Viewing cable 05MONTREAL744, MONTREAL MUSLIMS APPRECIATE DIALOGUE WITH

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092021Z Jun 05

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