My bilingual blog offers a wide variety of topics, including: my random thoughts; human relations; traveling pictures; running marathons; policy and politics; art and arts; chilling out with family & friends; and other aspects of life in Canada.
Oxfam Trailwalker began in 1981 as a military exercise for the elite Queen's Gurkha Signals Regiment in Hong Kong, and has since grown into one of the world's leading sporting challenges. In just over 20 years Oxfam Trailwalker has become a major international fundraising event held in countries all over the world. In 2011 the event will take place in thirteen countries: Australia , New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, and of course Canada. Since its inception, the event has raised more than $60 million internationally with thousands of people competing each year. The money raised goes directly to Oxfam’s critical humanitarian and development work around the globe. Oxfam Trailwalker truly is a global hike that changes the world!
About Trailwalker
Oxfam believes that the end of poverty begins with women’s rights. We work with partner organizations in developing countries to tackle the root causes of poverty and in turn, we create self-reliant and sustainable communities. But to do that, we need your help. Join us on a fun, challenging, and rewarding team challenge: Oxfam Trailwalker.
Since 1981, Oxfam Trailwalker has evolved from a grueling military exercise into a truly global movement that effects real change in the lives of millions people living in abject poverty.
The event began in Hong Kong as a military training exercise, and today, it is a global movement. Every year in over fifteen countries, Oxfam Trailwalker is taking place. It’s more than just a fitness challenge, Oxfam Trailwalker is a commitment to change the world, one step at a time.
Like other Oxfam Trailwalkers around the world, teams of four commit to not only raising funds, but also hiking a grueling 100 km in 48 hours. Teams must start and finish the hike together.
This is a huge commitment put forth not only by participants but by their support crews, Oxfam volunteers, on-site EMS and other medical support, and the many people involved in making this event the success that it is.
The money raised from this crucial fundraising event will support Oxfam Canada’s initiatives all over the world. Specifically, the Oxfam offices in Canada are dedicated to supporting long-term development, advocacy and emergency programs in 28 countries. Oxfam Canada’s core programs are located in the Americas, the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, and South Asia.
Funds raised from Oxfam Trailwalker also goes toward programs that provide emergency support during humanitarian crises as well as response to natural disasters. Examples of this include the current humanitarian crisis in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are suffering from the worst drought in years. Oxfam was also instrumental in providing relief following the March 11th earthquake in Japan. And Oxfam continues to work on the ground to bring much needed aid to the current crisis in the Ivory Coast and Somalia.
Every year around the world, Oxfam Trailwalker is taking place. It’s more than just a fitness challenge, Oxfam Trailwalker is a commitment to change the world, one step at a time.
Oxfam Trailwalker 4-48-100 (Canada) : July 13-15, 2012
We will again be partnering with the Ganaraska Trail association, but with a new exciting route. The start will be is Wasaga beach, finishing in beautiful Midland. This trail takes advantage of a diverse terrain, new elevations, and very unique features only found in this region.
4 members; 48 hours; 100 km
Sample Training Schedule - Advanced Level:
Week
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
Sun
Total
Easy
Hills
Easy
Interval
Rest
Easy
Long
Week 1
6km
8km
6km
8km
Rest
7km
12km
47km
Week 2
6km
8km
6km
8km
Rest
7km
14km
49km
Week 3
6km
8km
6km
8km
Rest
7km
10km
45km
Week 4
6km
10km
8km
10km
Rest
7km
16km
57km
Week 5
6km
10km
8km
10km
Rest
7km
18km
59km
Week 6
6km
8km
8km
12km
Rest
7km
12km
53km
Week 7
6km
12km
8km
12km
Rest
7km
25km
70km
Week 8
6km
12km
8km
12km
Rest
7km
25km
70km
Week 9
6km
10km
8km
14km
Rest
7km
20km
65km
Week 10
7km
10km
8km
14km
Rest
7km
36km
82km
Week 11
7km
8km
10km
16km
Rest
7km
18km
66km
Week 12
7km
16km
7km
16km
Rest
7km
36km
89km
Week 13
6km
10km
8km
10km
Rest
6km
12km
52km
Week 14
6km
6km
6km
8km
Rest
6km
16km
48km
Week 15
6km
0km
4km
2km
Event
100km
112km
The above advanced training guide is for participants with a good fitness level, who would like to finish the event in less than 20 hours (avg is 30-32 hrs). Advanced participants will run parts of the trail and take minimal rests.
