نامه ای به امضاء چند تن از اعضای کنگره به هییت مدیره فرستاده میشود و تقاضای
 موضع گرفتن در مقابل رفتار ناشایست با عزاداری و عزادارن میکند.

To the ICC’s board of governors:
 
Over the past few days I have talked to a number of friends and ICC members regarding the need to refute the recent onslaught of personal attacks against our fellow Iranian Canadians who participated in the mourning procession of Ashura. This event despite its legal legitimacy protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, Section 2 became the subject of confusion among many Iranian Canadians as certain individuals tried to label it under pejorative terms. Some of the local media in the community have also been influenced by this and published articles in condemning the event as barbaric and uncivilized. The magnitude of such negative propaganda disseminated by these groups has gone beyond the Iranian circle and the sheer ignorance of their messages (e.g. Iranian Shia Storming Streets of Toronto) have induced fear among none Iranian Canadians who associated the black clad mourners to ISIS. Some of the messages commented under the Facebook posts of these rather antagonistic figures are clear threats to use violence and can be interpreted on par with hate speech. This is rather unfortunate as many other similar religious and non religious processions in this city have been organized while no similar controversy has been risen out of them. Given the popularity of the Ashura commemoration within the Iranian Muslim community and the likelihood of its occurrence in the future, we would like to know whether ICC would want to clarify its position vis-a-vie the freedom of religious beliefs and freedom of association in order to be the voice for those who have become the subject of insults and humiliation as a result of these individual’s recent campaign of fear and shame.

Suggestion: Considering the controversy of the issue, I suggest that in order to maintain a neutral position and at the same time avoid any possible association with religious organizations perhaps ICC can declare its position only in regards to “freedom of association” and the peaceful nature of religious processions. This way members of the Iranian Muslim community can too find representation in ICC through public reiteration of their civil rights and ICC can also avoid direct confrontation with other groups who seek to link the congress to nefarious political agendas or infamous individuals.

هییت مدیره در جواب میگوید که این وظیفه کنگره نیست که به آنچه در سوشیال مدیا و میان افراد صورت میگیرد دخالت کند.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Many thanks for your e-mail (copy attached below) and apologies for the delay in responding. The board of directors of the Iranian Canadian Congress has deliberated on the content of your message and would like to share the following as a response. As you have indicated in your message, recently a group of Iranians in Toronto used their right to freedom of association and held a procession to commemorate Ashura. As witnessed in some photos, Canadian police provided security for them and, fortunately, the procession was completed with no incident. In reaction to this procession, a few individuals in our community left comments in various social media venues or wrote articles in Persian weeklies condemning this event. Several of our board members share the sentiment with you that some of these comments were totally distasteful and even offensive. Crucially, the majority of the board does not see it as the business of the Iranian Canadian Congress to look around the various internet or media outlets and pass value judgments about statements that individuals within our community have made about various issues. We, therefore, find issuing a statement with respect to these comments outside the mandate of this organization. Had the individuals been prevented from holding the Ashura procession by the government or even private individuals, our response could have been different. We are fully committed to promoting tolerance and inclusiveness in our community.

One of the first documents we put out after the new board started its work was a code of conduct for all ICC meetings. This document, which can be found on our website, focuses on tolerance and acceptance of all individuals with no discrimination based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, etc. We also held an event on the occasion of the International Peace Day whose main theme was tolerance. We will continue to do everything in our power to promote these values in our community. Nevertheless, in our opinion, tolerance cannot be achieved in the environment of condemnation, especially when it comes from an organization whose goal is to represent the Iranian-Canadian community in its entirety. Our goal is to promote the culture of tolerance in the whole of our community. If the behaviour of a segment of our community is intolerant toward another segment, ICC’s condemnation of the behaviour of that segment will not necessarily lead to a more tolerant and inclusive community, but will most likely isolate that segment and push them further into their intolerant behaviour. Our attempt to be more inclusive of one segment of our community should not come at the cost of giving the impression that we are excluding another. While the current board has done nothing to suggest that we are not inclusive of the more religious segments of our community, we would be more than happy to take a more proactive stance to underline our inclusiveness in this respect. In future, we will look for ways of showing positive gestures toward this sector of our society in contexts which fall within the bylaws and mandate of the ICC as a non-religious, non-partisan and non-profit organization. Also, in order to address the concerns raised with respect to the Ashura procession and the reaction to this event, we would like to hold a panel discussion and invite the organizers as well as the critics of the event to come and have a constructive dialogue about all the issues surrounding this event. It is in this environment of dialogue where we can hope to internalize tolerance and acceptance of one another in our community. In conclusion, we appreciate your concerns about the lack of tolerance in our community and invite you to join us in the path toward a more inclusive and tolerant society, a path that passes through exercising tolerance in our own behaviour, promoting peaceful dialogue and enhancing the education of these values in our community. Warmest regards, Board of Directors, Iranian Canadian Congress

