Mohamed Boudjenane

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Mohamed Boudjenane

Mohamed Boudjenane, June 7, 2006
Born July 3, 1961 (1961-07-03) (age 46)
Morocco
Residence Toronto, Ontario
Occupation Political Activist
Employers Canadian Arab Federation
Title Executive Director, Canadian Arab Federation
Political party New Democratic Party
Religious beliefs Muslim
Website
www.mondp.ca

Mohamed Boudjenane (July 3, 1961) is a Moroccan-born journalist and social democratic politician in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. He is currently Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Federation.

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[edit] Career

Born in Morocco, Boudjenane came to Canada at the age of 20 to study international economics and communications at Université Laval. During this time, he worked at Quebec City's City Hall, and was a reporter and board director for the local campus radio station, CKRL-FM. In 1989, Boudjenane moved to Ontario to become a political advisor and then executive assistant to the Minister of Transportation and Francophone Affairs, where he spent four years working on a broad set of policy issues for the provincial government.

In 1995, Boudjenane joined the provincial broadcaster TFO as bureau chief for the Ontario Legislative Assembly. For the next ten years he covered Ontario politics for Ontario’s leading Francophone public affairs program, Panorama. He was also a regular panelist discussing provincial political affairs for CBLA's Metro Morning, and he contributed pieces to CBC Radio’s Dispatches, as well as the Moroccan segment of an award-winning documentary on terrorist networks that was co-produced internationally by CBC, the New York Times, and PBS.

Boudjenane's work in the area of anti-racism, civil liberties and human rights has included memberships on the Toronto Chief of Police’s Advisory Council and the executive of the National Antiracism Canadian Coalition. He has made public presentations to the Arar public inquiry, and to federal parliamentary committees examining Bill c36, the anti-terrorism legislation. He continues to be invited by international organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to speak on issues related to Islamophobia and hate-crimes.

Boudjenane also served as vice-president of both the l’Association Canadienne Francaise de l’Ontario (ACFO) and the Canadian Media Guild at TV Ontario. He has made presentations to the Heritage Committee on the future of public television.

[edit] Candidate for NDP in Etobicoke North

On July 9, 2007, Boudjenane was acclaimed as the NDP's provincial candidate in Etobicoke North.[1] He ran against Liberal party MPP Shafiq Qaadri and Mohamed Kassim of the Progressive Conservative party.[1] This Etobicoke North election was unique, because for the first time in Ontario political history, all three candidates from the three major political parties, in the same electoral district, were Muslim.[1] In 2007, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincided with the election campaign. Ramadan slightly complicated campaigning by the candidates, due to the implication that the candidates, and a substantial number of electors, were supposed to fast during daylight hours. [2]

[edit] Israel-Palestine Conflict

Mohamed Boudjenane has stated that Canada's new more pro-Israel stance has cost its credibility as an 'honest-broker' in related peace talks. Regarding Canada's rejection of Hamas, Boudjenane noted that "at the end of the day, Hamas was elected by the Palestinians -- democratically,"[3] in a "transparent, open and democratic process."[3] He added that "How can we deny to people, who decide to elect their government democratically, the right to do so? Especially when we invade (other) countries to pretend to go there and export democracy?"... "What kind of message are we sending as Canadians to ... other parts of the Arab world?"[3]

While Boudjenane did express support for Canada's renewed pledge of aid to the new Palestinian Authority in 2007 (after it broke with Hamas), he complained that the aid was "unfortunately, a little bit too late."[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Benzie, Robert. "Ontario history in the making", News, The Toronto Star, July 5, 2007, pp. A6. Retrieved on 2007-07-06. 
  2. ^ Etobicoke North (HTML). 39th General Election - October 10, 2007: Real Time Electoral District Results. Elections Ontario (2007-10-11). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  3. ^ a b c "Israel's foreign minister on whirlwind visit", CTV News, March 12, 2007. 
  4. ^ Lunau, Kate. "'Our first move is to support Abbas': The Canada-Israel Committee, Muslim groups and academics respond to Canada's renewed relations with the Palestinians" (HTML), Maclean's, Rogers Communications, 2007-06-21. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. (English) 

[edit] External links