Month: June 2021

Today is a VERY sad day in Canada…

May the Afzaals rest in peace.

May God support their surviving boy as well as all their loved ones.

Bambi already sent her heartfelt condolences to her fellow Canadians and to the people of Pakistan, especially to the relatives and friends of the Afzaals (in an earlier post shared again below). Today, if she may, she would like to begin by extending her condolences to Mr. Imran Khan, the Pakistani PM.

This being said, Bambi does not understand why he seems to be interfering with our own freedom of expression in Canada and earlier in Western countries at large? Why does he seem to be encouraging online censorship in our own country, as per the CBC and France24?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/imran-khan-rbl-interview-1.6062850

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210612-canada-paying-final-homage-to-family-killed-in-truck-attack

Of course, Bambi has the utmost respect for his grief (including any feeling of sadness or anger). However, had the Afzaals been of Lebanese origins, not a single politician (even of the corrupt ones, including powerful, Islamist-leaning ones) would have expressed such demand. So why does Mr. Khan feel entitled to do so (again)?

Furthermore, despite their obsession with religion and their sectarianism-based corruption, Lebanese politicians would have never ever allowed themselves to criticize Québec’s Bill 21. This is a bill made by Québec for Québec. It may not be ideal in all its parts but it has been democratically voted by lawmakers while being endorsed by the vast majority of the population, including MANY of those of Muslim faith.

This being said, a message to the CBC now, please do your homework about Bill 21 before further reporting about it. This bill does NOT “ban public servants, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols at work“.

And no, Mr. Khan, this is bill is NOT a form of “secular extremism” that “leads to intolerance against Muslims“. This bill is known to be moderate, compared to similar bills in Europe.

If it could perhaps help to clarify this bill using the Government of Québec’s own language, below is a text copied pasted from one of Bambi’s earlier posts on Bill 21, which she respects for the simple following reason: It is the choice of Québec, whether she fully agreed with it at first or not:

“Bill 21 came after 10 years of public debate in Québec about reasonable accommodations.

Bill 21 is moderate, compared to other bills in secular countries in Europe.

Bill 21 is mainly about public servants in positions of authority, including all the following:

“the President and Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly, administrative justices of the peace, special clerks, clerks, deputy clerks, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, clerks and deputy clerks respecting municipal courts, and bankruptcy registrars, members or commissioners who exercise their functions within the Comité de déontologie policière, the Commission d’accès à l’information, the Commission de la fonction publique, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec, the Commission des transports du Québec, the Commission municipale du Québec, the Commission québécoise des libérations conditionnelles, the Régie de l’énergie, the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, the Régie des marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec, the Régie du logement, the Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal, the Administrative Tribunal of Québec or the Administrative Labour Tribunal, as well as disciplinary council chairs who exercise their functions within the Bureau des présidents des conseils de discipline, commissioners appointed by the Government under the Act respecting public inquiry commissions, and lawyers or notaries acting for such a commission, arbitrators appointed by the Minister of Labour whose name appears on a list drawn up by that minister in accordance with the Labour Code, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, and persons who exercise the function of lawyer, notary or criminal and penal prosecuting attorney and who are under the authority of a government department, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the National Assembly, a person appointed or designated by the National Assembly to an office under its authority (or a body referred to in paragraph 3 of the bill), persons who exercise the function of lawyer and are employed by a prosecutor (Code of Penal Procedure), unless the prosecutor are persons acting in criminal or penal matters for such a prosecutor before the courts or with third persons, lawyers or notaries acting before the courts or with third persons in accordance with a legal services contract entered into with a minister, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the National Assembly, a person appointed or designated by the National Assembly to exercise a function under its authority (or a body referred to in paragraph 3 of the bill), or lawyers acting in criminal or penal matters before the courts or with third persons in accordance with a legal services contract entered into with a prosecutor, peace officers who exercise their functions mainly in Québec; and principals, vice principals and teachers of educational institutions under the jurisdiction of a school board established under the Education Act or of the Commission scolaire du Littoral established by the Act respecting the Commission scolaire du Littoral.”

