Meftih Newspaper June2013
Transcript of Meftih Newspaper June2013
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Meftih The Life Line of Eritrean Community Award Winning Independent Monthly Newspaper
www.meftih.ca email: [email protected] 8 Issue 8 May 2013 -
Printed the rst Friday of every month Tel: 416-824-8124 Fax: 416-783-7850
6
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 2
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 7
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 8
Editors: Grace Cherian
Photographer: Mulugeta Zergaber
Contributors: Mohamed EdrisNaza HasebenebiMedhin Ghebreslasie, Amleset Tesfay, Bode Odetoy-
inbo, Mimi Chandy, Ken NtiamoaSubscription Costsin Canada $39 for a year and $59 for two years. In USA, it costs $45 fora year and $69 for two years.
Articles appearingin assorted columns of Meftih newspaper are intended to generate civil
& informed public discussions. You dont have to agree with opinions expressed by the writers.However, that should push you to express your own views. Through that way we generate lively
& civil discussions in the community. Rejoinders are not forums for personal insults & we want
readers to adhere to these principles.
Editor-in-chief
Aaron Berhane260 Adelaide St. E. Toronto,
ON. M5A 1N1 # 192
Tel: 416-824-8124Fax: 416-783-7850
www.meftih.ca
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 9
24 (United Nation StabilizationMission in DRC)
? 1960
? 90% ? ? ?
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 10
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2007 5% 49 2005 24 2012 19 1979
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13 . . .
By Rick MacInnes
There are calls to expel Eri-
treas top diplomat in Canadabecause he presides over a
system thats milking money
from the Eritrean community
in this country.
Evidence obtained by CBC
News suggests Consul Semere
Ghebremariam O. Micael is
again soliciting taxes despite a
threat by Canada eight months
ago not to renew his creden-
tials if he kept at it.
But one Eritrean in Toronto,
who has asked not to be identi-ed, tells the CBC it was busi-
ness as usual just a few weeks
later when he had to pay.
You have to go to the consul-
ate and they arrange how you
have to pay the money. They
want two per cent they
dont give you a reason. You
have to pay the money.
What would happen if he
didnt?
My family [in Eritrea] wouldget in trouble if I dont pay,
he said.
Threats and intimidation
A United Nations report last
year indicated that state threats
and intimidation were com-
monly used against families in
Eritrea to get their relatives liv-
ing in Canada and other coun-
tries to pay up, though now the
government sometimes uses a
nancial middleman.
As far as Im concerned itsa ruse, doing indirectly what
the government told them not
to do directly, said David Ma-
tas, a Winnipeg human rights
lawyer who represents some in
the Eritrean community who
resent it.
The dictatorship in Eritrea
imposes what the UN has
condemned as a worldwide
diaspora tax on its nationals,
valued at two per cent of their
income.
It often adds a second tax up to
$500, described on the Eritrean
government clearance form as
a donation to national defence
against Ethiopian invasion.
On Sept. 10, 2012, CanadasDepartment of Foreign Affairs
advised the Eritrean consul in
Toronto that soliciting and col-
lecting these taxes was incom-
patible with consular duties,
and his accreditation would
not be renewed if he and his
consulate didnt stop.
The consulate later indicated
in writing that it would com-
ply.
But audio provided to CBC
News by Eritrean-bornTeklezghi Yohannes Gabir
from a meeting he attended in
Winnipeg on April 21, 2013,
reveals a voice he identies
as that of the consul sound-
ing as if he is again soliciting
money.
What we are saying is that
you have to full the law of
the country to be an investor
because you are a citizen of the
country it says in a translation
done for the CBC to English
from Tigrinya, the language ofbusiness in Eritrea.
Therefore, since what it comes
down to is national honour and
law, any service that requires a
permit will have to remit two
per cent.
Refusing to pay
Gabir, 36, an Eritrean living in
Winnipeg, has paid the tax in
the past but refuses to pay any
more, and offered the audio
hoping it might help stop the
collections.