The advanced program builds up week by week like the other training programs, however it is designed as a suggestion only. Athletes should first consider their current training regime then consult a fitness professional for specific advice.
Try breaking down your training into different sessions to help build stamina and strength. Below are the different types of training and an explanation of how create a balanced program.
Long walks/runs The key to the Advanced program is the long run on weekends, which builds from 12 kilometres in the first week to a maximum of 36 kilometres. Experienced runners may like to train longer (up to 50 kilometres) though this may not be necessary. Save your energy and concentrate on quality runs during the rest of the week. Consistency is most important. You can skip an occasional weekday session, but do not cheat on the long runs. Your pace should be slow and comfortable, and ideally you will train with your team, on the trail. Use these sessions to confirm what you will wear, eat and drink during the event.
Hill training Running on hills should be included once a week in the first four weeks. Increase to specific hill-repeat training once or twice per week in the next eight weeks, if you have the necessary conditioning. You can also alternate hill-training with tempo runs and interval training. Hill-repeats are the only way to get the strength required for the many hills you’ll encounter.
Note: Be careful when running downhill because of the increased risk of injury.
Interval training When training for endurance events, long repeats (800 metres, 1600 metres or even longer) work best. Start including interval training once a week after building your base. Starting with four repeats, increase up to a maximum of eight—depending on the total distance—and run close to threshold level. Be sure to have a good warm up and cool down. Between each effort, you should allow two to three minutes of walking/jogging recovery.
Tempo training A tempo walk/run is a continuous effort with a build-up in the middle that is close to your maximum pace (much faster than your event pace). Your peak pace for tempo training should be the pace you’d do if you were racing flat-out for 2 hours (instead of 24 hours). The pace build-up should be gradual and the peak speed should come about two-thirds into the workout, and only for three to six minutes. You can do tempo training almost anywhere: on the road, in the bush, on a track or in a park. Tempo runs should not be punishing — you should finish feeling refreshed, so don’t push the pace too hard or for too long.
Cross training Cross training helps to prevent injuries and makes training more interesting. Consider substituting a running session for a paddling, swimming, cycling or gym activity. Train for about the same length of time you would have walked/run that day.
Tapering for the event Be sure to taper down during the three weeks before the event so your muscles are rested and recovered. Do your last long walk/run two to three weeks before the event, then cut back your distances. Cut your distances to 50 percent of your training load during the last two weeks and reduce this to about 30 percent during the final week. Two days before the event, walk or jog lightly to stay loose and relaxed.
I am glad to learn this evening that Bill-30 is dead (please see below my check-and-balance arguments written abt a year ago)
Conservatives kill controversial ‘child pornographers’ Internet surveillance bill (Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/11/conservatives-kill-controversial-internet-surveillance-bill/ )
OTTAWA — The Conservative government has abandoned its controversial and much-maligned Internet surveillance bill, legislation it once claimed was crucial to stopping child pornographers. Less than a year ago support for Bill C-30, the so-called Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, was presented to Canadians by the government as a binary choice.
“He can either stand with us or stand with the child pornographers,” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews scolded a Liberal critic in the House of Commons last February.
The comment set off a public fire storm concerning the Internet and personal privacy — a nasty fight that resulted in unsavoury details of Toews’ divorce being splashed across the web by a Liberal party operative.
