidentiality.

A half-hour later, they heard a loud bang outside. Of the many MPs who spoke to The Canadian Press, all agreed that they thought nothing of that first loud sound— some thought it was food trays falling on the marble floor or the seemingly perpetual construction work outside.

Harper continued with his remarks to his caucus.

But then the rat-a-tat-tat of more gunfire boomed through the building.

The atmosphere in the caucus rooms changed radically. MPs described the sound as deafening. All said they thought several gunman were outside. The worst, say MPs, was the unknown.

“Because we heard so many gunshots, the impression I had was there were several gunmen outside with machine guns about to enter and spray the caucus,’’ said Ontario Conservative MP Jay Aspin. “It was pretty traumatic.’’

“My next thought, was well, if they’re right outside our door...the next thing they’d do is that there’d be a dozen terrorists busting through the wooden door and spraying bullets everywhere,’’ said Treasury Board President Tony Clement.

Tables were overturned in the NDP caucus room.

“It never crossed my mind before, but wood doesn’t stop bullets, why aren’t these doors metal? And I wasn’t so sure the locking was so great either—this feels precarious,’’ MP Nathan Cullen said of his thought process. “If these guys are coming through, we’re going to have to do something once they get through. Standing against the walls isn’t going to cut it.’’

In both the NDP and Conservative rooms, unarmed House of Commons security guards who were able to get in

helped to direct the parliamentarians and keep them away from the doors. Tories with military or police experience, such as David Wilks and Laurie Hawn, also helped to take control of the situation.

Several Conservatives said Harper initially tried to leave the room along with other MPs out of a north-facing door but was persuaded to stay instead of going out into the melee and an uncertain fate. Many Tories were initially convinced Harper had left, when in fact he was still in the room for about 15 minutes - hidden.

Harper hunkered down into what has been described as a closet or a closetlike space, according to multiple Conservatives. MPs and senators lay on the ground or stood pressed against the walls.

“We were told later that the decision was made to keep us in the room because the prime minister was there,’’ said one Conservative, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“So while we didn’t know what was going on outside, the decision was made to keep in there.’’

Clement and colleagues Kyle Seeback, Mark Strahl, Michelle Rempel and Blake Richards made it out in the first moments and slipped up an adjacent stairwell, moving briefly towards the action.

“I thought where we were was going to be the murder zone so for me to get out of there made the most sense, although we ran right into the fusillade,’’ said Clement.

Chairs and tables were stacked against the doorways. When an RCMP officer pleaded at the Conservative door to come inside, it took time for MPs to be reassured it was OK to open the entranceway and let him inside.

Harper was eventually whisked away once Mounties were let in the room. The rest of the caucus was left to wait in the

Montreal’s French invasion Continued from page 1

Faure isn’t alone. Faced with a slumping economy and high unemployment rate back home, the number of French citizens in Montreal has soared in recent years, particularly among the 25-40 age demographic.

These days, the unmistakable accent of the Old Country echoes through the bars and cafes of the city’s trendy Plateau district. Specialty stores offering made-in-France delicacies and pubs that televise French rugby and soccer matches have also recently popped up.

By 2013, nearly 55,000 French citizens were registered at the French Consulate in Montreal, up by about 45 per cent from 2005, according to the consulate.

In reality, that number is likely much higher.

A consulate spokesman estimates only about half of the French in Canada register, putting the estimated number of French citizens in Montreal at about 110,000. Toronto and Quebec City are the next most popular destinations, each home to about 10,000 registered French citizens.

The growing French presence in Montreal has even stirred up hints of resentment.

A satirical song called “Y’a trop de Francais sur le Plateau,’’ which takes jabs at the perceived snobbiness of the French and their love of cigarettes, has been viewed 143,000 times on YouTube. The tune was written by Fred Fresh, a musician who himself hails from France.

Still, many view Montreal as a place of opportunity.

Laure Juilliard moved from Paris seven years ago. Only 22 at the time, she completed a one-year technical program, found a job three weeks later and has lived here ever since.

“There was a sense of freedom—from family, and from France, which is much more traditional and hierarchical,’’ said Juilliard, now a freelance writer who runs the popular lifestyle blog Une Parisienne a Montreal.

“I felt you could be much more yourself here than in France, and not feel the judgment of others, and even if there is judgment, it’s not necessarily negative.’’

