Curated by Sevan Injejikian and Annie Sakkab

A Scotiabank CONTACT 2013 Featured Exhibition

Featuring Jamelie Hassan, Jin-me Yoon, Brett Gundlock, Annie Sakkab, Khadija Baker, Meral Pasha, and Mona Kamal

May 2 – May 26, 2013
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 2 from 6pm – 9pm

The Riverdale Hub and the Scotiabank CONTACT 2013 Photography Festival are pleased to present Dislocations at the Riverdale Hub Community Art Gallery from May 2 – 26, 2013. Dislocations brings together artists who explore the tenuous relationship between identity and place, and who investigate how movement has become a mode of being in the world during an era of globalization. The month-long exhibition features established and emerging artists from Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver, and highlights their aesthetic engagements with cultural dislocation.

Artists Jamelie Hassan, Jin-me Yoon, Brett Gundlock, Annie Sakkab, Khadija Baker, Meral Pasha, and Mona Kamal consider how we negotiate a place for ourselves from one social environment to another. They examine what travels with us across personal, political, and social borders during different kinds of migratory trajectories, and what we leave behind. As discussions on place and identity have shifted towards more fluid understandings, the artists engage with particular kinds of uprootings and regroundings that are embodied and specific. Their work articulates a pluri-local sense of self which is gendered and cultured, and explores how visual culture informs the way we see ourselves in the world, as well as how others situate us in it.

About The Riverdale Hub
Located in the heart of Little India, The Riverdale Hub is a transformative space and green working environment informed by the values of diversity, sustainability and equality. The Hub’s social enterprises – like its Community Art Gallery – provide invaluable hands-on training opportunities to marginalized women and their families, enabling them to develop sustainable livelihoods.

The Hub focuses on employing the transformative power of art to engage the community in dialogue. This exhibition – like The Hub – aims to create a dialogue between the work of documentary photographers and visual artists, between the Hub and the Little India community, as well as between the women and youth who frequent the centre and the Festival’s diverse public.

The Riverdale Hub Community Art Gallery
1326 Gerrard Street E
Toronto, ON M4L 1Z1
Mon – Fri: 9am – 5pm
Sat: 1pm – 6pm

For more information, please contact Annie Sakkab at annie@anniesakkab.com or visit our website: dislocations2013.wordpress.com

Also, please visit the Featured Exhibitions page on the Festival’s website: www.scotiabankcontactphoto.com

Diversity Reporter Editor Mohsin Abbas is soaring high on the wings of a new passion – a documentary film he is making about the remarkable courage of a 15-year-old school girl from his native Pakistan.
Malala: A Girl from Paradise tells the story of Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head and neck by a Taliban gunman last October while on a school bus with classmates.
The education activist first came to international attention after writing a diary for the BBC’s Urdu service about her life in Pakistan’s Swat district under Taliban rule. Writing under the pen name, Gul Makai, she chronicled the plight of children in the region after the Taliban outlawed schools for girls.
Malala was critically wounded and flown to Birmingham, England’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she underwent numerous surgeries by specialists in skull reconstruction.”
Abbas recently spent four months in Pakistan with a four-member film crew. They interviewed friends and family of Malala for their documentary. He said insurgency in the volatile tribal regions make it one of the most dangerous areas in South Asia for working journalists.
“The region is still very, very dangerous for journalists. When I go through our footage and my memories of our time spent there, I get goose bumps,” said Abbas.
Abbas, an award-winning Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and press freedom activist, is editor of the Diversity Reporter, a multilingual weekly newspaper for newcomers and immigrants in Canada.
He plans to rejoin his crew in Pakistan in July for the second phase of filming and post-production work. Abbas is attempting to raise $20,000 to complete the film, which he hopes to present to the public this September.
The film explores how the failure to silence Malala has inspired men, women and children, not only in Swat Valley, but beyond the borders of Pakistan. The documentary tells how a young girl from a remote village stood up against Stone Age ideologues, who wanted to take a nation of 200 million back in time. Malala became a shining light and force for change, not only in her Swat Valley, but around the world, said Abbas.
“We have some remarkable interviews about how she has changed the mindsets of people. A prime example is a woman we interviewed whose family business for generations had been (traditional folk) dancing. This woman told us because of Malala, her daughters will not dance, but will go to school.”
He said the females in this woman’s family have never been formally educated but learned how to make money for the home through performance of their traditional folk dances.
The film also explores the political intrigue and conspiracy theories that swirl around the attempted murder of Malala, said Abbas. The documentary, which will be in Urdu with English subtitles, will
explain how the oppression of women, political tensions and social injustices led to the horrendous attack on the young schoolgirl.
At the height of the insurgency, 401 out of 1,576 schools in the Swat Valley were destroyed by the Taliban. About 70% of the destruction targeted schools for girls. Some 60,000 children in the region have been deprived of education, with girls suffering appalling rates of illiteracy.
The Pakistani government’s record on education is also of great concern, with less than 3% of gross domestic product spent on education – among the lowest in the world. The government spends seven times more on its military than on education.
Being a Pakistani-born journalist, said Abbas, he believes he can bring deeper understanding of the culture and political turmoil that resulted in the attack on Malala.
Having survived being shot by the Taliban, Malala recently returned to school in Birmingham, England, where she now lives with her family while receiving treatment. She has also signed a book deal worth a reported $3 million. I am Malala is expected to be published this fall.
She has become the youngest person to ever be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and is a favourite to win because she embodies the causes of women and girls’ right to education, the plight of youth, and the fight against extremism.
Abbas said he intends to direct part of the proceeds from his documentary film to a school for girls in Pakistan to establish a library in Malala’s name.