Toews, who introduced the legislation, did not attend Monday’s news conference where Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Bill C-30 is dead. After announcing changes to emergency warrantless wiretap laws, Nicholson let drop that C-30 was gone, in response to a reporter’s question — an inquiry the minister was clearly expecting.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MY PREVIOUS BLOG ARTICLE DATED 2012-02-15:
"... C-30, the bill introduced Tuesday, would force internet and telecommunications service providers to provide specific information about customers to police upon request and without a warrant. It's drawn criticism from privacy experts. Minister Vic Toews is the bill's sponsor..."
濫用權力,不是獨裁國家擁有的專利産品,自稱為保衛西方民主先驅的美利堅合众國,也有很多駭人聽聞、不甚光榮的歷史檔案。所以当加拿大執政保守黨動議擴大公安在網絡上搜索和彙編用戸資料的權力,我心中不感打了個冷戰。無錯,政府有關当局立法之前,当然会宣揚父母官語重心長的立場:We do this to protect our society, our country !!! If you have done nothing wrong, if you are not a criminal, you should have nothing to hide, nothing to fear !!!
* Globe and Mail: "Ottawa to contract out spying, but who cares? It's only the Internet"
By Tabatha Southey ; Published Friday, Jun. 24, 2011 6:21PM ED; Last updated Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 4:44PM EST " ........ The government is set to reintroduce Bill C-51, the deceptively progressive-sounding Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act, as part of its Dickensian pro-prison omnibus crime bill.Among other things (Bill C-51 also could make using a false name on the Internet a crime; likewise, potentially, linking to any website where hate material is posted), the legislation allows the police to demand that telecommunications service providers (TSPs) preserve data on specified users for 21 days, without a warrant.The logic behind this is that data can be deleted and therefore this holding period is needed while an order to disclose the data is obtained from a judge (they're also just free to hand it over).
This is pretty murky: Lots of other kinds of evidence can be destroyed. Drugs can be flushed. And yet there's no pre-warrant state in which the police are allowed to demand that your landlord stand around your house for 21 days, on his own dime, while the police get a warrant, in case you destroy potential evidence they have an inkling might be there.Telecom companies and Internet service providers (ISPs) already co-operate with law enforcement in the fight against serious Internet crimes, such as child pornography. They tend to focus on taking down illegal websites – to police what people are putting on the Internet more than what people are watching on the Internet. This approach offers a pretty good balance between our security and our privacy.
Bill C-51 seems to indicate a shift. It makes accessing our most private data easier by essentially conscripting telecom companies and ISPs into operating more sophisticated version of warrantless wiretaps.At the same time, it allows the private companies that have a virtual lock on the market – a situation that our supposedly pro-competition government seems to be remarkably at peace with, and one that does, coincidentally, make this monitoring relatively simple – to recoup those costs as they see fit.Perhaps as a result, there has been little opposition to Bill C-51 from the big six ISPs.
It feels a bit like a lighter version of the Stasi, only privatized. The spies send you a monthly bill, but they're endlessly happy to talk to you about bundling....."
The Conservative government is expected to introduce a bill Tuesday to give police new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the lawful access bills will 'bring our laws into the 21st century and provide police with the lawful tools we need.' (Canadian Press)The "lawful access" bill is expected to include provisions that were included in previous bills that died when last year's election was called. One of those provisions would require internet service providers to give subscriber data to police and national security agencies without a warrant, including names, unlisted phone numbers and IP addresses. Another is expected to allow police to get warrants to obtain information transmitted over the internet and data related to its transmission, including locations of individuals and transactions. In September, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the government has no plans to allow police to intercept private internet communications without a warrant. On Monday, Liberal public safety critic Francis Scarpaleggia alleged during question period Monday that the government is "preparing to read Canadians' emails and track their movements through cellphone signals, in both cases without a warrant." Toews replied that Scarpaleggia "can either stand with us or with the child pornographers." Should police have access to ISP customer data without a warrant? Does this legislation go too far or do police need it to keep up with technology?