I was there personally, and
it was all aimed at collect-
ing money and sending it to
Eritrea, he said. I think the
Canadian government didnt
follow up and they dont know
what is going on.
But a source tells CBC News
that Canadas spy agency, the
Canadian Security Intelligence
Service (CSIS), is familiar
with the story and has been in
contact with the Eritrean com-munity seeking information
about the tax scam.
Eritreans in Canada say
consul still demands cash
from them
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 15
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 16
By Semere Andom
The moqSel Gibri[i] Col-
lector was dismissed, today
members of the Toronto
Chapter of the PFDJ gath-
ered to lick their wounds
and to counsel each other.
They showed brave faces
by invoking old PFDJ slo-
gans such as: the more we
are challenged the more
deant we become and the
more our victory is assured
against our enemies.
They addressed each oth-
er as btsay or comrade,
reminiscent of the armed
struggle generic title.PFDJ has long stopped
using btsay, but lately
this term and other revo-
lutionary adjectives are
slowing re-emerging. To
my mind this is a harbin-
ger at redening the issues
that are bedeviling Eritrea.
As PFDJ slowly loses sup-
port abroad, it is trying to
re-frame the problems not
as democracy and justice
matter, but as territorial in-tegrity.
The subtle message being:
Ethiopia, supported by
sell-out Eritreans and for-
eign countries, will occupy
Eritrea if PFDJ is not in
power. They hope that this
will help rally all Eritreans
in support of the PFDJ
as a sole protector of the
Eritrean sovereignty. The
songs, singers and the tonewere set during the May 24
celebration this year. They
are counting on a precedent
during the 1998 border war
with Ethiopia, when all
Eritreans, including long
time opposition members,
denounced Ethiopians in-
cursion into Eritrean terri-
tory and stood by the Eri-
trean government. Times
have changed, though,
and Eritreans are debat-ing whether to celebrate
or mourn Eritreas inde-
pendence as in its wake
has ushered sufferings that
pale in comparison to what
the thugs before PFDJ have
inicted upon them.
True to its roots, the PFDJToronto Chapter celebrat-
ed its tragic failures, many
of the devout yes men and
women stood-up and de-
livered hate mongering
speeches against Aaron
Berhane and Ghezae Ha-
gos, members of the Eri-
trean Human Rights Group
who worked tirelessly to
make the dismissal of the
money-laundering PFDJ
agent happen. They ac-
cused both Ghezae and
Aaron as paid agents
working on behalf of their
bosses in New York.
They also asserted their
Eritrean Canadian right to
stand-up against the bully-
ing of Canada and the UN.
One by one they took on
the microphone to preach
to the converted why Can-
ada is targeting them while
they are paying the 2%
voluntarily after they have
involuntarily paid taxes
to Canada. They invoked
their legal right to ght not
only against the sell-out
Eritreans but against the
Canadian government who
they said has targeted them
without hearing their side
of the story. They pledged
to ght as it is in their
DNA to do so as it has been
proved during the long Eri-trean armed struggle.
Mr. Semere Ghebremari-
am O. Micael was asked
to give remarks by YPFDJ
member and below is the
gist of his remarks:
Without mentioning Aaron
Berhane by name, he said
that he is a sell-out working
for someone else and this
is nothing new to us and
that we will persevere as
we have done before. Ourenemies know that we are
strong and they know that
we can create miracles so
they are so afraid of us. If
I have worked against the
rules of my host country
my government would be
the rst to discipline me.
As the government of Eri-trea said in its statement,
this is nothing except an
infantile bully. Eritreans
are united during such
moments of trials, but we
can be complacent during
times of peace. War has
been declared against us
and the gloves are off. Let
us stop being complacent
he sheepishly said. He la-
mented that the world that
was silent when Eritreanswere slaughtered in Ona
is accusing Eritrea of sup-
porting terrorism.
When Dawits turn came
to speak, he said that what
Minister John Baird said
was so humiliating that he
would have slapped him
if he was physically near
him, even if it meant that
he would be arrested, to
which the crowd respond-
ed with supportive cheers
and clapping.