This week is an opportunity to acknowledge that violence against women
has serious adverse physical, psychological, sexual, financial and
cultural impacts on women, children, families and communities. It also
provides the chance to let women know they are not alone and that help
and support are available to women who are victims of all types of
violence.

Community groups throughout the province will be holding events to send
the message that violence against women is not acceptable in our province
and that all women have the right to feel safe and live free from
violence.

Just one example of the many community-led initiatives happening during
the week is the Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society’s Clothes Line Project.
The project gives the public the chance to decorate a shirt with anti-
violence messages to display all week at the Whistler Public Library.
Staff and volunteers will be on hand to support victims of violence who
would like to reach out for help. Full details of other community events
can be found at:
www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/crimeprevention/calendar/doc/PVAW_Week_Calendar_2013.pdf

The B.C. government has shown a clear commitment to preventing violence
against women and supporting female victims through more than 100
transition house programs and over 400 victim service and violence-
against-women counselling and outreach programs. Government has also
established the Provincial Office of Domestic Violence and is currently
developing a comprehensive, three-year domestic violence plan for
implementation this year.

If you have been the victim of violence, or know someone who has, support
is available at any time. Call your local police or access help by
calling VictimLink BC – a toll-free, confidential telephone service
available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in more than 110 languages,
at 1 800 563-0808.

The Privy Council Office, the bureaucracy that supports the prime minister, spent $463,300 last January on a two-year contract with the same ethnic media monitoring company that Citizenship has paid almost $750,000 over the past three years.

The CIC contracts, obtained by The Canadian Press under access to information laws, make clear that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his ethnic outreach minister Jason Kenney consider ethnic media critical sources of intelligence.

“In fact, both the minister of immigration and the prime minister have been quoted as saying that ‘ethnic media sources are the new mainstream media’ and that ‘more people follow ethnic media than mainstream sources,’” states the backgrounder in a May 2011 contract document.

In addition to searching keywords and subjects of interest and providing summaries, says the contract, “verbatim transcripts, translation of transcripts, and audio-video clips are also required on an ‘as and when requested’ basis.”

Since 2006, Privy Council has signed several contracts with firms engaged in ethnic media monitoring. The first was worth $375,000 a year for a maximum of three years and asked for “a weekly list of the most covered issues in ethnic print and broadcast media sources as they relate to the federal government.”

A second, $435,750 contract was awarded in 2010 and included the provision that the winner must “demonstrate their ability to respond to requests by PCO during non-business hours.”

PCO spokesman Raymond Rivet said in an email that “cultural news outlets are an important source of news for many Canadians.

“We monitor cultural news media to assess the effectiveness of government of Canada communications,” Rivet said.

The reports are shared across the government, he added.

“This approach provides value for money by eliminating the need for all departments to monitor cultural news media.”

The CIC contracts also state the information may be shared with “one or more federal departments.”

Ethnic voices “are finally being reckoned with,” said Madeline Ziniak of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association.

There may be “editorial and opinion that perhaps isn’t always expressed in traditional media,” Ziniak said. “If they’re paying attention to that, that’s good.

“If they’re using it towards political means — and no one’s naive enough to think not — then obviously that’s another issue altogether.”