It’s unclear how many of these new arrivals will stay for the long haul.

Over the past decade, 30,000 immigrants from France have gained per-

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014 room for another approximately nine hours, without food. Aspin, who is diabetic, says he luckily stocked his pockets with granola bars and a banana that morning.

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Randy Hoback said there was general feeling of confusion and helplessness.

“The first instinct was to get out of the room, but then you realize the firing is coming from outside the room so the best thing to do is stay in the room,’’ said Hoback.

“I just basically went to the back of the room against the wall and sat down with a couple of colleagues, put my arm around them and said a little prayer and waited it out.’’

At one point in the day, House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers came in with a blunt but comforting update.

“I engaged the assailant, he is deceased,’’ Vickers told Conservative MPs, according to one who was in the room.

Clement and others who had barricaded themselves on another floor were eventually rescued by a soldier who had been busting down doors room by room through the building. They had to pass the doorway of the Library of Parliament, where the body of Zehaf Bibeau still lay.

The soldier moved them to a war memorial room on the third floor, where the MPs joined about 26 visiting students from Switzerland and a couple visiting from Texas.

Elsewhere in Centre Block, House of Commons and Senate staff were told to stay in their offices and lock the doors.

When police did their rounds later, they entered rooms with guns drawn, ordering people to get their hands up and lie on the ground as they searched the area.

Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre was said to wield a bronze flagpole for most of the day, even clutching it hours later when they were escorted from the building.

A day later, MPs have many questions about the safety of their caucus rooms, the wisdom of leaving House of Commons security staff unarmed, and the security of the front doors to the building.

manent resident status in Quebec, according to the consulate, far below the total number here on temporary student and work-travel visas. But it’s still among the top immigrant countries of origin in Quebec, alongside Algeria, Morocco, China and Haiti.

Edith Courtial, who moved to Montreal this summer with her partner, said she has no plans to leave any time soon.

Courtial has a degree in hotel management but said she feels less restricted by educational background in Canada.

“In France, when you’re looking for work, you’re really tied to your diploma,’’ said Courtial, originally from the south of France.

If she can find stable employment here, the only other factor that could dissuade her from making Montreal home is the brutal Canadian winter she’s heard so much about.

“I lived in Vancouver for a year, but I know that’s not the same thing,’’ she said.

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

World

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 13

What we can learn from India’s low-cost Mars orbital mission India’s art of ingenious improvisation

By Dr. Karine Schomer

S

AN FRANCISCO, CA, Troy Media—On September 23, 2014, 10 months after its flawless launch on Nov 5, 2013, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) successfully entered orbit around Mars, two days after NASA’s MAVEN orbiter reached the Red Planet. The news stunned the world.

India became the first Asian nation to join the global space elite of the U.S., Europe and Russia, and accomplished its Mars mission on the first attempt.

Most astonishing of all was the fact that India’s MOM had cost $74 million to NASA’s $671 million for the MAVEN project, and had taken 18 months from start to launch, while NASA’s had been five years in the making.

What made this possible? In addition to scientific and engineering excellence, what fundamental strength of the Indian way of getting things done and approach to innovation accounts for this technological feat on a shoestring? What can NASA learn from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)? What can the mature developed economies of the world learn from this example of what has been accomplished in the resource-constrained environment of an emerging economy?

A few months earlier, I had been invited to brief the NISAR Mission Project Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena working on a joint mission between NASA and ISRO to design and launch by 2020 a satellite with advanced radar imaging that will provide an unprecedented capability to observe the natural processes of the changing earth. The purpose of the briefing was to create awareness of cultural differences in thinking, communication, ways of working and management style that could potentially affect the success of this high-stakes India-U.S. scientific and technological undertaking.

At JPL, I met Alok Chatterjee, Mission Interface Manager and main architect of this joint project with India. A veteran of both ISRO and NASA/JPL, he had also helped set up JPL support for ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission. We had the opportunity to discuss at length the differences in how projects are planned and carried out in India and the U.S., with special reference to ISRO and NASA/JPL, and how to make such project collaborations successful.

ting the maximum out of spending the least amount of resources, including time. And while jugaad cannot defy the laws of physics in getting a complex space mission like MOM accomplished, it is definitely a timetested approach that has proved applicable to processes for achieving the mission’s accelerated goals.” Or, in the words of ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishna, “It’s a question of philosophy, and each country has its own.”