Bill 21 includes a “grandfather” clause, which allows existing public servants to keep serving.

Bill 21 also has a section on the necessity to have one’s face uncovered whilst receiving public services for safety concerns.”

Of course, this bill is not in the spirit of Canada’s multiculturalism. Mind you, it is not in the spirit of the (religiously diverse) Lebanon neither. However, it is in the spirit of countries like France and Switzerland (at least in the canton of Geneva) and Québec, as a distinct society (or nation). Why can’t we accept this once and for all? Is it that hard to remember?

Bambi agrees that the idea of such bill may not appear ideal, even it is a logical result of a 10-year public debate. Perhaps the world would have appeared nicer or fair to all without resorting to this bill. However, sometimes in life or history rather, there is a time for such legal measures to protect/ensure the survival of one’s civilization (like bill 101or 96 on the French language, etc.). For those who forget it, Québec is a minority in North America.

One must also keep in mind that Québec did a symbolic gesture by removing the cross from its National Assembly (putting it in a nearby museum, if Bambi understood well). This cross likely did not have any religious meaning to lawmakers. However, it represents a deep cultural heritage meaning (Judeo-Christian tradition); Québeckers know how to be proud of their heritage.

To be fully non-politically correct about this topic, between Bill 21 and Islamism (as a political movement within the beautiful Muslim religion), Bambi clearly prefers the former despite her respect for the latter. She is saying so as a human being and especially as a woman. In her mind, she is clearly for the separation of the church (i.e. all religions; any religion) and the state. She is writing so despite her respect for all the religions of the world as well as for those who chose not to believe in any religion.

To conclude this post, you may or may not agree with neither Québeckers nor Bambi on this topic. However, from Mr. Khan to Mr. Trudeau, from Mr. Blanchet (Bloc Québécois in Ottawa) to Mr. Legault (PM of Québec) as well as to you and Bambi, we are ALL mourning today (together) :(. Most importantly, we all agree that violence is NOT acceptable, regardless of its source and regardless of its victim!

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Honouring the Afzaals: Why do some feel the urge to use human tragedies to score political points?

The sound of the oud (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oud) moves Bambi’s heart every time she listens to it. It evokes beautiful memories from the past and instantly transports her back in time. She remembers her trips to Lebanon and her precious times with loved ones.

One of those memories may seem odd to you… with a reason :). It happened 29 years ago like this time of the year. It was Bambi’s first trip back from Montreal home after civil war (which officially ended in October, 1990, that is four months after her immigration to Canada). Bambi’s dad had to have an urgent gallbladder surgery. Sadly, this health crisis occurred the night before a concert he was eager to take his daughter to. Bambi’s dad asked for the permission of the hospital authority to leave, for the night, to attend the concert and return by midnight to be ready for his morning surgery. Well, believe it or not, his surgeon and the hospital allowed him to do so (as a favour for the Canadian tourist :); only in Lebanon such odd events can happen). They went to listen to Mr. Marcel Khalife’s concert in Byblos and it was magical; Of course since he is one of the most talented singers and oud players not just in Lebanon, but in the entire world.

Luckily, the surgery of Bambi’s dad went well. Two months later, he returned with her to Canada to spend time with the rest of his family in Montreal. As the world can be really small, they bumped into Mr. Marcel Khalife and his musicians on the same airplane flying them from Paris to Montreal. He was on his way for a tour in Canada and the USA. Bambi could not help not to share the hospital’s story with them while greeting them :).

Anyhow, this post is meant to honour the oud that Bambi listened to on her favourite radio today.

First, let’s start with this Reuters short yet moving video featuring a Lebanese artisan oud maker. Bambi was moved to hear him talking about his relationship with the oud, on which he expresses all his emotions (from joy to grief, from love to despair, etc.). Of note, he remembers to which artist each of his creations went!

