With minority government rule today's norm in Canada, Arabs and Muslims are starting to play a bigger role in politics, writes Hicham Safieddine Walk down the street in central Toronto or Montreal on any given Sunday. Odds are you couldn't make an educated guess as to which country you are in if you had to choose based on the ethnic make-up of the people and not the place. Like other metropolitan cities in Canada, Toronto and Montreal have been undergoing a demographic revolution in the past decade, with the ethnic vote becoming a prominent factor in social and political life, including this year's parliamentary elections. Consrevatives had won the countrywide poll against the longserving liberals last monday and are expected to form a mintority government soon. Ethnic groups as diverse as Chinese, Latin Americans and East Europeans feature prominently in the waves of immigrants coming to the country. But one minority that has stood out lately is the community of Arabs and Muslims. Islam is the fastest growing religion in this country. According to the 2001 population census, Muslims number close to half a million out of around 30 million Canadians (Arabs number some 200,000). Islam is second only to Christianity (Both Protestantism and Catholicism), and ahead of Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. Like most Western countries, the attacks of 11 September have catapulted the Arab and Muslim Canadians into the spotlight. The spotlight was usually not so bright. These communities have faced several challenging trials ranging from alleged racial profiling to outright harassment by American officials on the Canadian US border to the passing of Canadian laws concerning indefinite detention. But some believe these same trials have triggered a wake-up call and the Arabs and Muslims are slowly but surely growing increasingly aware of the importance of taking an active part in political life. Two organisations that are the publicly recognised faces of the Arab community are the National Council on Canada-Arab relations and the Canadian Arab Federation. Canadian Arab Federation former executive director Jehad Aliweiwi told Al-Ahram Weekly that one of the new realities of Arab participation is that they are becoming more diverse in their political allegiance. "I think there is definitely an increased awareness of the importance of taking part in politics and this election we are starting to see a difference." "You have half a dozen or so Arabs running for office this time around with several having solid chances of winning." While Muslims and Arabs traditionally voted for the Liberals, who are perceived as more in touch with social integration and equality demands of non-white ethnic groups, a willingness to support the conservatives is becoming more common. This is due to the tendency of Arabs and Muslims to oppose Liberal policies regarding same-sex marriage and abortion rights. With minority rule re-installed in Ottawa in these elections, albeit with the conservatives at the helm, each seat counts and forming coalitions and making compromises are a must for survival. As a result, minorities, including Arabs and Muslims, have a better chance of having their voices heard. Some political commentators having even gone as far as stipulating that the Muslim and Arab vote will be hard to ignore these elections onwards. But that being said, the Arab and Muslim constituency, still hardly a solid voting bloc, are still far from exerting a significant influence on decision-making in Ottawa. For one, their lobbying to scrap anti-terror laws they allege are discriminatory towards Arabs and Muslims have so far failed. Security certificates issued by Ottawa to indefinitely detain non-Canadian citizens are still in effect and several Arabs and Muslims continue to languish in prison without trail up to this date. The Canadian government has also been under attack for allegedly aiding American authorities in 2002 in the deportation of a "terror" suspect Maher Arar to Syria for interrogation. A Syrian Canadian himself, Arar returned to Canada and spoke out about being tortured in Syria and accused the Canadian government of doing nothing to help him. A multi-million dollar enquiry was launched into his case but no concrete restitution measures have been taken in its wake. Canada's position on the Middle East has also been shifting towards Israel after pro-Israeli members of parliament complained that Canada's pattern of voting in the United Nations was too skewed in favour of the Palestinians. As hot issues like the treatment of Arabs and Muslims against the backdrop of the war on Al-Qaeda and the current