India’s Mars Orbiter Mission “space venture on a shoestring” was thus made possible not only by less Regional dust storm activities over Northern Hemisphere of Mars - captured by Mars Color Camera on-board expensive engineering Mars Orbiter Spacecraft from altitude of 74500 km on Sep 28, 2014 . Photo: ISRO talent willing to work around the clock, but of Indian entrepreneurial energy and The parallel development and also by using ingenious improvisation optimism. launching of the India and U.S. Mars to cope successfully with resource constraints and exceptionally tight timelines.

There are myriad examples of jugaad orbiters provided us with a high-profile ISRO built the final model from the start in action in India at the level of everyday case in point for what we both believe is a instead of building a series of iterative work style as well as fundamental attitude fundamental aspect of the Indian mindset that needs to be understood, apprecimodels, as NASA does. They limited the and belief. What each reveals is that, in the ated and negotiated on a daily basis by number of ground tests. They used comIndian environment, flexibility and “playing it by ear” is not only habitual, and ponents and building blocks from earlier all who work with Indian partners and often a matter of necessity, and is considand concurrent missions. They also circounterparts. This approach and way ered a strength rather than a weakness. cumvented the lack of a rocket powerful of thinking is superbly captured by the Historically, under feudalism, colonialism enough to launch the satellite directly out colloquial Hindi term ‘jugaad’—India’s and—later on—the “bureaucracy raj” of of the earth’s gravitational pull by having art of ingenious improvisation. the first 40 years of independent India, the satellite orbit the earth for a month to In its original meaning, jugaad refers to makeshift motor vehicles cobbled the ability to work around the system, to build up enough speed to break free from together from whatever parts are at improvise (and to circumvent the rules!) the earth’s gravitational pull. hand. Unregistered, untaxed, unreguwas often required for any kind of success.

Right now, in the afterglow of lated, and officially banned by the InOf course, jugaad is a two-edged India’s space age triumph on a frugal dian government, jugaad vehicles are a sword. Social commentators and manbudget, the strengths of the jugaad agement theorists in India line up on public safety hazard, but they are also a philosophy seem vindicated. But had opposite sides of an ongoing and heated creative solution to the immediate probthe Mars Orbiter Mission story ended lem of providing transportation in rural national debate about the pros and cons differently, in failure, as have 30 out of areas and among the nation’s poor. of the jugaad approach. For some, it’s the 51 attempts the world has made By extension, however, jugaad has “an Indian commodity ripe for export”, to reach Mars, the talk in India today come to refer to a habit of mind, born while for others it’s an attitude that can would be far different from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hailing of the of historical scarcity and an environmean choosing expediency over longment of uncertainty, which emphasizes mission as “a shining symbol of what term effectiveness, and creating temporary solutions that cut corners and comad hoc improvisation and flexibility as we are capable of as a nation.” There promise on quality. a way of getting things done. Jugaad would be questioning of whether the It’s not surprising, then, to see Inmeans different things in different connational genius for low-cost improvised texts, but it’s fundamentally the art of dian commentary on the Mars Orbiter innovation and ingenious workaround “making things work” in the immediate Mission phrased in terms of the ongosolutions is indeed the key to a successing national debate about jugaad. “No ful future. present circumstances. It enables people room for jugaad on Mars” is the title of Karine Schomer, PhD and President of to come up with quick, innovative and a Times of India Op-Ed piece written Change Management Consulting and Trainlow-cost ways of solving problems, and ing, LLC, is a global cross-cultural manageright after the satellite entered into orbit. to make something work even when ment consultant, speaker and coach to global But for NASA/JPL’s Alok Chatterjee, conventional wisdom says it isn’t possible. It’s a philosophy that is at the heart project teams.

“Jugaad is the Indian approach of get-

World

PAGE 14 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Fatal factory fire in Scientists explain Ebola’s scare Italian town exposes factor and that what we really illicit Chinese should fear is fear itself economy’s high toll Continued from page 1

By Erika Kinetz, The Associated Press

P

RATO, Italy—There was no fire alarm at the garment factory outside Florence where Chen Changzhong worked and lived.

Heat finally startled him awake the morning of Dec. 1, 2013. Before him was a maze of burning fabric. He raced through the building, the only worker to survive.

Seven people died at the Teresa Moda factory in Prato, a largely Chinese manufacturing district in Tuscany.

