Mohamed Boudjenane

Infobox_Person
name = Mohamed Boudjenane
residence = Toronto, Ontario
other_names =

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caption = Mohamed Boudjenane, June 7, 2006
birth_name =
birth_date = Birth date and age |1961|7|3|mf=y
birth_place = Morocco
death_date =
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occupation = Political Activist
title = Executive Director, Canadian Arab Federation
salary =
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predecessor =
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party = New Democratic Party
boards =
religion = Muslim
spouse =
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website = [http://www.mondp.ca www.mondp.ca]
footnotes =
employer = Canadian Arab Federation
height =
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Mohamed Boudjenane (July 3, 1961) is a Moroccan-born journalist and social democratic politician in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. He is currently Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Federation.

Career

Born in Morocco, Boudjenane came to Canada at the age of 20 to study international economics and communications at Université Laval. During this time, he worked at Quebec City's City Hall, and was a reporter and board director for the local campus radio station, CKRL-FM. In 1989, Boudjenane moved to Ontario to become a political advisor and then executive assistant to the Minister of Transportation and Francophone Affairs, where he spent four years working on a broad set of policy issues for the provincial government.

In 1995, Boudjenane joined the provincial broadcaster TFO as bureau chief for the Ontario Legislative Assembly. For the next ten years he covered Ontario politics for Ontario’s leading Francophone public affairs program, "Panorama". He was also a regular panelist discussing provincial political affairs for CBLA's "Metro Morning", and he contributed pieces to CBC Radio’s "Dispatches", as well as the Moroccan segment of an award-winning documentary on terrorist networks that was co-produced internationally by CBC, the "New York Times", and PBS.

Boudjenane's work in the area of anti-racism, civil liberties and human rights has included memberships on the Toronto Chief of Police’s Advisory Council and the executive of the National Antiracism Canadian Coalition. He has made public presentations to the Arar public inquiry, and to federal parliamentary committees examining Bill c36, the anti-terrorism legislation. He continues to be invited by international organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to speak on issues related to Islamophobia and hate-crimes.

Boudjenane also served as vice-president of both the l’Association Canadienne Francaise de l’Ontario (ACFO) and the Canadian Media Guild at TV Ontario. He has made presentations to the Heritage Committee on the future of public television.

Candidate for NDP Nomination in Parkdale—High Park

In 2006, Boudjenane sought the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) nomination to run in the September 14th Parkdale—High Park by-election to replace outgoing Ontario Liberal Party Member of Provincial Parliament(MPP) Gerard Kennedy. Kennedy, a former Minister of Education in the Ontario Liberal government headed by Premier Dalton McGuinty, resigned both his cabinet post and his seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to seek the Liberal Party of Canada leadership, necessitating the by-election. Boudjenane was defeated for the NDP nomination by United Church minister Cheri DiNovo. DiNovo defeated Liberal candidate Sylvia Watson and is now the Parkdale-High Park MPP.

Candidate for NDP in Etobicoke North

On July 9, 2007, Boudjenane was acclaimed as the NDP's provincial candidate in Etobicoke North.cite news
last = Benzie
first = Robert
coauthors =
title = Ontario history in the making
work =News
pages = A6
language =
publisher = The Toronto Star
date =July 5, 2007
url = http://www.thestar.com/article/232657
accessdate = 2007-07-06] He ran against Liberal party MPP Shafiq Qaadri and Mohamed Kassim of the Progressive Conservative party. This Etobicoke North election was unique, because for the first time in Ontario political history, all three candidates from the three major political parties, in the same electoral district, were Muslim. In 2007, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincided with the election campaign. Ramadan slightly complicated campaigning by the candidates, due to the implication that the candidates, and a substantial number of electors, were supposed to fast during daylight hours. On election night, Boudjenane failed to defeat the incumbent Qaadri, coming in third place by garnering approximately 15 percent of the popular vote, to Qaadri's approximately 55 percent and Kassim's 21 percent. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Etobicoke North
work = 39th General Election - October 10, 2007: Real Time Electoral District Results
publisher = Elections Ontario
date = 2007-10-11
url = http://www3.elections.on.ca/internetapp/RealTimeED.aspx?channel_id={923146e7-4d81-42a8-99f0-e61f5ab50387}&EDID=25&lang=en-ca
format = HTML
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accessdate = 2008-01-20]

Israel-Palestine Conflict

Mohamed Boudjenane has stated that Canada's new more pro-Israel stance has cost its credibility as an 'honest-broker' in related peace talks. Regarding Canada's rejection of Hamas, Boudjenane noted that "at the end of the day, Hamas was elected by the Palestinians -- democratically,"cite news|title=Israel's foreign minister on whirlwind visit|Author=Canadian Press|publisher=CTV News|date=March 12, 2007|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070312/israeli_tories_070312/20070312?hub=Politics] in a "transparent, open and democratic process." He added that "How can we deny to people, who decide to elect their government democratically, the right to do so? Especially when we invade (other) countries to pretend to go there and export democracy?"... "What kind of message are we sending as Canadians to ... other parts of the Arab world?"

While Boudjenane did express support for Canada's renewed pledge of aid to the new Palestinian Authority in 2007 (after it broke with Hamas), he complained that the aid was "unfortunately, a little bit too late." [cite news
first = Kate
last = Lunau
authorlink =
author =
coauthors =
title = 'Our first move is to support Abbas': The Canada-Israel Committee, Muslim groups and academics respond to Canada's renewed relations with the Palestinians
url = http://www.macleans.ca/canada/features/article.jsp?content=20070621_120407_11624
format = HTML
work = Maclean's
publisher = Rogers Communications
pages =
page =
date = 2007-06-21
accessdate = 2008-01-20
language = English
quote = ]

References

* [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20070914.ONTWAGES14%2FTPStory%2FTPNational%2FOntario%2F&ord=6077933&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true NDP would raise Minimum wage. Boudjenane NDP for Etobicoke North. Globe and Mail]
* [http://election2007.insidetoronto.com/story_detail.php?ID=2 Debate rages during Etobicoke Guardian's Election Fest. Etobicoke Guardian]
* [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060725/harper_quebec_060725/20060725?hub=Politics Quebecers don't like Harper's Mideast stance. ctv.ca]

* Marta Dolecki, [http://www.lexpress.to/archives/622 "MOHAMED BOUDJENANE BRIGUE L’INVESTITURE NÉO-DÉMOCRATE DANS PARKDALE-HIGH PARK,"] ' 'L'Express' ', Week of 11-17 July 2006

* Mohammed Ghaleb, [http://www.lexpress.to/archives/1630 "PLUS DE DÉPUTÉS FRANCOPHONES À QUEEN’S PARK?,"] ' 'L'Express' ', Week of 24-30 July 2007

External links

* [http://www.caf.ca/HomePage.aspx Canadian Arab Federation website]
* [http://mondp.ca/ Mohamed Boudjenane's NDP campaign website]