Happy Canada Day, CAF Style

UPDATED & BUMPED: Damage control: 

The Canadian Arab Federation moved to distance itself from one of its own executives who resigned yesterday after he apparently posted "F--- Canada Day" on his Facebook page, called Canada a "genocidal state," and said he "couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian."

The tirade on Omar Shaban's profile stirred up a firestorm of controversy and put CAF leaders in damage-control mode as they were quick to condemn the posting on the social networking site.

Just after 8:30 last night, Shaban, 23, resigned his post as the CAF's executive vice-president for Western Canada, CAF national president Khaled Mouammar confirmed.

"There was a big outcry from our member organizations and it was felt that he had to correct that," Mouammar said. "He decided that the best thing for him to do was to resign."

 

Here's the CAF's news release (PDF). More coverage from BCF here. UPDATE: The Calgary Herald weighs in, too

 

 

ORIGINAL POST: The Canadian Arab Federation describes itself as being committed to: 

1. The protection of civil liberties and the equality of human rights;
2. Combating racism and hate in all of its forms;
3. Working with all politicians and all levels of government on issues of importance to Canadian Arabs to promote community empowerment through civic participation;
4. Assuring the accurate representation of Arabs in the media, and in all areas of civil society;
5. A strong, vibrant multicultural Canada.

 

They seem to have left off #6 - insulting and denegrating Canadians: 

As the rest of Canada celebrates the nation’s 142nd birthday today, a Vice President of the Canadian Arab Federation has labelled the country a “genocidal state” and the described its national day as “F**k Canada Day.”

Omar Shaban, who lives in Vancouver, BC made these comments on his Facebook page, declaring, “It’s finally Canada Day ... Couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian.”

Yesterday, the Facebook status of the CAF vice president welcomed July 1, 2009 with the slogan, “Happy Genocide Day Canada.”

 

Thanks to Tarek Fatah for catching this. Let's not forget, there was an actual controversy over whether the federal government should give taxpayer dollars to this organization. I would certainly hope that discussion is now closed.

 

I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised by this, given all the reasons I've had to write about the Canadian Arab Federation. But this is truly shameful.

 

UPDATE: Barbara Kay weighs in.