Ziniak said she’d also like to know how much Ottawa is spending to monitor mainstream French and English media sources.

While the contracts for both Privy Council and Citizenship suggest only ethnic media outlets in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia are to be monitored, the net appears to have been cast far wider.

The reports for Citizenship and Immigration include coverage in the Spanish-language press in Mexico of Prince William and his new bride Kate’s appearance with Kenney at a citizenship ceremony in July 2011.

There is also coverage of marriage fraud issues from the Indian media.

The media monitoring firms are given a list of keywords to scour in ethnic media and the results often go beyond news items directly related to the federal government.

For example, reports from May 2011 detail apparent infighting among members of the Greek community in Montreal, while a July 2011 report includes a story on similar tensions in Toronto’s Ethiopian community.

Art exhibits, awards given to local citizens and fundraising dinners are also caught in the report.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s office says the monitoring is done at the discretion of the department. Kenney is the Conservative government’s highly political and highly effective point man on wooing ethnic communities, often cited as a key pillar of the party’s electoral success.

His spokeswoman, Alexis Pavlich, credited paying attention to ethnic media as a strategy that helps to drive policy decisions.

“Ethnic media monitoring has increased significantly over the last few years as our government wants to hear the voices of immigrant communities, rather just those of the mainstream media,” Pavlich said in an email.

“This monitoring has helped us to address many issues that we would not have been aware of were it not for the important stories that are covered by ethnic media outlets.”

But it appears the department has the ability to make special inquiries of its own.

In a report for July 12, 2011, there’s a “requested item” on delays in processing visas for Mexican citizens.

In August 2010, “research for CIC” was conducted that canvassed a number of media outlets for letters to the editor from Kenney.

The report included a full transcript of Kenney’s letter to the Caribbean Camera to chide the paper for saying that former governor general Michaelle Jean’s term had been ended by Harper.

Indeed, the Haiti-born Jean seemed to be something of a departmental pre-occupation for Citizenship and Immigration.

A weekly media summary in May 2010, for instance, noted that “lobbying for the next Governor General is still active,” then listed positive and negative media reports on the issue.

There are also full transcriptions of a Chinese language account of public unrest over Harper’s prorogation of Parliament; Punjabi news stories featuring Liberals Ruby Dhalla and Michael Ignatieff; and a full translation of Chinese coverage of an Ignatieff event in Markham, Ont.

“We’re not saying they shouldn’t pay attention,” Jinny Sims, the NDP immigration critic, said of the government’s ethnic media monitoring.

“I certainly pay attention to what goes on in the media. What we’re saying is, $750,000? When you’re talking about taxpayer dollars that are being used for maybe political ends, then I think it’s an abuse of tax dollars.”

Liberal critic Kevin Lamoureux also jumped on reports that the monitoring continued during the 2011 election campaign.

“Media monitoring of Conservative election campaign events and candidates using departmental resources is a flagrant and shameful abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Lamoureux said in a release.

“Minister Kenney must immediately end this misuse of public funds and apologize to all Canadians.”

For more information about Osler‟s diabetes programs and services, please go to www.williamoslerhs.ca or call 905-494-6598.

ABOUT WILLIAM OSLER HEALTH SYSTEM AND THE FOUNDATION: William Osler Health System is a hospital system accredited with Exemplary Status from Accreditation Canada serving 1.3 million residents of Brampton, Etobicoke, and surrounding communities of the Central West Local Health Integration Network. Osler has the largest community cancer program in Canada and its emergency departments are among the busiest in Ontario. William Osler Health System Foundation fosters relationships in order to raise funds for Osler‟s capital, education and research priorities at Brampton Civic Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital and Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health & Wellness (targeted for completion in 2015-16).

Torontonians are encouraged to call 1 888 602 6365 and press 1 if they were denied services or press 2 if they are a service provider who is facing constraints Details at: http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/HealthcareDenied

“We are trying to figure out exactly where immigrants and refugees are facing obstacles, what medication and services people need the most, which hospitals and services are denying or charging for services,” explained Nanky Rai of No One Is Illegal – Toronto. “We are hearing stories about the impacts of the cuts to refugee health care on refugees individually but we don’t know enough about which healthcare institutions are most vehemently implementing the federal regulations.”

“Many service providers don’t want to deny services but are feeling that their hands are tied because of administrative barriers and pressure from management to do so. We are asking them to anonymously share this information with us, ” Rai added. “Once we know where people are beingdenied services, we can work with those places to pressure the provincial and federal government to pay for these services rather than downloading the costs on immigrants.”

