"If you are persecuted, you develop a consciousness of who you are," said Clarkson

Additional Reporting By Mustafa Abdel-Halim, IOL Staff

TORONTO/CAIRO, June 5 (IslamOnline.net) – A Canadian Muslim organization has urged community members to cast their ballots in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) issued an urgent plea to mosques to encourage the country's 650,000 Muslims to vote in the June 28 elections, reported the Globe and Mail newspaper on Friday, June 5.

The group regretted that in the 2000 elections only 40 per cent of eligible Muslims had cast votes, seeking a turnout of 80 per cent in this elections.

The CIC issued in April a research entitled "Election 2004: Towards Informed and Committed Voting".

It ranks federal candidates on their positions on national and international policies, and gives Canadian Muslims "something to think about and act upon in the coming federal election".

The CIC drive is backed by other initiatives from Islamic magazines and other Arab and Islamic organizations.

"It's a religious duty to vote," said Imam Hamid Slimi, who leads the International Muslims Organization mosque in Rexdale, which normally attracts 2,500 people to its Friday prayer.

Hard Time

Muslim leaders in the Canadian society recognize that the world had significantly changed since the 9/11 attacks and Muslims have to change to cope with those changes.

Many of the community members have faced a hard time since the terror attacks, with rising feelings of being targeted and marginalized by controversial anti-terrorism legislation passed by the Liberal government.

"We now feel obliged to move for defending our rights here. Things began to change as the consequences of 9/11 are still fresh in our minds," Hoda Hayyani, a Toronto resident, told IslamOnline.net over phone.

"Feeling their votes are effective, Muslims began to fully realize the possible clout they could have," she added, believing that Muslims will respond to the CIC call.

Hayyani cited a 2003 national census showing Islam as the number one non-Christian faith in Quebec and Canada as a whole.

No For Labor

Irfan Syed, the president of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers' Association, agreed that Muslims should no longer automatically cast their ballots for the Liberals.

"Muslims need to reflect on what politicians have done for them," the Scarborough resident told the Globe and Mail.

"Some people in the community are saying 'Wait a minute, how come nobody spoke up about this.'"

"This issue helped create that awareness and consciousness. If you have an opportunity to do something, you shouldn't just let things happen to you."

Syed said political parties can not ignore the potential clout and needs of the Muslim community, especially in large urban centers such as Toronto where more than 5 per cent of residents are Muslim, the largest religious bloc after Christians.

"Politicians count numbers," he said. "Before, the numbers weren't significant."

The Canadian paper said Roy Cullen, the Liberal incumbent in Etobicoke North, understands it.

Ten of his election signs line the front lawn of Slimi's mosque, which is located in an area which census data said has the third largest Muslim population in the country.

Flexing Muscles

Stephen Clarkson, a University of Toronto political science professor, said he was not surprised by Muslims' attempt to get politically organized.

"If you are persecuted, you develop a consciousness of who you are," he told the Globe and Mail.

Clarkson argued this development follows a pattern of what happens when large immigrant bodies begin "to flex their muscles once they get established a bit."

Monia Mazigh, a prominent Canadian Muslim, will run the elections in Ottawa South riding, a traditionally Liberal riding.

Last October, Shafiq Qaadri, a Canadian Muslim, won parliamentary elections in Ontario, the second largest province of Canada.