It was the deadliest in living memory, exposing the true costs of cheap clothes and the pursuit of profit over safety in the thriving, illicit economy that has grown in the wake of Chinese immigration to Italy.

The fire spurred authorities to redouble enforcement, with a campaign of factory inspections kicked off last month.

It inspired the Chinese consulate in Florence to rally more than 400 Chinese businesses to pursue stronger safety measures.

Five people now face homicide charges including—in a rare move—two Italians who owned the building. Prosecutors contend they failed to meet basic safeguards such as fire alarms and adequate fire extinguishers. Defence lawyers say their clients are not guilty.

For years, thousands of Chinese migrants have been smuggled to Italy, finding work at factories that ignore basic safety standards, and billions of euros have been smuggled back to China, police investigations show.

The savings on tax and labour have given businesses that break the law a crushing competitive advantage.

In a sign of the growing global impact of Chinese crime, the justice ministers of China and Italy last month signed a memorandum of cooperation on investigations in the fight against transnational organized crime.

“Chinese communities are very closed and difficult to penetrate,’’ said Franco Roberti, Italy’s chief Continued on page 15

The impact of fear Holman found in studies published by the American Medical Association that the people who spent more time watching television coverage on the Sept. 11 attacks—and reported fear and anxiety—were three times as likely to report new heart problems. The more coverage they watched, the more physical ailments they reported, she said.

Similarly, after the Boston Marathon bombing, people who watched six hours or more of coverage reported far more stress than those who watched less, Holman said. That was true even for those at the bombing.

Bruce McEwen, a neuroscientist who studies stress at Rockefeller University in New York, said the fear can lead people to change their lifestyle, making them isolate themselves, lose sleep, stop exercising, change their diet for the worse and drink or smoke.

“It’s likely to cause them problems down the road even if there is no direct infection,’’ McEwen said.

Good fear vs. Bad fear There are two types of fear that can almost come down to good fear and bad fear.

The good fear is the type we look for around Halloween in haunted houses or on roller coaster rides at amusement parks. It’s short, intense, gets our juices going and removes boredom, said Vanderbilt University psychiatry professor David Zald.

“There’s a benefit of being afraid. In controlled situations, many of us enjoy briefly being afraid,’’ Zald said. “It can whip our attention to the here and now like nothing else.’’

There’s a sense of mastery or bravery that comes out of walking out alive from a haunted house or giant roller coaster, Zald said.

That type of acute-but-short stress actually makes our immune system work better, McEwen said.

But long-term exposure to stress has the reverse effect on the immune system. That’s when it elevates our blood pressure and contributes to heart disease.

Understanding the risk of fear One of the major unknown problems with risk and fear is that the public doesn’t understand how at risk they are from worry, not disease. “It’ll do far more damage than the disease,’’ said David Ropeik, who teaches risk perception and communication and has written two books on risk.

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Doctors and government officials tell us not to worry and how hard it is to get Ebola, which is reassuring, Ropeik said. But “all the alarms are filling up on our radar screens,’’ and we give more weight to the alarms because of the fear of death, he said.

Ebola pushes “all those fear buttons’’ because it is new and foreign, said George Gray, director of the Center for Risk Science and Public Health at George Washington University.

Part of it is just the fear of the unknown, said Mark Schuster, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “It’s not a name that’s familiar. It doesn’t sound like an English word. It comes from another continent.’’

Americans who say they don’t quite understand how Ebola is transmitted report being more worried than those who say they do, according to an Associated Press-GfK Poll conducted in the past week and released Wednesday. Overall, 58 per cent of those who acknowledge they don’t understand Ebola very well say they are concerned it will spread widely in the U.S., compared to 46 per cent of those who say they understand Ebola transmission.

We fear what we can’t control.

People often fear the far less deadly plane travel than driving because they aren’t in control. Seeing trained medical professionals catch the disease despite protective gear only adds to the fear, Zald said.

Instead of using dry statistics such as 1 in 150 million, comparing your chances of contracting Ebola in America to that of marrying Kim Kardashian helps people understand and visualize risk better, Zald and Schuster said.

Mistakes and wrong statements by public health officials and politicization of the issue only make fear and public trust worse, said Baruch Fischhoff, a professor of decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.

Add wall-to-wall coverage that makes Ebola easy to picture.