Several people collective-
ly pledged over $10, 000
to help hire a lawyer to
ght Aaron Berhane and
Ghezae Hagos, who they
said were hell bent to tar-
nish the good name of the
Eritrean Community and
Eritrean government.
They have struck a newCanada-wide committee
that will speak on behalf
of the PFDJ. This commit-
tee will be named CECCO
and comprises members
from 7 Eritrean Communi-
ties across Canada and will
expand to include Eritrean
business associations to
make it robust to withstand
the assault from Hidmona
Eritrean Human group and
Aaron Berhane.Ahmed, the former PFDJ
PFDJ Toronto Mourns Its Tax Collector
Please see page 18
And the issue was also laid
out to federal ofcials as re-
cently as three months ago,
according to Ghazae Hagos,
who was present at the meet-ing.
Hagos, a former journalist
in the Eritrean capital of As-
mara, speaks for HIDMONA,
the Eritrean-Canadian Human
Rights Group of Manitoba.
He says he and a colleague
met last February with Con-
servative MP Deepak Obhrai,
the parliamentary secretary to
the minister of foreign affairs,
and a deputy director from
the Africa division of the De-partment of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade.
They said they
were very con-
cerned about it.
They said they
would seriously
study the mat-
ter and take the
appropriate ac-
tion, Hagos
said.
In the past, Eri-trean Consul
Semere Ghebre-
mariam Micael denied theres
opposition to the tax and said
as much on the radio network
Voice of America (VOA) on
Sept. 27, 2012, just days after
Canada told him to get out of
the business or lose his ac-
creditation.
I dont have much doubt
that this is going to be an
obstacle to the people the
public is still doing it, sayingabout this matter. It is our
right to pay. We dont have
any problems with our com-
munity, he said.
Reliance on diaspora for
cash
Eritrea is one of the youngest
and poorest countries in Af-
rica. And with 10,000 politi-
cal prisoners lling its jails,
according to an Amnesty In-
ternational report this month,
one of its most repressive. In-
dependence came only afterdecades of conict with Ethi-
opia, with which it maintains
an uneasy peace today.
Consequently, the regime re-
lies on diaspora cash for hard
currency. But according to the
UN, it also uses its money to
support armed rebels oppos-
ing Ethiopia, and others with
ties to the notorious al-Sha-baab movement in Somalia.
Because of Eritreas desta-
bilizing role in the troubled
Horn of Africa, the UN im-
posed sanctions on the coun-
try in 2009, hoping to choke
off its access to arms and
money.
Canada later adopted them,
meaning those who pay are
violating UN sanctions and
may also be breaking Cana-
dian law according to pastreports.
Through it all, the consul has
not been shy about his coun-
trys intention to keep col-
lecting cash no matter how
Canada views it.
In the VOA interview on Sep-
tember 2012, he interpreted
Canadas warning just a few
days earlier, as a green light
for Eritrea to keep collecting.
What the government ofCanada is saying is that the
task of a consulate ofce is
not to collect a tax of two per
cent, and it is not your man-
date to do that, so you cannot
collect payment here.
But the law of Eritrea is still
there as it is, and they have
not said anything about that.
Therefore, it is not that Eri-
trea should not ask payment,
but you cannot charge here.
To that end, Ghazae Hagos ofHIDMONA says Eritrea has
adopted some opaque bank-
From page 14
Eritreans in Canada . .
please see page 17
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 17
* Instant Tax Refund
* Personal, Business &
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ing methods.
Money wired to Germany
In a sworn afdavit seen by CBC
News, an Eritrean who has asked
not to be identied describes be-
ing schooled in the tax payment
process by ofcials at the Eri-
trean Consulate in Toronto, three
months after Canada warned the
ofce to end its involvement.
Several hundred dollars of his
money were subsequently wired
from a Canadian bank, to a sec-ond nancial institution in Ger-
many called the Deutsche Zentral-
Genossenschaftsbank (DZ Bank)
of Frankfurt.
From there, the documents show
the funds were wired to a third in-
stitution, the Housing and Com-
merce Bank of Eritrea in the capi-
tal city of Asmara, of which the
majority owner is the ruling re-
gime, the Peoples Front for De-
mocracy and Justice.