Second, meet Mr. Charbel Rohanna. He is another highly talented Lebanese oud player! He actually played music with Mr. Khalife at the concert mentioned above :). The music is a traditional Lebanese song of Fairuz entitled “Al bint el Shalabieh“. Bambi has meant to learn to play this song on the guitar since last summer/fall, but so many events occurred in her life that she had not yet had the time to complete her project. She would like to take the time to acknowledge and thank the online talented guitar teacher, Dr. Antiff, who happens to be from Beirut. See below :).

Thank you Dr. Antiff! Because of your inspiration and great lessons, Bambi was able to remember how to play the guitar after so many years! Yes, from her early teenage years in Beirut where she was blessed to have two teachers over a period of four years. The first teacher used to come to her family apartment. The second one, her mom used to drive her and wait for her in the car, literally under the shelling, the sound of which mixed with the music. Bambi would be practising with her heart half in the lesson and half under the balcony of her teacher, that is with her mom on the street. The latter was near the green line (sadly dividing Beirut in two halves).

Third, while preparing this post, Bambi discovered this incredible talent from Québec, Canada. His name is Mr. Benoit Martin. He plays the oud, as you can see further below.

Benoit Martin

To conclude this post, Bambi would like to end with a friendly wink to her childhood friend, also called Charbel, a guitar player who is now learning the oud. He is talented in both science and music, in addition to his devotion to his family and loyalty to his values of humanity. If he ever reads this post, he will smile now :).

First, who is Mr. Alghabra, our Federal Minister of Transportation, who seems to enjoy “Québec bashing” like his boss and like many of the journalists from the rest of Canada:

https://pm.gc.ca/en/cabinet/honourable-omar-alghabra

Bambi has a post on him, see further below. In that post, Bambi found an old Arabic news article in which he used the following words during an interview:

“Unfortunately, the Islamic majority remained silent during the debate about this bill [on the implementation of Sharia law], leaving the room wide open for the minority opposing it, which was more vocal, and thus managed to make this bill fail. This was not meant to be against Muslims, but it is us who were divided and did not how to speak in one voice“.

Bill 21 is precisely about Québec state’s secularism.

Although Mr. Alghabra seems competent and likeable, how can we trust his judgement about Bill 21 when he has expressed support for Islamism (political Islam) in Ontario in the past?

As you can hear toward the end of this interview (i.e. 6:28 minute into it) or read in the title of the CBC article, Mr. Alghabra called Québec’s Bill 21 “state-sanctioned discrimination”. Does this Minister realize the impact of his serious words?

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1906706499508

Why is he shamelessly interfering in Québec’s politics, like our PM and like many of our Canadian columnists?

Enough is enough. It is time to learn to respect Québec now!

—

Mr. Blanchet is neither Islamophic, nor racist, and surely not divisive, as the Liberals/Mr. Omar Al Ghabra are pretending

Bill 21, which is about the state secularism, was voted in the Québec National Assembly. Of note, it was also endorsed by the Liberal Party of Québec, not just by the CAQ in power.

Despite the above, Mr. Trudeau equated a terror attack that eliminated an innocent family with a bill that is democratically voted. Does that make any sense?

Mr. Trudeau is supposed to defend our Canadian values of democracy. It is Mr. Blanchet who is doing it, not him.

Mr. Trudeau is supposed to unite Canadians in times of tragedies. Ironically, it was Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté who had the wisdom of doing so today on TV (you may see Bambi’s earlier post at the end of this one).

As a reminder, Dr. Bock-Côté is supposed to be the one aspiring for the sovereignty of Québec. Yet, he had words of compassion and love (yes love) for Canada/the Canadians today.

Does it make sense to blame Québec for a tragedy that took place in a different province?

Mr. Trudeau may have resorted to imbecility today without wanting to be mean. Yet, his words insulted the whole Québec.

Anyhow, Mr. Blanchet began by inviting him to explain his position and to withdraw his remarks.

Well, Mr. Trudeau did not answer the question.

Instead, he preferred to talk about Muslims who are affected by the sad attack of the mosque in Québec, several years ago, and their fear of going out in the streets of Canada with their hijab today, etc.

