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Laith Marouf’s version of his funding and events that followed
- 01 May 2023
- 1:06 am
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- 01 May 2023
- 1:06 am
Putting $133,000 into the pocket of avowed anti-Semite, anti-French and anti-black radical Laith Marouf via ‘anti-racism’ funding has put Justin Trudeau’s Diversity Minister, Ahmed Hussen, on the hot seat in Parliament and the media.
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Samples of antisemitism in federally financed government programs (6)
News Item
“On October 7,2022 Mark Goldberg revealed via his tweet (quoting an article in the Arabic publication Annasher on September 22, 2022), that it was the Ministry of Heritage that approached CMAC to submit an application WITHIN 4 DAYS OF CONTACT – even though there were no ‘funding packages available’ to CMAC to do so. The translated paragraph is definitely worth a read, and if the claims in it are true, may prove to be invaluable in debunking the defence that ‘the vetting process failed’ – because there was no vetting done at all and therefore no question a ‘process’ having been in play”:
Commentary on the case and government contracts in general
‘Last year, after the Black Lives Matter Trend and Aboriginal children’s stories exploded on world stage, mass graves erupted; Heritage Canada has approached CMAC to help racially affected media workers, Aboriginal people, academics and their communities, to map out a strategy to combat racism for the broadcasting sectors. CMAC was asked to submit an application to the Ministry of Heritage within four days of contact, and there was no funding packages open for us to apply to. So Heritage Canada dumped money on us to solve their problem and polish their image: There was no mechanism for obtaining funding. They were desperate to solve the problem by any means possible.”
Darshan Maharaja, in L’affaire Laith Marouf Gets Murkier, October 9, 2022, analysed the case this way: “As we know from previous reporting, before this assignment, CMAC had already been involved with the implementation part of government policies to the tune of roughly half a million dollars. Public servants knew Laith Marouf – or knew about him – already, and in an emergency situation, reflexively reached out to CMAC. This is how governments & bureaucracies operate – which is why many people are so eager to gain ‘the inside track’ of government contracts. Bureaucrats especially dislike the unknown; they prefer to deal with known parties to the point of obsession.”
“So, once someone has penetrated the outer barrier, they keep getting government business as a matter of routine expectation – on both the sides. They are further assisted in this by the fact that the outer barrier is difficult to penetrate, and one usually requires political patronage to overcome that difficulty. This adds another element to their relationship with the bureaucracy – the public servants know that the individual has the blessing of “so and so” politician.”
Maharaja continued, “The Marouf case provides yet another example of government’s and Parliament’s lack of interest in addressing promptly and effectively a major incidence of antisemitism financed by public funds, and I fear, for that matter granting public funds to organisations known to engage in antisemitism.”
Despite the fact that the incident was brought to the attention of Minister Hussen in mid-July 2022, it took until October for Parliament’s Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to follow up on the matter with its resolution “that the officials that were responsible for the funding of Laith Marouf be invited to appear before the committee regarding the federal funding provided to the Community Media Advocacy Centre by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the department officials’ handling of the situation.”
Curiously enough, the first witness turned out to be Mr. Hussen, Minister of Housing, Diversity and Inclusion. This inevitably raises the intriguing question to why the Minister whose name or Department, is not included in the resolution be the first to testify?
Could it be that he was involved in the funding and/or selection process? If so, why would the Minister be so involved in this particular case?
And from then on it took until February 13, 2023 for the first two Department officials to appear before the Committee.
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The Marouf’s case should have been and it still would be a good time for the Federal government to publish- for starters – the full particulars of all the contracts and grants awarded during the years 2020 to 2022 inclusive by all departments and Crown corporations that address matters such as human rights, diversity and inclusion, labour, refugees, legal and illegal immigrants, the alleged fight against racism and discrimination involving Blacks, Muslims, East Indians and Chinese, antisemitism, Blacks and other minority groups etc. and then carry on with this practice on a yearly basis.
Former Jewish Liberal MP Michael Levitt criticised his old caucus colleagues for not speaking out against statements made by Marouf. On Twitter he wrote:
“Looking back on events [with] regards to the Marouf Affair, I am utterly disheartened. Taking a stand against antisemitism should be a given [and] yet so few of my former Liberal colleagues have done so. This truly hurts…I am disappointed am hurt more than anything. I am sad this is the state of affairs in Canada.”