今晩在青年会運動回來,突聞漂亮的女歌手雲妮侯斯頓香魂消逝，享年只得48歲。我還記得80年代,Whitney Houston 的清秀嗓子震蕩娱樂世界,一首 Saving All My Love For You 瘋魔全球。她全盛時期曾在流行榜名列前矛連續七星期,又和性格演員 Kevin Coster 合拍了The Bodyguard影片,事業名氣蒸蒸日上。
唉!!自從 Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Etta James 相繼離場之後,今晩雲妮侯斯頓的不遲而別,又令世界樂壇少了一把美麗的金嗓子!!
"Saving All My Love For You" lyrics
A few stolen moments is all that we share You've got your family, and they need you there Though I've tried to resist, being last on your list But no other man's gonna do So I'm saving all my love for you
It's not very easy, living all alone My friends try and tell me, find a man of my own But each time I try, I just break down and cry Cause I'd rather be home feeling blue So I'm saving all my love for you
You used to tell me we'd run away together Love gives you the right to be free You said be patient, just wait a little longer But that's just an old fantasy
I've got to get ready, just a few minutes more Gonna get that old feeling when you walk through that door Cause tonight is the night, for feeling alright We'll be making love the whole night through So I'm saving all my love Yes I'm saving all my love Yes I'm saving all my love for you
No other woman, is gonna love you more Cause tonight is the night, that I'm feeling alright We'll be making love the whole night through So I'm saving all my love Yeah I'm saving all my lovin Yes I'm saving all my love for you For you, for you
【維基百科】“..... 雲妮·伊麗莎白·侯斯頓（Whitney Elizabeth Houston，1963年8月9日－2012年2月11日）是位曾獲得格林美獎的美國R&B歌手、演員、電影製作人與並曾擔任模特兒。她以強而有力的嗓音、一字多轉音的感染力與寬廣的音域為世人所熟知，並成為國際樂壇天后。在 1980 年代，雲妮是少數能夠在 MTV 獲得大量的播出機會的黑人藝人之一，而那時是男性為主的搖滾時代。AOL Black Voices 曾說「雖然她的成功如同避雷針 (lightning rod) 一般，但總是能夠從她那優美且有力的聲音中得到證明。」而封她為 "The Voice" 更是使她聞名。她是唯一在美國擁有兩張最佳銷售前 35 名的專輯的女性歌手，更是唯一擁有在告示牌流行榜 (Billboard) 連續七週冠軍單曲紀錄的歌手。雲妮在全世界有超過一億 7000 萬張專輯的銷售紀錄。 根據 Ebony 雜誌，雲妮被認為是 20世紀中，世界最迷人的黑人女性前 100 名之一。
但自從在事業高峰時期嫁給 R&B 歌手 Bobby Brown 之後，使用禁藥與婚姻暴力的傳聞致使其唱片銷售量和公眾形象下降。在小報上出現有關對於她個人的麻煩事討論的次數，遠多於其音樂上的表現。雲妮開始不像一般歌手常會被看見或是聽見，她也停止在公開場合現身。雲妮在 2005年與 2006年接受兩次藥物治療計劃。在第二次（2006年）成功的完成治療計劃之後，雲妮與 Bobby Brown 離婚並且得到女兒 Bobbi Kristina 的監護權。並與音樂界的重量級人物、親近的朋友，以及良師益友 Clive Davis 一起，於2009年9月雲妮侯斯頓發行她睽違7年的最新作品。
According to Wikipedia re cause of Whitney Houston's death:
"…… On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County coroner's office reported the cause of Houston's death was (accidental) drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use". The office stated the amount of cocaine found in Houston's body indicates she used the substance shortly before her death. Toxicology results revealed additional drugs in her system: Benadryl, Xanax, marijuana and Flexiril. The manner of death was listed as an "accident". …."
***** UPDATE (2012-04-15) *****
The following Feb 21, 2012 blog article "Certain Moments in Time" by shangri_la contains some interesting retrospective views (w/ text, photos, and YouTube videos) abt Whitney Houston's life.