Mr. Blanchet, usually a calm politician, got upset and told him the following: “Maybe there is no limit in the incapacity or to the lack of will to answer a question in parliament. However, in real life, there is a limit to such attitude. Québeckers are not less supportive of the people of London than the PM. Nevertheless, he created a link between Islamophobia, intolerance, and a bill voted in the National Assembly of Québec, which is largely supported in Québec. Will he repeat this imbecility or will he apologize?”

Below you can watch the interesting interaction between Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Blanchet. Before concluding this post, Bambi would like to thank Mr. Blanchet. She will add: Sorry Mr. Trudeau, but today you disappointed her. Indeed, as our PM, your words can be powerful, encouraging some, if not many, of your fellow citizens to continue with their ignorance of or excessive judgement of Québec.

This being said, may the Afzaals rest in peace. Much love to their surviving son, to their loved ones, to the people of London Ontario, and to all of us in Canada!

To conclude this post now, may common sense prevail in the minds of our leaders… and in the rest of the population.

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The equating of the Afzaals tragedy & Québec’s Bill 21: Why is it that our PM is unwise to the point of irresponsibility, despite his apparent good intentions?

In this thoughtful LCN show called La Joute, shown at the end of this post, precisely between the 0:26 to 1.17 minutes, we can hear Mr. Trudeau replying to a journalist about Bill 21 in a press conference meant to be about the horrific crime or terror act in London, Ontario (French content).

He basically said that a reflection about Bill 21 will have to occur after this tragedy and that the habit of wearing a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic might be perhaps changing Quebeckers’ views because for a year they have been getting governmental services whilst wearing masks and because of a real rise in intolerance. He was likely referring here to the section of Bill 21 “on the necessity to have one’s face uncovered whilst receiving public services for safety concerns” (Bambi has several posts on this bill; as shown below).

Luckily, immediately after our PM, we can hear Québec’s Prime Minister, Mr. François Legault reminding Mr. Trudeau to take notice of the will of the Québeckers with regard to their bill.

Well, we may like or dislike Bill 21, but Bambi cannot help not to wonder the following:

First, doesn’t Mr. Trudeau know the difference between a medical mask and a nikab ??

Second, doesn’t he realize that his words may seem irresponsible, which is apparently the opposite of his well-meaning intention about tolerance and fraternity in Canada?

Third, why can’t the journalists, in the press conference, understand that Bill 21 is made by Québec and is meant for Québec? It is the will of the majority of the population of this province, whether they like this bill or not.

Fourth and last, when will we understand hat there are cultural differences in life in this approach to secularism. This bill may not be ideal, but it is very mild compared to other similar laws in Europe. It came after ten years of a public debate on reasonable accommodations in la Belle Province.

To conclude, in this video, we can see that Mr. Thomas Mulcair (former leader of the NPD) is not a fan of this bill, specifically the section mentioned above. However, he also questioned Mr. Trudeau’s words today, like the other two guests.

Of note, it was refreshing for Bambi to hear the final words by Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté. He reminded us that “the Afzaals’ tragedy in London, Ontario is not just the tragedy of their (Muslim) community there. It is OUR tragedy to all of us in Canada, whether Canadians are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, etc. All the Canadians. All the Québeckers. Not just the Muslim community. It is frightening to all our fellow citizens, regardless of their religion and this is something that must be remembered. It is not the pain of one community only. It is the pain of the whole country”.

Thank you, Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté, for your wisdom!

—

Earlier post of Bambi on the London, Ontario tragedy:

Honouring the Afzaals: Why do some feel the urge to use human tragedies to score political points?

Some of the earlier posts of Bambi on Bill 21:

Bill 21 on secularism of the state: Bravo to Québec Minister of Justice for refusing the Superior Court judgement because “the laws of Québec must apply to everyone and throughout Québec. There are no two Québecs, there is only one”!

Bill 21: Had Bambi been a Québec resident, this is the day where she would consider voting for sovereignty. For the proud Canadian she is, it means that Mr. Trudeau went too far!

