A controversial visit by the Canadian military to a mosque in Metro Vancouver drew dozens of curious spectators - and a number of people who questioned the Armed Forces strategy of courting the Muslim community while Canada’s war in Afghanistan continues on into its seventh year.
“The problem we all have is potentially being sent to Afghanistan,” noted one young observer at Burnaby’s Al-Salaam Mosque and Education Centre last week.
“The problem we all see is the blood of our brothers and sisters on our hands.”
Master Corporal Tarik Kadri, a Canadian Forces diversity recruiter who is also Muslim, was keen to emphasize to the small crowd that the military visit was not intended to recruit people.
“It’s a Town Hall event, and our objective here is to maximize exposure to Canadian Forces within the Arab and Muslim community,” he said, at the top of a PowerPoint presentation last Wednesday that listed the career and education opportunities offered by the military.
As of March 2008, according to its own figures, 2.7 per cent of the Canadian Forces is composed of visible minorities – a figure far short of its 9.1 per cent goal.
“If we want to change the Canadian Forces to be more diverse, then it’s your option to join,” Kadri continued.
But the meeting was marked by a polite if slightly combative atmosphere which came to brief but vivid life when the doors swung open early during Kadri’s presentation, and three young Muslim men entered bearing flyers that read: ‘End Canada’s War in Afghanistan – Bring the Troops Home!’
Kadri thanked the protesters for stopping by as a murmur of unease swept through the room.
Kadri was followed by Lt. Wafa Dabbagh, an Egyptian-born Palestinian and a 12-year veteran Navy reservist who recently returned from a stint as personal assistant to Canada’s Task Force Commander in Jerusalem.
Dabbagh wore a Navy-designed hijab, or Muslim head covering for women, during a talk that focused on religious sensitivity issues inside the Forces.
“Ninety-five per cent of my experience in the Forces is positive, and the other five per cent that isn’t positive is personal,” said Dabbagh. “I don’t think in any job you’ll find that everybody likes you.”
With the evening’s question-and-answer period underway, discussion turned almost immediately to the spectre of racism in the military.
One attendee – 47 year-old Saleem Bhamji – described to the crowd his own experiences in the Canadian Army.
“The main reason I left was because of the racism in my unit,” he said. “The talking about Muslims, the Palestinian issue, what ‘dogs’ they are… I’m happy to hear that things are changing, but I hope they really are.”
Bosnian émigré Adnan Krupic, 25, gave voice to the dominant issue of the evening – namely the recruitment of Muslims to fight Muslims in a faraway war which is projected will cost Canada $18.1 billion or more by mission’s end in 2011.
“Your method of recruitment is to try to put young Muslims at ease,” he noted. “But the problem we all have is potentially being sent to Afghanistan. The problem we all see is the blood of our brothers and sisters on our hands.”
Master Corporal Takri responded: “The Canadian Forces doesn’t decide where we go, it’s the Government of Canada.
“I know that doesn’t make things any better, but I just want to clarify that to you.”
Added Major David C. Blake-Knox: “There are certain missions where they won’t take people from certain ethnic backgrounds because of the possible conflict.”
The event was organized by Imaad Ali, Youth Director at the Mosque, who told the South Asian Post: “Basically a lot of people, when they think about the military, they think about Afghanistan. In fact, there are 63,000 soldiers in the Canadian Forces and only 2,500 are deployed in Afghanistan.
“There are over 10,000 missions they’ve gone on for search and rescue, for example. So I think that misconception is that the Force is all about fighting. They don’t see the other side of it.”
Ali said this is the first event of its kind involving the Canadian military reaching out to Muslims at their mosques.
He said he is not aware of the Canadian Armed Forces going in to any other temples, or churches in pursuit of fighting men and women.
Ali added that the primary thrust of inviting the military to the mosque was “career opportunities,” but he conceded that some community members were “suspicious.”
“There was a little opposition,” he said. “But the vast majority did support it.”
Those who attended were divided by the end. Twenty-one year-old Fatima Yasin and her sister both left clutching some of the Armed Forces proffered paraphernalia.
Fatima commented that it was “curiosity, mostly,” that brought them to the mosque.
“I think there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding this whole get together so I wanted to know what it’s about,” she said. “And I think a lot of my misconceptions have been cleared up.”
Others were less convinced, demonstrating that whatever the intentions of the event, the Afghanistan issue trumped any other concerns.
“Why would you send your soldiers into harms way knowing you can’t win?” said Habib Kandahari, 24, speaking to the Post as the room emptied.
“I’m totally against it. Having spent two weeks in Kandahar city, the only sign of Canadian construction was a garbage can with a Canadian flag on it.”
The Canadian Armed Forces is planning futher military missions in Metro Vancouver-area mosques, including a possible visit to Richmond’s Jami’a Mosque this week, although the mosque did not return calls by press time to confirm the date and time of the event.
By Adrian Mack
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