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The Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) was formed in 1967 to represent the interests of Arab Canadians with respect to the formulation of public policy in Canada. It presently consists of over 40 member organizations. CAF's stated objectives include protecting civil liberties and human rights as well as combating racism and hate within Canada. It has been most vocal against anti-Arab and anti-Muslim activities in Canada, and has issued many position papers to the government with respect to its policies in the Southwest Asia and its domestic immigration policies. It discharges its political tasks by building media and government relations and grassroots support through various capacity-building projects within the Canadian Arab community, and promoting Muslim and Arab culture.〔 Its current president is Farid Ayad, who replaced Khaled Mouammar, who was elected in early 2006. Mouammar was also president in the 1970s, and again from 1980 to 1982. ==History== Since its founding in 1967, the CAF has represented the Arab community with regard to a range of foreign and domestic issues. The CAF opposed the Camp David Accord signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, and protested Begin's visit to Canada shortly thereafter.〔"Peace inevitable, may take time, Begin says", ''Globe and Mail'', November 10, 1978; Jon Ferry, "Toronto Palestinian sees humiliation in treaty signing", ''Globe and Mail'', March 27, 1979, 13.〕 In 1982, the CAF commissioned a study on the depiction of Arabs in political cartoons published between 1972 and 1982 in Canadian dailies. Published in 1986, the study determined that Arabs were repeatedly portrayed in a stereotypical fashion as bloodthirsty terrorists, untrustworthy, ignorant, cruel, and backwards. The researcher pointed to the danger of such pervasive negative imagery, recalling the role played by German caricaturists in their similar depictions of Jews as laying the basis for the Holocaust. In ''The Holocaust, Israel, and Canadian Protestant Churches'' (2002), Haim Genizi writes of the CAF's participation in a 1982–83 initiative of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) to launch a tripartite Southwest Asian discussion group for the CCC, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), and the CAF. When the CJC declined to dialogue with Arabs, meetings between the CAF and the CCC alone continued on for eight months, ending with agreement on the need to educate Canadians to dispel anti-Arab stereotyping.〔 For the churches, there was also recognition of the need to formulate a clear policy on Southwest Asia situation. During the Gulf War, CAF documented over 100 violent anti-Arab incidents, calling the security roundup of more than 1,000 Arab-Canadians the most encompassing security sweep in Canada's history. On June 14, 2004, the CAF, in cooperation with the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), presented before the Arar Commission, a Canadian special commission set up to investigate the extraordinary rendition and torture of Maher Arar. A Canadian citizen of Syrian origin, Arar was detained by American immigration officials at a New York airport on a stopover there between Geneva and Toronto. He was sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for a year before being released.〔 〕 The CAF and CAIR-CAN reminded the special commission that there need, "be no contradiction between security and the fundamental values we share as Canadians". The joint submission continued: "Democratic and legal rights and liberties, pluralism, respect for human dignity and the rule of law are the principles that define us as Canadians. These are the 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canadian Arab Federation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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