They should stop, said Win-
nipeg human right lawyer David
Matas. But they were already
asked to stop and they didnt, so
I think they should be evicted. I mean,theyre thumbing their noses at the Ca-
nadian authorities.
If Canada doesnt do something, Ma-
tas worries its setting up people from
Eritrea and potentially other expatriate
communities to become walking ATMs
for other regimes.
If Eritrea gets away with it, were go-
ing to start seeing China doing it. And
Iran doing it. And North Korea doing it.
And I think we have to make every ef-
fort to stop this right now, or else were
going to see it mushroom.
Ghazae Hagos of the Eritrean-Canadi-
ans Human Rights Group of Manitoba
said he would like to see the Eritrean
Consulate closed.
Canada has to go beyond threat of
pressure, of threat of expulsion of the
consul. I think the closure of the con-
sulate ofce is long overdue if Canada
is really serious about it.
CBC News contacted the Eritrean Con-
sulate three times in the past week to
request comment, but telephone callswere not returned.
Source: CBC.CA
Eritreans in Canada . .From page 16
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 18
Please see page 24
By Grace Cherian
Have you felt bummedout after binging ondoughnuts or hamburg-ers? Thats becausedepression and dietmay be related. Re-search suggests thateating a poor diet canmake you more vulner-able to depression.Research findings:
Eating foodshigh in trans fats (ar-tificially produced, un-natural fats) increasethe risk of depression. Eating fish, veg-etable oils and oliveoil are associated withlower risk of depres-sion.A group of research-ers in Britain lookedat depression and dietin over 3,000 middle-aged office workersover the course of fiveyears. They found thatpeople who ate a junkfood diet one high inprocessed meat, choc-
olates, sweet desserts,fried food, refined ce-reals and high-fat dairyproducts were morelikely to report symp-toms of depression.Another group of re-searchers at the Uni-versities of Navarraand Las Palmas deGran Canaria in Spain
followed and analyzedthe diet and lifestyle ofover 12,000 volunteersover six years. Whenthe study began, noneof the participants hadbeen diagnosed withdepression. But by theend, there were 657new sufferers.The researchers foundthat eating trans fatsincreased the risk ofdepression by 48%.But consuming oliveoil reduced the chanceof getting depressionby 35%. Thats be-cause olive oil is highin healthy omega-9fatty acids. They also
found that polyunsatu-rated fats (these aretypically liquid at roomtemperature and whenchilled) like oils fromnuts and seeds, lowerthe risk of depressionrisk.These studies also helpto explain how peoplein Northern Europe-
an countries (whereprocessed foods aremore common) havemore mental healthproblems comparedwith those living inSouthern Mediterra-nean countries, wherefresh fish, beans, sal-ads and olive oil aredaily staples.More research needsto be done on theconnection betweendepression and diet.In the meantime, youmay want to eat yourveggies and cut backon the junk food.
Depressionand junk
food
representative in Ottawa,
who said that he was dis-
missed by George Bush,
mentioned that he issued
Ghezae Hagos an Eritreanpassport when Ghezae was
in Montreal studying nan-
cially supported by the 2%
Eritrean contribution. He
did not have problem then;
now, he has a problem with
the tax that Eritreans are
contributing with their own
volition. He also accused
both Ghezae and Aaron
as agents working for re-
mote bosses. He added
that Aaron Berhane is justtrying to pay back what he
is owed while he was in
Eritrea. He came here with
the payment he received
when he was in Eritrea by
Eritreas enemies. Ahmed,
of course, did not mention
that Aaron Berhane was
shot at while escaping his
country to avert the crack-
down of the journalists or
the well-known fact that
all his peers and friendshave been disappeared for
the last 12 years.
Listening to the speeches
by the supporters, YPFDJ
and PFDJ leaders you
would not think this is an
epoch 22 years of inde-
pendence, it felt like the
mid-eighties. It was a call
to arms, bombs and bul-
lets according Temesghen
Haileab, who was the mas-
ter of ceremonies. But he
quickly retracted his line
of we want guns and bul-
lets by saying we cannot
have guns and bullets here,
but we need money to ght
the bully that Canada is
and the paid agents.