As of June 30, 2012, the Federal government has excluded thousands of migrants from basic healthcare services using regulatory mechanisms and without public debate. This political move means that refugees join the ranks of undocumented immigrants and temporary migrant workers who are not able to access full health care in Canada [1].

No One Is Illegal – Toronto is also urging concerned residents to join Health for All – Toronto’s campaign to pressure the provincial government to provide services to refugees: http://www.health4all.ca/PetitionToMinisterMatthews

Healthcare providers are also encouraged to join the national “We refuse to cooperate campaign” here: http://collectifjusticesante-campagne.tumblr.com/

For more information,
Nanky Rai 416 602 0131, No One Is Illegal Toronto
nooneisillegal@riseup.net

[1] Many temporary workers are unable to access healthcare for the first three months of their arrival in Canada and cannot access healthcare services if they are injured on the job out of fear of deportation.

Jafry’s documentary on South Asian seniors will be shown by Omni TV on Nov. 18 & 25

Syed Ghulam Panjatan Jafry, a prominent broadcaster and producer of numerous
documentaries on varied subjects, added another feather to his cap with his latest interesting production. This time he produced an excellent and useful documentary portraying the life of South Asian Seniors in Canada. The hour long documentary entitled – On Their Own: The Trials of South Asian Seniors, is in five languages – English, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali and Gujarati with each documentary containing DV (descriptive video). All these documentaries will be presented on Omni TV.

The first documentary that will be in English will be shown on November 18, 2012 at 8 p.m.and the second documentary in Gujarati will go on air on November 25, 2012, also at 8 p.m.

This documentary was fully funded by the OMNI Ontario Independent Production Initiative, said Jafry Jawad Jafry and Richard Landau are the co-producers of the documentary.

“On Their Own: The Trials of South Asian Seniors”, examines the plight of senior immigrants of South Asian origins.”Through a focus on some elderly people surviving on their own, the documentary examines the loneliness, abandonment and fear that many of Canada’s immigrant seniors experience,”

Born in the city of Jaipur, , India, on April 15,1939, he established Jafry Communications in 1967, Toronto. Since then he produced 23 TV Series of more than 9000 TV programs and over 3136 one hour Radio programs. Jafry visited 26 Countries and 114 cities in Africa, Asia, Europe & North America. Since 1975 Jafry raised more than seven million dollars for religious & social organizations of Canada. His other achievements include:
- Established first Indian & Pakistani Theater in 1966.
- First Indian & Pakistani Radio Program- 1969
- First Indian & Pakistani Cable TV. program-1969
- First Indian & Pakistani TV Program on Network 1978
- First Canada Wide Live Broadcast from Mississauga, On., Canada, 1993
- First Indian & Pakistani Canada Wide Telethon on TV. 1993
- First Indian & Pakistani USA & CANADA wide Fund Raising for Hospital 1994
- First Indian & Pakistani, Canada & Great Britain TV Programs 1995
- First Shia Majlis on TV in Canada on Vision TV Network, June 08, 1996
- Printed more than 30 Show & Business Directories.
- Ramadan Evening Radio Program on CJRN RADIO 710 AM, BY IMAGE Group.
-Helped Largest number of Radio & TV Broadcasters in Establishment of their Broadcast Business.

Wynne joined Moridi alongside Richmond Hill residents and local leaders at a “Connecting with the Community” meeting hosted by OnRichmond Hill.

“Kathleen is a grassroots leader who understands Ontario’s diverse communities. Passionate, driven, and dedicated, Kathleen is the best choice to be Ontario’s next Premier – that’s why I am supporting her to be the next leader of the Ontario Liberal Party,” said Moridi.

Moridi further cited Kathleen’s years of experience in the public sector, extraordinary vision for Ontario, and long-standing commitment to York Region.

“Ontario’s diversity and multiculturalism is unique in the world, and I am proud to have the support of a close friend and colleague, Reza Moridi, the first Iranian-Canadian elected to the Ontario Legislature,” said Wynne.

Kathleen Wynne’s campaign continues to build momentum. Moridi’s endorsement joins support from fellow Liberal MPPs John Gerretsen, Mario Sergio, Linda Jeffrey and David Zimmer.