Every year in February, the National Capital Commission NCC hosts the Winterlude festival to celebrate well, what else, winter. I was running along the canal and took these photos near the Dows Lake Pavilion on February 4, 2012. You can see ppl skating on the frozen Rideau Canal. The two domes are temporary structures for the public to warm up or to put on their skates.
The Canadian Press Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 6:50 PM ET
KINGSTON, Ont. — Three members of an Afghanistan-born Montreal family were defiant Sunday in the face of life in prison and harsh condemnation for the murders of three daughters and a co-wife apparently motivated by what the judge called their "twisted concept of honour."
A jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a so-called mass honour killing that has captivated Canadians from coast to coast, and touched off post-911 criticism of Muslim culture.
The three immediately pronounced the verdicts as unjust, but the judge was unmoved, cutting right to the core of the cultural cloud that hung over this case.
"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honourless crime," Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said.
"The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour...that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
The trial heard evidence over many weeks about the bizarre divide in the Shafia family, in which the patriarch struck fear in the hearts of some of his children, though often being away on business Hamed acted as the surrogate disciplinarian. The three murdered daughters thumbed their noses at the family rules. The children they did not kill were the ones ratting out their sisters to their parents for bad behaviour, court heard.
It was notions of honour, directly tied to women's sexuality and general control over their behaviour, that led the Shafias to kill, court heard, in an effort to cleanse them of the shame they perceived their daughters to have brought upon them.
The concept is in stark contrast to Canadian values, the Crown said. The idea that such thinking had not only been brewing in one of Canada's most cosmopolitan cities, but that this "honour" apparently superseded the value of life for the Shafias has shocked many.
But investigators who pored over the details of the disturbing inner workings of the Shafia family and examined the tiniest pieces of evidence from the crime scene urged people Sunday to remember the victims.
All that sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, and Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, their father's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage wanted was freedom, and it cost them their lives, court heard.
Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ont., in a multiple murder the Crown asserted was committed to restore family honour, lost when the girls began dating and acting out. Rona was simply disposed of, the Crown said.
The jury's verdict indicates the seven women and five men believe Shafia, Yahya and Hamed plotted to kill their troublesome family members, dumping their bodies in a canal and staging it -- albeit clumsily -- to look like an accident.
The three now-convicted multiple murderers did not accept their fates quietly.
"We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust," Shafia said through an interpreter when the judge asked if he had anything to say.
Yahya, who spent a withering six days on the stand testifying in her own defence, was similarly assertive.
"Your honourable justice, this is not just," she said, also through an interpreter. "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother -- a mother!"
Hamed said in English: "Sir, I did not drown my sisters anywhere."
During the three-month trial Hamed was the only one of the three never to betray any emotion, but as it became clear he could face life in prison, the young man put his head in his hands and hunched over in the prisoners' box while his parents rubbed his back. Yahya soon began to cry.
First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance to apply for parole for 25 years. The family has been behind bars since their arrests on July 22, 2009.
Outside court, Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis said the verdict is a reflection of Canadian values that he hopes will resonate.
"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances," he said.
"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," Laarhuis said to cheers of approval from onlookers.
Laarhuis was interrupted in his remarks by Moosa Hadi, a central figure in the case who was a fervent supporter of the Shafias. He sent reporters and the lead investigator emails stating that the prosecution of the family was criminal and because of it he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"This is a lie, this is absolutely a lie," Hadi shouted over Laarhuis before being pulled away by tactical police officers. "This is a miscarriage of the justice."
Members of the public listening to Laarhuis' statement, many of whom have attended the trial from the Oct. 20 start, shouted Hadi down and cheered as Laarhuis continued.
Lead investigator Det. Sgt. Chris Scott praised Crown lawyers for allowing the four women to finally be heard.
"They gave these victims a voice when they had none and so I appreciate their work," he said outside court.