The overriding theme of
all the speakers was that
the ght has started, the
gloves are off and that the
Eritrean-Canadian Com-
munity must rally to de-
fend its dignity. The irony
in this meeting was that ev-
eryone who spoke invoked
their right as Canadians to
defend themselves, their
reputation and their lega-
cy. A woman speaker even
said we cannot punch orkill Aaron here so we have
to legally ght him and
silence him. We have to
take action to silence and
to even conne him in his
residence. The speakers
were angry that their hu-
man right was violated by
Canada when it humiliat-
ingly dismissed Semere
Ghebremariam O.Micael.
I immediately remembered
those Eritrean languishing
in jails for decades.
There were also contradic-
tions: while they asserted
their Canadian right that
no bully can take away,
they also lectured the au-
dience to teach their kids
the Eritrean culture and
history and to tell them
to stay in school to milk
the opportunities that the
Canadian system affords
them. Our kids will be
Kings and Queens in Eri-trea because eventually we
will all return back to our
homeland, said a speaker
who they called Gebar.
The ugly reality is that the
Eritrean kids born here
will stay in Canada, will
marry into black, white
or Chinese Canadians and
the pure Eritrean blood
that triumphs over every
problem will be no more.
I would advise Aboy Ge-bar to teach his kids truth,
fairness and he is not doing
them any favor by groom-
ing them to be members of
YPFDJ, Africas version of
Hitler Youth.
Last but not least, thanks to
the label popularized by the
Ghedli-Romantics, all the
opposition were referred to
as Andent, who are trying
to give Eritrea to Tigray.
Also conspicuously absentfrom the stage was Esti-
PFDJ Toronto Mourns . . .
From page 16
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 19
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 20
Editors: Grace Cherian
Photographer: Mulugeta Zergaber
Contributors: Mohamed EdrisNaza HasebenebiMedhin Ghebreslasie, Amleset Tesfay, Bode Odetoy-
inbo, Mimi Chandy, Ken NtiamoaSubscription Costsin Canada $39 for a year and $59 for two years. In USA, it costs $45 fora year and $69 for two years.
Articles appearingin assorted columns of Meftih newspaper are intended to generate civil
& informed public discussions. You dont have to agree with opinions expressed by the writers.
However, that should push you to express your own views. Through that way we generate lively
& civil discussions in the community. Rejoinders are not forums for personal insults & we wantreaders to adhere to these principles.
Editor-in-chief
Aaron Berhane260 Adelaide St. E. Toronto,
ON. M5A 1N1 # 192
Tel: 416-824-8124Fax: 416-783-7850
www.meftih.ca
Today we in the Liberal Party afterhaving heard from you we took theinitiative andRaised Bar on Parliamentary Open-ness and Transparency,
We put forward a comprehensiveplan to increase openness and trans-parency in Parliament
We will be proactive and disclosetravel and hospitality expenses, wewill post quarterly online expense re-ports that are easily accessible byCanadians, and work with the AuditorGeneral to develop public guidelines
Have Your Say
to ensure proper spending in Parliament.
Here are some details:
Require Members of Parliament and Senators to proactively disclosetravel and hospitality expenses made by them and their staff.Introduce legislation to make meetings of the Board of Internal Econ-omy of the House of Commons open and transparent to the public.The ability of the committee to go in-camera where necessary (forexample, on sensitive HR matters) will remain, but not as is currently
the case, as a default. The Senate Board of Internal Economy isalready public.Create a common, quarterly and more detailed online expense reportfor spending by Members of Parliament and the Senate that is alsomore easily accessed and usable by the public from the home pageof the Parliament of Canada website.The House and Senate Boards of Internal Economy should work withthe Auditor General to develop mandatory performance audits of theHouse of Commons and Senate administration every three years,and public guidelines under which the Auditor General is called in toperform more detailed audits of parliamentary spending.Please let me know what you think and also have your say on thisinitiative:
http://karygiannis.net/transparency
Hon. Jim Karygiannis P.C., M.P.