For more information please visit www.KathleenWynne.ca

Harnoor Gill gives back to his community every time the opportunity presents itself; the Peace Welcome Club Book Drive is no exception. Set to be held on Friday, November 16 at the Gellert Community Centre (10241 Eighth Line) in Georgetown, Ontario from 5-6 p.m. , the drive aims to collect gently used books for First Nations children and teens living in Northern Ontario ‘to enhance their literary skills,’ according to the Peace Welcome Club’s Facebook page. Founded by Gill, the club encourages youth ages 4-18 to volunteer for their own communities as well as provide a place of common ground for youth who are new to Canada as well.
For Gill, the ability to help is not based on the individual’s age but on the willingness to help others and learn from them in the process.

For more information about the Peace Welcome Club and the book drive, visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/PeaceWelcomeClub/info .

Every year, Canadians participate in the Remembrance Day ceremony and pay special tribute to those compatriots who died defending their country during the wars.

Until recently, nothing much was known about handful of Sikhs who joined the Canadian army and fought during the First World War

This year on Remembrance Day another little known part of Canadian history was brought to light by the hour-long documentary “Canadian Soldier Sikhs: A Little Story in a Big War.”

The documentary reveals the fascinating and untold story of those Sikh immigrants who enlisted in the Canadian Army during the World War I, reminding Canadians of the many challenges faced by ethno-cultural groups in the process of making Canada their home.

They were volunteers who fought, and some died, for a country that was not only discouraging and preventing South Asians from immigrating to Canada but were also denying them Canadian citizenship.

With a long military tradition Sikhs have always been at the forefront in serving their country. Over 65,000 Sikh soldiers fought in WWI as part of the British Army and over 300,000 Sikhs fought against German and Japanese tyranny in WWII.

While searching for information on a group of 40 Sikhs who came to Victoria, British Columbia in 1906 -1907 for his film “Searching for the Sikhs of Tod Inlet,” David Gray discovered that eight Sikhs, with the surname Singh, had enlisted in the Canadian Army in the First World War. Two additional Canadian soldier Sikhs have since been found. This part of Canadian Sikh history was virtually unknown and thus of great interest to the Canadian Sikh community.

The film goes back in time to observe the soldiers on their journey. From the enlistment process and training, to their transport to France by ship and their return to civilian life, the documentary features the struggles these Sikh soldiers faced and the battles they fought, including those during which two of the men were killed.

The film also follows one injured soldier back to Canada on a hospital ship and to Kitchener’s TB hospital.

He was 25-year-old Private Buckam Singh, who came to Victoria, British Columbia from Mahilpur village in the Hoshiarpur District of Punjab in 1907 at age 14 and eventually moved to Toronto area in 1912/1913.

He fought for Canada, came back and died alone in Kitchener, far from his birthplace in 1919 in a community that did not know the funeral rights of Sikhs. His grave in Kitchener is the only known First World War Sikh Canadian soldier’s grave in Canada.

His family, who lived in Punjab, British India, knew nothing about his time at war. They just received a notice when he died.

While he never got to see his family again and died forgotten almost 93 years ago, his heroic story has only recently been reclaimed and celebrated.

About five years ago, Sandeep Singh Brar, a historian from Brampton bought a Victory Medal that led him to a Kitchener cemetery, where he found the tombstone of Private Buckam Singh. With the discovery of the Victoria Medal of Private Buckam Singh a heroic story of bravery and adventure has been uncovered.

He enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the spring of 1915. He served with the 20th Canadian Infantry Battalion in the battlefields of Flanders during 1916.

Buckam Singh, whose grave drew little attention for almost 90 years, now attracts hundreds people every year for Remembrance Day Sikh prayers at the Kitchener cemetery.

Images of his war grave, a remembrance service almost 90 years after his death, and the story of how his war medal was discovered, bring a personal touch to the film.

The film ends with the story of the soldiers’ return to civilian life, the tracing of their descendants, and the visit to the European grave sites of two of the Canadian Sikh soldiers.

Singh who died alone without his family has once again been reunited and embraced by his fellow Sikh Canadians after a separation of nearly a century.

Mohsin Abbas is Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and press freedom activist. He is the editor of Diversity Reporter, a multilingual weekly newspaper for newcomers and immigrants in Canada. Currently he is on a mission, travelling across Canada to document South Asian-Canadians stories. You can share your migration tales by contacting him at editor@diversityreporter.com

The gravestone of Private Buckam Singh. – Photos courtesy Sikh Museum

]]>