بحث داغ و طولانی به همت مهدی صمدیان ،شامل 25000 کلمه، سه روز گفتگو، با شرکت 16 نفر و 15 ناظر از تاریخ 23 دسامبر تا 27 دسامبر در سوشیال مدیا  ادامه پیدا میکند.

 (ویدئو)     صفحه فیسبوک    PDF

در تاریخ یکشنبه 17 ژانویه 2016 کمیته فرهنگی جلسه ای در جهت تدارک گفت و شنود (1) تشکیل داد که حدود 20 نفر در آن شرکت داشتند.

فیلم های مربوط یه این جلسه              فیلم خلاصه

نامه ارسالی به افراد سرشناس و فعالان اجتماعی و دعوت ایشان به جلسه گفت و شنود (1) کنگره ایرانیان

January 22, 2016

Dear Everyone,

As you may know ICC is going to hold its first open forum on this coming Sunday January 24 between 2:30 and 5:00 pm, room # 3 at North York Civic Centre. Two topics will be discussed:

1)    The demonstration of some members of our community against the 26^th anniversary of Khomeini's death organized by Islamic Society of York Region on May 31^st in Richmond Hill.

2)    The religious march of Ashura in North York on October 24^th.

You are aware that these two events have created broad and heated discussions that still continue in the community. Although it would be better if the forum was held earlier we believe dialogue is always helpful to bring the opponents closer to each other.

Your presence and participation in this meeting will be useful and well appreciated.

Sincerely,

Medi Shams
Solidarity & Support

My last related article:  http://hambastegi.ca/ICC/articles/2016/160121_Khomeini_Ashoura.htm

PS. The poster is attached

CC:, Reza Moridi, Ali Ehsassi, Majid Jowhari, Michael Parsa, Kaveh Shahrouz, Lily Pourzand, Reza Banai, Farokh Zandi, Samad Assadpour, David Mousavi, Pouyan Tabasinejad, Media, and others. 

با سلام و درود به سروران گرامی

شاید مطلع باشید که کنگره ایرانیان اولین جلسه "گفت وشنود" خود را همین یکشنبه 24 ژانویه، بین ساعات دو و نیم الی پنج بعد از ظهر در اطاق شماره سه سیویک سنتر برقرار خواهد کرد. دو موضوع گفتگو برای این جلسه انتخاب گردیده است:

1-      تظاهرات اعتراضی تعدادی از اعضای کامیونیتی به گرامیداشت بیست و ششمین سالروز درگذشت خمینی توسط مسجد یورک در ریچموموندهیل

2-      عزاداری خیابانی آشورا

با اینکه بهتر بود برگزاری جلسات گفتگو در این رابطه زود تر صورت میگرفت، باید بپذیریم که هر گونه جلسه گفتگوئی برای برطرف کردن سوء تفاهمات، ترویج دیالوگ، و نزدیک کردن افراد با عقاید مخالف، میتواند ساده ترین  راه حل باشد.

حضور و شرکت شما در این گفتگو ها باعث اعتبار و غنی کردن آن خواهد بود.

با کمال احترام و تشکر – مهدی شمس – همبستگی و حمایت

آخرین مقاله من در این رابطه:

http://hambastegi.ca/ICC/articles/2016/160121_Khomeini_Ashoura.htm

بالاخره کنگره اولین جلسه گفت و شنود پیرامون این دو موضوع را در تاریخ یکشنبه 24 ژانویه،
 ساعت دو ونیم الی پنج بعد از ظهر در سیویک سنتر نورت یورک برپا میکند.
 فیسبوک اونت