Shafia's lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on wiretaps calling his dead daughters whores and saying there is no value of life without honour, may have weighed more heavily on the jury's minds than the physical evidence in the case.
"He wasn't convicted for what he did," Kemp said. "He was convicted for what he said."
Hamed's lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, and said his client will appeal and he believes the other two will as well.
"I still have a hard time understanding how the Crown theory could actually have happened," he said.
The Crown theory was that Shafia, Yahya and Hamed drowned the four victims either to the point of death or unconsciousness, placed their bodies in the car, then pushed it into the canal using the family's other vehicle. However, prosecutors couldn't prove how or where the pre-drowning happened.
The defence had said it was an accident, that they had gone for a joy ride with Zainab driving and accidentally plunged into the canal with Hamed watching, although he didn't call police. Hamed's lawyer told the jury his client was only guilty of being stupid, but the jury clearly thought otherwise.
+++++++++ Updated 20120131 ++++++++ Islam doesn't justify 'honor murders,' experts insist By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
(CNN) - Zainab Shafia's crime was to run off to marry a man her parents hated. Middle sister Sahar's crime was to wear revealing clothes and have secret boyfriends. Youngest sister Geeti's crime was to do badly in school and call social workers for help dealing with a family home in turmoil.
The punishment for all three teenage Canadian sisters was the same: death.
Their executioner: their brother, acting on instructions from the father to run their car off the road.
Another family member, their father's first wife in a polygamous marriage, was also killed.
Hamed Shafia, his father, Mohammed, and his mother, Tooba Mohammed Yahya, were sentenced to life in prison for murder, with Judge Robert Maranger excoriating their "twisted notion of honor, a notion of honor that is founded upon the domination and control of women, a sick notion of honor that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
Leading Muslim thinkers wholeheartedly endorsed the Canadian judge's verdict, insisting that "honor murders" had no place and no support in Islam.
"There is nothing in the Quran that justifies honor killings. There is nothing that says you should kill for the honor of the family," said Taj Hargey, director of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford in England.
"This idea that 'somehow a girl has besmirched our honor and therefore the thing to do is kill her' is bizarre, and Muslims should stop using this defense," he said, arguing that the practice is cultural, not religious in origin.
"You cannot say this is what Islam approves of. You can say this is what their culture approves of," he said.
The Shafia family is originally from Afghanistan.
Experts say honor murders take place in many parts of the world.
"It's definitely a problem that happens in many different places: the Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh and among immigrant communities in North America," said Nadya Khalife, a researcher on women's rights in the Arab world for Human Rights Watch.
Several Arab countries and territories, including Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories, have laws providing lesser sentences for honor murders than for other murders, Human Rights Watch says.
Egypt and Jordan also have laws that have been interpreted to allow reduced sentences for honor crimes, the group says.
Reliable figures of the number of honor murders are hard to come by, Khalife said, but she pointed to a United Nations Population Fund estimate of 5,000 per year.
Khalife agreed that the practice should not be blamed on Islam.
"It's not linked to religion; it's more cultural," she said. "There have been several Islamic scholars who have issued fatwas against honor killing."
Mohammed Shafia, who denied murder, said himself in court that Islam did not justify honor murders.
"In our religion, a person who kills his wife or daughter, there is nothing more dishonorable," he testified.
But Shafia was heard condemning his dead children in wiretapped conversations played in court.
"May the devil defecate on their graves! This is what a daughter should be? Would a daughter be such a whore?" he said.
Hargey, the director of the Muslim Educational Centre, said violence was sometimes the result of painful transition.
"Muslims are in a state of flux," he said.
"They are between two worlds: the ancient world and the new technological age," he said. "Women are getting rights and the ability to choose their own spouses. The family in Canada didn't know how to respond to this: the conflict between the discipline of children and the new reality."
Irshad Manji, the author of "Allah, Liberty and Love: Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom," said there was another conflict at work in honor murders, a term CNN uses in preference to "honor killings" because the latter phrase does not properly describe the crime.
