Hates Canada, loves school
'Ashamed' of nation but won't leave without degree
"When the country I was born in shames me with its colonial mindset, I refuse to celebrate it, and will not apologize for refusing to do so"-- Former Canadian Arab Federation VP Omar Shaban
He still seems to hate this country.
But Omar Shaban won't be leaving anytime soon.
"I still have to finish my school," he said in an interview yesterday, when I asked that if he doesn't like it here why doesn't he head back to Lebanon where he grew up. "I am still studying."
Oh sure, of course! So much for "F... Canada," eh -- at least until his top-notch education is completed.
Although born here but raised in Lebanon, this Canadian calls Canada a "genocidal state" that he's "ashamed of," but says he'll hang around long enough to get a grubby university degree in international relations from Vancouver's Kwantlen Polytechnic University in B.C. that'll be accepted the world over.
"I am idealistic," he tells me.
But not idealistic enough it seems to walk out on a country he despises until he takes maximum benefit from it.
Opportunistic might be a better word -- although Shaban is hardly the only one. Even the 23-year-old sees the irony of it.
"I do understand Canada does have liberties," he said, adding this is why he feels comfortable expressing his free speech for those who he says don't.
"I am not angry, I am simply conscious," he said. "I heard the natives speak and I saw their suffering and I cannot in good conscience celebrate a day that they mourn."
This position, he said, led to him posting "F--- Canada Day" on his Facebook page.
"I will celebrate Canada Day only when it is accepted as legitimate by the indigenous people ...
"Some consider taking this position is disgraceful and shameful, but I disagree," he said. "First of all, my statement clearly did not reflect CAF's position; it was my own personal opinion."
That opinion led to his forced resignation from the Canadian Arab Federation of which he was an executive vice-president for western Canada.
"There was a big outcry from our member organizations and it was felt that he had to correct that," said national president Khaled Mouammar. "He decided that the best thing for him to do was to resign."
But on his blog yesterday, Shaban wrote: "I did not resign from CAF because it was felt that I had to correct that ... I resigned from CAF because I do not want to be part of an organization that openly refuses to acknowledge Canada's colonial and shameful history."
And he continued to stir more mud by writing: "I apologize to the indigenous people of Canada because their feelings are not taken into consideration at Canada Day celebrations ... and because they had to be slaughtered, killed, massacred, diseased and dispossessed to establish Canada."
All day yesterday Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, was saying that "to suggest that this expression of hate against Canada is due to Canada's ill-treatment of the First Nations is a very convenient excuse.
'DISGRACEFUL'
"CAF has turned from being an advocacy group of Arab Canadians to an advocacy group for Hamas, Hezbollah and the dictatorial regime of Iran. To hide behind aboriginal issues to push their agenda is disgraceful and disingenuous."
Fatah added: "Shaban spent most of his life in Lebanon and has never once uttered a single word of outrage at the ill-treatment of the Kurdish people by Arabs or the genocide of the darfuris Muslims by Arab Janjaweed militia or the role of the Arabs of al-Qaida in the massacres of innocent Pakistanis."
Even Shaban, who would not discuss his religious beliefs but said he's "non-secular," acknowledges his grievances go beyond our borders.
"I apologize for being a citizen of a country that imposed sanctions on the Palestinian people," he said, adding he draws parallels between the plight of Canada's aboriginals with "displaced" Palestinians.
"My grandparents were the victims of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine," he explains, although he didn't provide their names.
His approach may be crass but it must be said he was a pleasant kid to talk with. I offer him the view that Canada isn't the problem because here he can express himself without repercussions.
It comes down to manners and respect and saying "F--- Canada" on its birthday is just plain rude.
But lucky for him, in Canada he can express himself without fear of being stoned.
Comments like his test us to see if we really mean it when we say we have freedom of speech. People like Shaban prove that we do. I don't like what he said but also realize he isn't Osama Bin Laden but nothing more than a smart-ass university kid with some technology and brass, who admits he hasn't even been to Gaza or the West Bank.
He makes no bones about being anti-Canada -- except, of course, when it comes to bettering his own situation.
Arab group disavows Canada Day diatribe
by John Goddard
74 min. ago
The head of the Canadian Arab Foundation has distanced himself from an anti-Canadian rant posted on a Facebook site by an official of the group.
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