MONTREAL MUSLIMS APPRECIATE DIALOGUE WITH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTREAL 000744

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PD, DS/IP/WHA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KISL PREL PHUM ASEC SOCI CA
SUBJECT: MONTREAL MUSLIMS APPRECIATE DIALOGUE WITH
CONSULATE, EACH OTHER

REF: A) SECSTATE 90992 B)OTTAWA 1488


1. Summary. On June 2, Consulate staff (Consul
General (CG),Public Affairs Officer (PAO),Consular
Section Chief and FSN Public Affairs Assistant) met
with ten representatives of various Muslim
organizations and constituencies in Montreal, including
the Algerian Cultural Center, the Islamic Community
Center, the Future Movement Canada, the Egyptian
Student Association and an Iraqi ex-patriot group. The
meeting, arranged as a follow-up to a series of calls
the CG and PAO paid on Montreal Muslim organizations
and leaders in February and March, gave Post an
opportunity to ascertain reaction in the Muslim
community to the recent media stories on alleged Koran
desecration and human rights violations by U.S.
military forces. End summary.


2. CG Allen opened the meeting by expressing thanks for
the warm welcome accorded the Consulate in our outreach
effort earlier in the year, and for the communication
that we have had with many of the invitees since our
initial meetings. She stated that the Koran desecration
stories had been very troubling, particularly the
violence and deaths that had apparently resulted from
the coverage in Afghanistan. She noted Secretary
Rice's statement (which Montreal PD disseminated to
Muslim contacts on May 16). Finally, the CG emphasized
that though she and the PAO would be transferring from
Montreal this summer, the Consulate would like to
continue to have an open channel of communication with
Muslim groups, and to possibly collaborate on program
activity, including potentially bringing a speaker or
nominating Muslim Montrealers to exchange programs
(NOTE: PD Montreal has nominated the head of the
Algerian Cultural Center for the FY 2006 International
Visitor Leadership Program).


3. After introducing themselves -- none of these
contacts seemed to know each other -- several invitees
commented on the Koran desecration stories. An Iraqi
Canadian said that the stories, probably all isolated
incidents, had obviously been manipulated to foment
anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world. He said
that the best way to handle such stories is for high-
level USG officials to make public statements, quickly
and often. But others disagreed with him, noting how
often the President and the Secretary of State have
already said that the war on terror is not a war on
Islam. An Algerian Canadian said that though USG
officials have to keep saying that the U.S. is not anti-
Islamic, such statements have little effect in Muslim
countries. Interestingly, Vice President of the
Montreal Egyptian Student Association (the youngest
invitee) suggested that the U.S. needs to engage both
the younger generation of Muslims, and the Muslims who
disagree with us (as an example, he named a very pro-
Palestinian student group at Concordia University).
Several invitees picked up on his comments, saying,
"You're preaching to the choir here."


4. The invitees got into a long and heated discussion
over whether democracy can succeed in the Arab and
Muslim countries. An Algerian Canadian was skeptical,
given his own country's experience. Our Iraqi Canadian
contact talked about the huge desire in Iraq for
democracy, demonstrated by the January election. A
Lebanese Canadian chimed in, saying that Lebanon is
another case of democracy taking hold. There seemed to
be a consensus that Egypt is the place to watch, and
the country in which the USG should focus its pressure
for greater democratization in the region.


5. The Islamic Community Center representative (a
Pakistani Canadian) talked about the need for Muslims
in Montreal to recapture the respect and dignity that
had been lost since 9/11 for their community. He had
complained previously of difficulties faced by Muslims
at border points of entry, and he noted at the meeting
the stringent security procedures for entering the
Consulate ("Was this security checking just for our
group, a Muslim group?")


6. All of the invitees expressed appreciation to CG
Allen for the Consulate's initiative in reaching out to
Muslim groups in Montreal. They would like further and
increased contact and offered to assist us with program
activity.


7. Montreal's Muslim communities are nothing if not
diverse. Sectarian, national origin, political,
linguistic, and orthodoxy differences separate the
various groups and reflect different patterns of
immigration to the province. According to Statistics
Canada 2001 census data, some 96,000 Montrealers
identified themselves as Muslims, though according to
many people the actual number is much higher and
growing. Because of recent immigration from the French-
speaking countries of the Maghreb, Arab-Muslims
comprise the majority of Muslims in Montreal (some
44,000 according to the census),but the older South
Asian and Egyptian communities are also sizable.


8. In the past several weeks, Muslim organizations in
Montreal have been preoccupied with two separate
situations concerning Muslim integration in Quebec
society: 1) the use of sharia-based arbitration in some
legal situations; 2) prayer space at McGill University.
A Member of the National Assembly (a Muslim woman of
Moroccan origin and a long-standing Post contact),in
the face of strong criticism from the imam who chairs
the Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM),with whom we met
last March, introduced a motion to oppose the
establishment of Islamic tribunals in Quebec, a motion
adopted by the three parties in the Quebec Parliament
and supported by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
McGill's decision to close a prayer room that had been
used by Muslim students since 1998 has been bitterly
criticized by the MCM also. A Muslim Students
Association spokesperson was quoted as saying, "the
manner in which this was handled was very
irresponsible, very juvenile, as if we were criminals."
In response to media inquiries over the matter, the
university communications officer's responded, "it was
understood and it was explained . that this would be on
a temporary basis. The university does not provide
permanent prayer space to any group. McGill is a
secular institution."


9. Comment: We have found much receptiveness to USG
contact and collaboration in the Muslim community of
Montreal, though the community itself is rather
inchoate. The Consulate could play a significant role
in bringing the various groups together, and getting
them to think about ways the Muslim diaspora could help
with democratization and development in the Muslim
world, as well as issues of tolerance and immigration
in North America.
ALLEN