It is "a tribal tradition that emphasizes the family or the tribe or the community over the individual," she said.
Although the practice may not be Islamic, she said, not all Muslims understand the distinction.
"It is a problem within Islam because of how Muslims often confuse culture and religion," she said. "It's Muslims who have to learn to separate culture and religion. If we don't, Islam will continue to get the bad name that it gets."
But one vocal British campaigner against honor violence points out that not all the crimes are perpetrated by Muslims.
Jasvinder Sanghera, who was the victim of a forced marriage, is not Muslim; she is Sikh.
"Significant cases are happening within South Asian communities, be it Pakistani, Indian, Sikh, Muslim, Kurdish, Iranian, Middle Eastern communities," she said.
"And we have to recognize that because the statistics don't lie. I am not standing here trying to embarrass those communities. But equally, those communities should be ashamed because this is happening in their community and they are not taking a stand," she said.
On the other hand, honor murders are not a problem in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population.
"No such a practice can be found among Indonesian Muslims," said Azyumardi Azra, the director of the graduate school at the State Islamic University in Jakarta, Indonesia.
" 'Honor killing' is, I believe, a cultural problem among Arab and South Asian Muslims. I don't think that kind of practice has an Islamic basis," he said.
Although women and girls make up the overwhelming number of victims, there have been at least some male victims, including Ahmet Yildiz, a gay Turkish man whose fugitive father is the main suspect in his 2008 shooting death.
Britain has had about a dozen honor murders per year for the past several years, said Ghayasuddin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain.
He, too, said the crimes were not justified by Islam.
"This comes from tribal customs where the father - not both parents - see children as their property. A girl decides to marry somebody of whom their parents do not approve, and they conspire and find some way to kill and dispose of this body," he said. "This is a kind of misplaced shame that parents feel that their daughter has decided to marry somebody of her choosing, not theirs."
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service has an expert devoted to prosecuting honor-based violence, Nazir Afzal.
Convicting perpetrators can be difficult, he said.
"There is a wall of silence around this, and people are not prepared to talk," he said.
But Afzal insisted that it was "absolutely important that you bring every single person to justice because you want to deter other people from doing it."
And along with the Islamic scholars and human rights advocates, he rejected out of hand the idea that religion justified it.
"At the end of the day, murder is murder. There is no faith on Earth, no community on Earth that justifies this," he said.
"Abrahamic faiths say 'Thou shalt not kill,' " he pointed out. "At the end of the day, nobody should die for this."
Source:
Richard Allen Greene - Newsdesk editor, The CNN Wire
Shafia trial: Six perspectives on ‘honour’ killings in Canada
Sarah BoesveldJan 30, 2012 – 7:39 PM ET| Last Updated: Jan 30, 2012 11:00 PM ET
Dr. Amin Muhammad Professor of psychiatry at Memorial University in Newfoundland
Professor of Psychiatry Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dr. Amin A. Muhammad
Honour killings have been on the rise in Canada over the past decade, says the professor of psychiatry at Memorial University in Newfoundland. There have been more than a dozen cases since 2002, which is actually very little compared to the United States and the United Kingdom, which have seen hundreds of such killings since then, he says. The Pakistan-born professor thinks news of the Shafia trial outcome will ripple internationally, and warn potential immigrants that the practice won’t be tolerated here. And, he hopes, the outcome will make people more vigilant now. “So many people approach for help and intervention in the past were not taken seriously, even those potential victims that don’t have the courage to come and speak openly about it,” he says. “Now at least it will give them a little courage.”
Nazira Naz Tareen Founder and past president, Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization
Ashley Fraser / Postmedia News files
Nazira Naz Tareen
While the Shafia family’s Muslim faith played a role in the criminal proceedings, note that Islam does not condone killings in order to preserve honour, says the India-born founder and past president of the Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization. “The Quaran says if you kill one human being, it’s like you’ve killed all of humanity,” she says. “If you save one human being, it’s like you’ve saved all of humanity.” The Shafias committed murder and “it’s totally, totally cultural and it’s totally against the teachings of Islam.” Since many Muslims read the Quaran in Arabic, they may not glean that the Prophet Muhammad actually afforded women more rights than men and that children no longer answer to parents in their teen years —they answer to God, she says. Most countries are misinterpreting Sharia law to mean the Prophet’s urging to “protect” women really means to control them, she adds.