The problem with Dr. Zaidi is that his task force criticizing Québec’s bill 21 is out of the wrong province. The problem of the CBC is that it spreads misinformation about this bill

Contrary to many others, Ms. Ensaf Haidar knows radical religiosity sadly too well. This is why she defends Québec’s secularism bill 21

Why can’t Mr. Trudeau respect Québec, namely its Bill 21 on the state’s secularism?

Test yourself with Bill 21: Multiple Choice Questions

Mr. Richard Martineau is right: The Globe & Mail editorial on Québec’s Bill 21 sucks

Like everyone in Canada, Bambi’ heart is shocked and deeply sad because of the tragedy in London, Ontario.

There is no word to describe this horrific crime!!

A young man, apparently blinded by hate, drove his truck on them and… killed them!!!

It seems that there was one survivor: The boy in the picture below. Injured, he is an inpatient who does not know the fate of the rest of his beautiful family yet. Can you imagine :(?!

May the rest of the Afzaal family members rest in peace. May everyone’s memory be eternal…

Bambi’s post is partly to hounour the Afzaals.

The other reason behind this post is another (indirect) way of honouring them by refusing the use of their death to score any political point (regardless of the point).

The exploitation of innocent people, for political or ideological reasons, was common during the Lebanese civil war.

How sad to observe a similar phenomenon here in Canada.

For instance, and with all due respect for her, it seems that a Globe and Mail columnist was fast to jump on this human tragedy to score a political point about Québec’ Bill 21 on secularism. Bambi learned about it from a tweet of Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté, another columnist in Québec.

Does this make any sense?

To conclude this post on a sad yet beautiful musical note, if Bambi may, she would like to dedicate a French song entitled “Left before having said everything” (by Mr. Pierre Bachelet) to the Afzaals and to their loved ones surviving them in both Canada and Pakistan (their birth country).

May the Afzaals rest in peace and may God knows how to comfort the heart of the only young survivor of this beautiful Canadian family.

First , many thanks to Dr. Jordan Peterson for interviewing Bambi/Rima (or Dr. Rima Azar)!

This interview was Bambi’s first public interview since February 22, 2021… It was as surrealistic to her as her continuous censorship saga.

She explains: She has the UTMOST respect for Dr. Peterson. She is both honoured and humbled to be interviewed by him. She thought carefully before accepting his kind invitation because she knows how some of us do not allow their minds and hearts be open to hear others’ meaningful messages in life… just because those “others” are not “them” and their different opinions or approaches in life may at times be different.

If Bambi has one wish today is to ask you to just be human and listen to this interview, shared below, with an open mind. How would you feel personally had you been the one interviewed by Dr. Peterson for the same reason (censorship)? How would you feel had the interviewee been your spouse, your parent or your adult child?

Please think also of the clever title of his interview: “You’re next“. “You” is anyone. You is any place. You is any university. You is any workplace. You is any province and territory. You is any country.

Today, it is about me. Tomorrow, will it be about “you”?

“You” may be you personally or “your” colleague, your student, your teacher. It may be your friend, your spouse, your parent… or your child.

No one deserves this in life, not Dr. Peterson in the past. Not Bambi now. Surely not you, with or without knowing you… regardless of your opinion about this or that topic, at a particular point in time!

Second (OK, first and foremost too :)), thanks to each one of you for your heart-warming support!!! Bambi’s fear (nightmare!) is not to thank each one of you for your generosity as soon as possible. Please trust that she is doing this in her heart right now, as she is writing this post! You will hear from her ASAP… Please forgive her if your personalized thank you note will take time to reach you.

Bambi is literally overwhelmed by your kind support, expressed in so many different ways. She thanks you from the bottom of her heart for all the emails, texts, notes, and calls! She thanks you for your solidarity!