“You create this hysteria about Ebola and unfounded fear, and people get all worried,’’ Holman said.

Ropeik said, thinking about how worrying can make us sick may put Ebola more in perspective: “We need to fear the danger of getting risk wrong ... Chronic worry is really bad for our health.’’

World

Ottawa Star • November 1, 2014

Crossing enemy lines, Arab singers leave Israel to compete in ‘Arab Idol’

By Areej Hazboun, The Associated Press

M

AJD AL-KRUM, Israel—Their goal is to win Arab Idol, the Arab world’s premiere television song competition.

But the journey Manal Mousa, 25, and Haitham Khalaily, 24, have taken from their villages in Israel to the competition in Lebanon could comprise a television drama of its own—featuring travel to an enemy country, Israeli security interrogations, and the complicated identity crisis of Israel’s Arabs.

The two singers are competing for more than just fame: they want to be a part of the cultural world that has been largely off limits to them because of the decadeslong Arab-Israeli conflict.

“This is a chance for Haitham,’’ said Waheeb Khalaily, Haitham’s father, in his home in Majd Al-Krum, a village in the Galilee, in northern Israel. “For the Arab world and the whole world to hear him and say that he represents a Palestinian people that clings to its land.’’

In the bitter conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours, Arab-Israelis are stuck in the middle. Though citizens of the Jewish state, they share the ethnicity, language and culture of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Arabs who remained in Israel after its creation in 1948, and their descendants, today make up 20 per cent of the population.

Many identify as Palestinians rather than Israelis, watch Arab satellite television and dream of travelling throughout the Middle East. But their Israeli citizenship bars them from most Arab countries because Israeli passport holders are prohibited entry.

That includes the Lebanese capital of Beirut, where many Arab stars are born.

When the show held its first-ever auditions in the West Bank in March, the lure of making it big was too tempting for Mousa and Khalaily to worry about borders.

They, and other young Arab singers in Israel, drove past Israeli military checkpoints to stand in line with hundreds of Palestinians for videotaped auditions. Mousa, Khalaily and two dozen others advanced to the next round in Beirut the following month.

The Israeli-Lebanese border is sealed, so the two used their Israeli passports to cross into neighbouring Jordan where they boarded a plane for Beirut. At the Lebanese airport, they presented travel documents that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank issued them especially for the trip, a Palestinian interior ministry official said.

In Beirut, they passed all three rounds of auditions and were chosen to be among the 26 final contestants from around the Arab world - the first time Arabs from Israel have ever been selected for the show.

After Mousa and Khalaily returned to Israel in May to wait for the show’s taping, Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service summoned them for interrogations about their

travel, their families said. Their Israeli passports were confiscated and they were told the passports would be revoked for up to three months, the families said. Through the help of rights groups, their passports were returned within days, Mousa’s family said.

The Shin Bet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel has sentenced Arab-Israelis in the past on charges of travelling abroad to conspire with militant groups for attacks against Israel or to fight alongside rebels in Syria.

The same month the two singers travelled to Lebanon, Israel arrested a 23-yearold Arab-Israeli journalist returning from a conference there. Officials initially thought he was recruited by militants but later dropped the suspicion.

Travel to Lebanon is punishable under Israeli law by four years in jail or paying a fine, said Aram Mahameed, a lawyer from the Arab-Israeli rights group Adalah, whom Khalaily’s family consulted after the contestant was interrogated.

“It is a law against the Arabs in Israel to disconnect them from other Arabs in the Arab countries,’’ said Mahameed.

Though Jewish and Arab Israelis have faced indictment for travelling to Lebanon, their trials generally do not proceed unless they are accused of other crimes,

he said, adding that Jewish Israeli journalists who have gone to Lebanon have not been questioned upon their return.

Mousa and Khalaily are now in Beirut taping the show, which is airing weekly on the Arab satellite channel MBC. Show producers said in a statement that contestants were unavailable for media interviews due to “exhausting preparations and tight production deadlines.’’

Last year, Lina Makhoul, an ArabIsraeli, won on the Israeli TV singing show The Voice, but her success has been confined to Israel. By contrast, when Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian from Gaza, won Arab Idol last year, he catapulted to fame, and he continues to perform before Arab audiences throughout the Middle East, the United States and Europe.