Raheel Raza Activist and author of Their Jihad, Not My Jihad
Courtesy Raheel Raza
Raheel Raza
Their communities so failed Zainab, Sahar and Geeti Shafia, aged 19, 17 and 13 and Rona Amir Mohammad, 53, that Ms. Raza wonders if they would have received help had they been four white women instead of four Afghan-Canadians. “Was this political correctness to a painful degree?” asks the Toronto-based activist and author of Their Jihad, Not My Jihad. It’s time to stop being so sensitive in the name of preserving multiculturalism, she says.. “Immigrants bring this excess baggage with them and as a community, our biggest problem is that we remain in denial and we can’t address the issues,” says the Pakistan-born Ms. Raza. “What this verdict has done is open the door to a great deal of debate and discussion. I think we have a long, long way to go.” While Canada wants its immigrants to integrate, when there are problems, they tend to be “ghettoized,” she says, and, with a mind for sensitivity, it’s “their culture, their problem…But what is sensitivity in comparison to four lives?”
Baldev Mutta CEO of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Brampton, Ont.
Peter J. Thompson/National Post files
Baldev Mutta
“I think it’s more of a men’s issue because the honour we talk about is predominately perpetuated by men,” says the CEO of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Brampton, Ont. Every Saturday, 25 to 40 South Asian men gather in a men’s group and discuss the challenges of raising a family in a liberal Canada that functions differently from the traditional society they left behind. “There hasn’t been an opportunity for men to have a discussion around what constitutes an honour [here in Canada],” says Mr. Mutta, who emmigrated from India. He does get pushback from those who feel he’s giving his community a bad name by speaking out, but he’s more encouraged by the men in his sessions who are reframing their worldview. “We never shame men, we want them to own that every man makes mistakes.”
Alia Hogben Executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women
Julie Oliver / Postmedia News files
Alia Hogben
The Kingston, Ont.-based executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women has trouble with the word “honour killing.” She prefers to call it “customary killing” since it’s maintaining patriarchal customs. But the Shafia case went above and beyond that to blatant, outright “femicide” —and it reveals a greater need for gender equality. “If you look deeper, that’s what this issue is. Why do men think, in this patriarchy, that they have the control and the power to kill somebody because…[they think] they are doing the wrong thing or are deviant?” She believes these kinds of killings can happen in any culture that’s dominated by men. “Do you think the Mormons, who have been here for generations, don’t have patriarchy?” she asks. “Anywhere there’s patriarchy, which allows you to say ‘Men have to be the protectors and guardians of women’ is heading for trouble.” Despite cases like the Shafias’, she believes Canada is doing a good job to combat these kinds of killings. Police and social workers are better educated and family law has been brought up to date.
Shenny Karmali Child and Family Therapist
Handout
Shenny Karmali
When Ms. Karmali looks at the Shafia murder case, she doesn’t see an honour killing. Rather, she sees a complicated stew of emotions, expectations, conflict and a father well versed in the ways of the Western world, having lived in Australia and elsewhere before coming to Canada. She also understands where the shame and embarrassment element comes from. After all, she sees it routinely in her office, as a registered social worker, child, marriage and family therapist in Calgary who counsels many immigrant families who seek her out because of her East-African/Muslim background. “That still doesn’t justify the behaviour to me. There’s nothing to justify abuse,” she says. Even when considering cultural background, safety is always the most important thing. “Oftentimes what I will talk with families about is good intentions. Usually, I think those [strict actions] come from a place of good intentions, but sometimes there’s a disconnect.”
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