Third, to conclude this post, you can listen to the interview of Dr. Peterson with Bambi/Rima below. Before you do so, you may wish to check Dr. Rima Azar’s new personal website. It has just been finalized and soon (over the next days or week?), you will hear a video message… in English, French, and Arabic. Please stay tuned:

I’m Rima, Associate Professor of Health Psychology

In a CBC article entitled “Premier rejects calls to apologize to N.B. doctor after COVID-19-related charge withdrawn”, we learn that Mr. Higgs had the courage to remain firm in resisting the pressure to apologize to Dr. Ngola:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/charges-dropped-new-brunswick-doctor-1.6053174

First, Bambi is VERY happy for Dr. Ngola because he is free of charges and his trial did not take place (11 days before it was supposed to start, that is on June 15). What a relief.

Second, once again, we see how Québec is a welcoming province because Dr. Ngola is now practicing there.

As for us in NB, again Bambi sends her condolences to the family of Mr. Daniel Ouellette, our first covid-19 death in the province (http://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2020/06/04/good-bye-au-revoir-monsieur-daniel-ouellette/)…They have been dignified in their grief.

Plus, to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, had Mr. Higgs (and Dr. Roussel) been opaque about this story involving Dr. Ngola, we would have accused our government of being non-transparent when we needed to have honest information about the pandemic.

Mr. Higgs did not name Dr. Ngola in his press conference of last year. He just informed the population of what was happening. This is his duty as PM and he simply did it from the best of his capacity. It would be unfair to pretend otherwise. It is surely inappropriate to ask him to apologize.

Now, was Dr. Ngola at the receiving end of some citizen’s anger frustrated and scared by the pandemic? Yes, likely and sadly with nasty words online, it seems. However, it is not because of neither his skin hue nor his accent. It is because citizens were upset and frustrated to have to worry and go into a lockdown again. With all due respect to Dr. Ngola as a compassionate physician throughout his career, what has upset citizens is that he is a physician and he should have known about the need to quarantine after travels.

This being said, everyone can make a mistake or take risks in life. In his case, he seems to have had family obligations to fulfill (i.e. travels of his spouse abroad due to death in the family) and, if Bambi recalls well from the media, he also had a job interview in Québec too at that time.

Once again, Bambi is happy for Dr. Ngola. He deserves peace of mind to enjoy his life and fully devote himself to his new patients in the nearby Québec.

A year ago, Bambi wrote that she would definitely seek his services for herself, but perhaps not for her senior parents. Well, now that they are both vaccinated twice (since February/early March in Beirut), she would gladly drive them to Dr. Ngola’s new clinic… had they been living in NB or Québec.

Mind you, Bambi would have written the same post had Dr. Ngola’s name been Dr. Khoury, Dr. Smith, or Dr. Bélliveau.

To conclude this post, once again, enough of resorting to identity (or racial)-based politics to such absurd extent… Bambi is saying this in reference to Dr. Ngola’s lawyer’s statement: “There is a terrible systemic racism history in North America of using the dog whistle against racialized citizens and labelling them as the ‘bringer of diseases,’ and this has to stop,”

—

Bambi’s earlier posts on this same topic:

Had Dr. Ngola’s name been Dr. Surette or Dr. Smith, would this story have attracted the attention of journalists at home or abroad?

Why should Mr. Higgs apologize to Dr. Ngola?

Bambi would like to thank, a dear family friend from Québec (Dr. Nadim Korban), for sharing this beautiful short video of landscapes from Lebanon produced by Mr. Mourad Halimi.

May our birth country see the light at the end of this long tunnel of political deadlocks, financial as well as moral corruption, and continuous security risks/threats, regardless of their sources.

The people of Lebanon deserve better. The “land of the Cedars” surely deserves brighter days…

Bambi loves this love song called Mi Gna, as her friends of Armenian origins know :). She is lucky because it played on the radio today. Well, she may be lucky, but not her spouse! Poor guy because she cannot stop singing the song since this morning… and it is now late in the evening.

Bambi wonders if her family members in Beirut heard this song before. Mind you, It is not that new. However, for the dinosaur in her [in addition to being a deer :)], this musical discovery is considered a recent one.

Bambi hopes you will enjoy discovering this song as well. Now, if you decide that you do not like it, you will be the lucky one here. Indeed, you have the agency to ignore this post or the whole blog altogether!