For his part Mark Goldberg, who unearthed Marouf’s antisemitism before it became public knowledge wrote:
“Was it ineptitude or indifference that motivated the inaction by officials at the senior-most levels of the Canadian Government when confronted with evidence of antisemitism by a recipient of Heritage Canada Anti-Racism funding? There was inexcusable lethargy in the response that remains unexplained. A number of commentators have observed that antisemitism seems to be treated differently from other forms of hate.”
He also wrote: “Slander, insult and actual hate against Jews gets a pass- until some truly extreme example calls attention”, #CHPC Reviews Government Funding of Antisemitism,Telecom Trends,February 16, 2023.
Mike Fegelman of Honest reporting Canada summed up the situation succinctly and depressingly right in the title of his op-ed Ottawa’s Approach to Racism Like Asking Big Tobacco to Cure Cancer, National Post, August 24, 2022.
See also: Doğan Akman, Canada’s Justin Trudeau-A Divisive Prime Minister, Israpundit, August 25, 2018; Dan Donovan, Why Jewish people in Canada should fear the Trudeau Government-An anti-Semitic Fifth Column has embedded itself in Trudeau’s caucus and in Canada’s Civil Service Ottawa Life Magazine, August 31, 2022; Vivian Bercovici, Laith Marouf embodies critical race theory that is so popular in Ottawa [and so antisemitic], National Post, August 27, 2022, and Laith Marouf an Ottawa darling, National Post, August 27, 2022; Terry Glavin, The Liberals are funding hate. How else to describe the speakers at this Toronto convention? National Post, June 30, 2022; Darshan Maharaja, State-Sponsored Hatred, Blog, September 5, 2022.
Often overlooked in the Marouf scandal is that the actual minister responsible for the inept Heritage department is a darling of the far-left, Pablo Rodriguez. (Photo: CPAC)
About the proceedings
Clearly this is the kind of case that deserves a public inquiry at arms-length from both the government and Parliament and the services of a forensic auditor.
Conflict of interest
Judging from the way the Chair has been handling the proceedings and in particular, her way of allocating time and enforcing the allocation to the second, I cannot help but think that she is in a conflict of interest and she ought to be disqualified.
Artificial time limitations
One of the most unfortunate consequences of this kind of arbitrary and inflexible allocation of time is that it defeats the planning of questions and the natural flow of cross-examination of witnesses. A situation not conducive to pursuing a point with respect to which the witness is hobbling.
The absence of a forensic auditor
The case cries out for the services of a foreign auditor to perform his function both at the Department of Heritage and the section of Minister Hussen’s department personnel that deals with Diversity and Inclusion before the witnesses are called.
The identification and sequencing of witnesses
The witnesses ought to have been identified through the forensic auditor upon presentation of his/her report, the contents of his report and the collection of documents assembled by the auditor in the course of the auditing.
At all events the order in which the future witnesses are called to testify should be determined by reverse rank ordering starting with the one at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of rank and responsibilities in the project starting with the original project that resulted in the appointment of the 85 candidates and progressively moving up the totem pole and finishing last with the Deputy Associate Minister of Heritage Canada followed by the Minister of Heritage Mr. Rodriquez and Minister of Diversity and Inclusion Hussen.
In the meantime, as soon as the list of witnesses have been established, it would be wise to ask the witnesses on the list not to discuss the matter with other witnesses until advised otherwise.
One of the unfortunate consequences of the way the witnesses appeared to date is that the members of the Committee ended up time after time giving the witnesses the opportunity to keep harping on the same two points; namely,
– that the whole thing was caused as a result of the system’s failure, and
– that the problem is being solved by introducing a good number of specified procedural improvements to the system of vetting applicants seeking grants, when in fact the real cause of the scandal has yet to be determined and may have nothing to do with the system’s failure.
And one such possible cause that readily comes to mind is ethnic/religious/political patronage.
Team effort in examining witnesses
In the meantime, the members of the Committee ought to try to prepare their examination questions, ahead of the hearing; stop asking the same or similar questions; and members of the same party to combine their efforts to prepare together frame two sets of questions and determine the division of tasks during the hearing.
Doğan D. Akman is an independent researcher and commentator. He holds a B.Sc. in sociology, an M.A. in sociology/criminology and an LL.B in law. He held academic appointments in sociology, criminology and social policy; served as a Judge of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, and occupied the positions of Crown Counsel in criminal prosecutions and in civil litigation at the Federal Department of Justice. His academic work is published in peer-reviewed professional journals, while his opinion pieces and other writings are to be found in various publications and in blogs.
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Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
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