It is unclear whether the two contestants’ Israeli connection will affect their chances. Some in the Arab world perceive Arabs in Israel as traitors. Others sympathetically view Israel’s Arabs as those who remained while others fled or were driven out in the 1948 war surrounding the end of the British Mandate of Palestine and the establishment of the Jewish state.

Mousa’s sister, Sabren, said her family feels “100 per cent’’ Palestinian.

“We live in Israel that was originally

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 15 Palestine. I feel very proud ... that we did not give up our lands,’’ she said from their home in the Galilee village of Deir AlAssad in Israel’s north.

Though some fans in the contestants’ home base know by word of mouth that they live in Israel, viewers wouldn’t know by watching the show.

Banners on the screen label them as hailing from Palestine, and the show makes no reference to their connections to Israel.

In a recent episode, Mousa sang a Palestinian ballad wearing dark red lipstick, a traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, and a headband of dangling coins.

“I salute the Palestine inside you,’’ said Lebanese singing heartthrob Wael Kfouri, one of the judges.

“You’re telling people that the voice of Palestine will reach the whole world,’’ said another judge, Egyptian composer Hassan El Shafei, as the studio audience applauded and Mousa’s eyes filled with tears.

Arab Idol is largely cut off from the singers’ fan base in Israel. The show provides no local phone numbers for Arabs in Israel to dial to vote for contestants, so every week their families drive to the West Bank and use a Palestinian cellphone provider to cast their votes.

Khalaily’s sister says she worries about her brother being charged for breaking Israeli law when he returns from Beirut.

“We hope he won’t face problems, but if he does, he has nothing to fear,’’ said Eman Khalaily. “He went to sing and that’s what he loves to do ... He wants his voice to reach everywhere.’’

Prosecutors said the deaths could have been prevented Continued from page 14

anti-mafia prosecutor. “Until now, we haven’t had the possibility of relating with Chinese investigative authorities.’’

Gino Reolon, the provincial commander of Italy’s financial police, said Prato serves as a laboratory for the study of Chinese organized crime. “It’s like a virus, a new disease,’’ he said.

More than 40,000 Chinese live in Prato, some 15,000 illegally. The area has one of the highest concentrations of Chinese in Europe. Many migrants started their own businesses and created a kind of outsourcing in which merchandise wasn’t exported; China itself was.

Teresa Moda was one of thousands of Chinese factories that churn out cheap “fast fashion’’ garments, taking advantage of the proximity to Europe, their main market, and the cachet of the “Made in Italy’’ brand. Yet the clothes are made by Chinese workers in Chinese factories.

Critics say migrants brought a cultural disregard for regulations that don’t maximize profit, which has allowed Chi-

nese businesses to thrive right through the global financial crisis.

Authorities have raided over 1,900 Chinese factories in the past 6 1/2 years, closing 909 for safety and labour violations. Sanctioned factories rarely bother to fix those problems, preferring to reopen under a new name, according to Flora Leoni, a municipal police captain.

Prosecutors said the only fire exit at Teresa Moda was blocked by tons of flammable fabric, an assertion a defence attorney contests.

Workers slept at the factory, illegally. According to court documents, Chen put in 13 hours to 17 hours a day for 2 euros to 3 euros an hour, a fraction of Italy’s legal minimum wage. He and five co-workers were in Italy illegally.

They had worked until nearly 2 a.m. the morning of the fire.

Prosecutors said the deaths could have been prevented.

Authorities spent months trying to prove a woman named Lin You Lan was actually in charge of Teresa Moda and that the legal owner was a

front. Chinese companies often open and close quickly to avoid scrutiny, and prosecutors said Teresa Moda was the fourth company Lin had run out of the same building.

Lin’s defence lawyer, Gabriele Zanobini, said she was an employee of Teresa Moda and never owned a business at the address. After the fire, Lin helped send 900,000 yuan ($147,000) to each dead worker’s family. Zanobini said the payments were made out of a sense of moral responsibility, not an attempt to derail the trial.

The funeral for the fire victims took place the third Saturday of June, after months of contention about how to cover costs. Volunteers handed out water to the crowd in the heat.

Chen listened from a shaded spot of grass. A shiny scar snaked around his thumb and up his left arm, the burn a mark of survival. He listened as the Chinese consul general urged factory owners to make their workplaces safer.

“All of us should reflect profoundly,’’ said Wang Xinxia, “to learn this lesson of blood.’’

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