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"I wanted to use what I've learned to help other people, to show that as citizens we are not powerless," said Mazigh
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By
Muneeb Nasir, IOL Correspondent
OTTAWA,
May 28 (IslamOnline.net) - A prominent Canadian Muslim will run for
Parliament in the next federal elections due on June 28.
Monia
Mazigh will be the New Democratic Party candidate for the Ottawa South
riding, a traditionally Liberal riding, in the upcoming federal
election.
"I
wanted to use what I've learned to help other people, to show that as
citizens we are not powerless. We can make things change," Mazigh
has said.
She
will be running against the Liberal candidate, David McGuinty, brother
of the Premier of Ontario.
Mazigh
became a household name across Canada after spending more than a year
tirelessly campaigning to win her husband's freedom from a Syrian
prison.
Maher
Arar was
deported to Syria by U.S. officials while in transit in New
York on suspicion of being connected to Al-Qaeda. He was held without
charge for over a year before being returned to Canada.
Mazigh
joined a number of human rights groups to press the government for his
release. She appeared frequently in the media and was widely respected
for her tireless efforts.
Her
efforts also pressured the Canadian government to call a public
inquiry into his deportation.
Marquee
Candidate
Even
though Mazigh has no political experience, press reports expect that
she would be a marquee candidate for the party.
Her
battle for her husband's freedom won her widespread public sympathy
and admiration. The 34-year-old woman’s dedication earned her
a nomination by Canada’s leading newspaper as The Globe and Mail's
2003 "Nation-builder of the year".
Mazigh
had said that it was "a very difficult decision" to
seek the Ottawa South NDP nomination because she's busy with two young
children.
But
after what happened to her husband, Mazigh said she felt she had to
enter public life.
"I
didn't choose to be a public figure, but when (the imprisonment)
happened and when I came to be known, I think it is one of my personal
duties, as a Canadian, to do something to help people around me,"
Mazigh was quoted by cnews network as saying in March after she
announced her nomination for the party.
"
It is a good opportunity to take… what I have learned and my
experience to help people."
NDP
Leader Jack Layton has said Mazigh brings to the NDP "a wisdom
that is really quite extraordinary."
"I
think she's captured the imagination of Canadians in an important
way."
Mazigh
said she had been wooed by Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal party
as well by Layton, but has previously voted NDP and feels closer to
that party, according to cnews website.
"When
I came here to Canada… it was my brother who told me the best party
in Canada was the New Democratic Party" said Mazigh, who
emigrated from Tunisia in 1991, first to Montreal before settling in
Ottawa in 1997.
She
has said her husband's ordeal would influence her work if she were
elected. But her interests range beyond the Middle East and prisoners
rights to issues involving families, education, health and the
elderly.
She
received a PhD in Finance from Montreal’s McGill University and has
worked as a research assistant at the University of Ottawa, a finance
manager in a small business and a French language instructor.
She
is fluent in French, English and Arabic.