Medications containing
codeine are no longer rec-
ommended for children
under the age of 12, HealthCanada says.
This recommendation is
based on very rare cases
of serious side-effects and
deaths in children that have
been attributed to codeine,
when given directly to a
child, or to babies from
breast milk, the regulator
said in a statement today.
Health-care professionals
and consumers should seek
alternatives to codeine for
the management of mild to
moderate pain or cough in
children less than 12 years
of age.
Codeine is metabolized
into morphine and is com-
monly used for pain relief.
Some people carry a genet-
ic mutation that leads them
to metabolize codeine at afaster rate and produce sig-
nicantly higher amounts
of morphine that can cause
unexpected overdoses.
Symptoms of a toxic reac-
tion to codeine, or any oth-
er opioid, may include:
Dizziness.
Confusion.
Extreme sleepiness.
Sudden shortness of breathor difculty breathing.
Patients who experience
difculty breathing should
seek immediate medical
attention, Health Canada
said.
In 2008, the agency in-
formed health-care profes-
sionals and the public of
the risk to nursing infants
whose mothers are ultra-
rapid metabolizers of co-
deine. After that, the drug
labels of prescription and
non-prescription products
containing codeine were
updated to highlight this
risk for anyone who is con-
sidered an ultra-rapid me-
tabolizer.
People were also cautioned
about using codeine in any
patient with breathing con-
ditions, including children.
Non-prescription products
containing codeine already
indicate that they should
not be administered to
children.
In 2009, researchers at the
Hospital for Sick Children
in Toronto described the
case of a two-year-old boy
who died after his tonsils
were removed and codeine
was used to treat the pain.
Tests later showed the
mother gave the proper
dose of syrup, but the body
contained high levels of
morphine.
Codeine not recommend-
ed for children under 12
-
7/28/2019 Meftih Newspaper June2013
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 21
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7/28/2019 Meftih Newspaper June2013
22/24
Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 22
Technology & Science
QUEENS PARK NDP
MPP Taras Natyshak says
a proposed plan to raise theHST across Ontario is un-
fair to Ontarians and called
on the government to take
a balanced approach to
transit and transportation
investment.
New Democrats have
been clear that we believe
in a fair and balanced ap-
proach to funding badly
needed public transit, but
imposing a $1.3-billion
province-wide HST hike
on hardworking Ontarians
is not our idea of fair and
balanced, said the Essex
MPP today in question pe-
riod.
Natyshak praised the hard
work of Federal New
Democrats, like Thomas
Mulcair and Olivia Chow,
in emphasizing the role the
federal government needs
to play in public transit,
but reiterated that taking
over a billion dollars in
NDP: Province-wide HST hike is unfair
to Ontarianssales tax out of the pockets
of hardworking Ontarians
is not a fair and balanced
approach.
Natyshak called on the
government to explain
their position on the pos-
sibility of the sales tax in-
crease.
Why is this government
so determined to impose
a billion-dollar-plus prov-
ince-wide increase of HST
on hardworking Ontar-
ians? he asked.
QUEENS PARK Today
in the legislature, Dav-
enport NDP MPP Jonah
Schein called on the Min-
ister of Transportation to
acknowledge growing crit-
icism of the governments
plan to run diesel-powered
on the Union Pearson Ex-
press and nally commit to
immediate electrication
of the Air Rail Link.
Yesterday, scientist Dr.
David Suzuki added his
voice to an expanding listof people critical of the
Liberal governments plan
to run diesel trains along
the Air Rail
Link, said
Schein. Su-
zukis con-
cerns echo
those of
transit expert
Joell Ann
Vanderwa-
gen, who re-
cently called
the Liberals
Diesel plan
The worst
current ex-
ample of
wasted re-
sources and
opportunity.
And the Audi-
tor General has criticized
your governments diesel-powered line, saying high
fares will drive down your
overly optimistic rider-
ship projections.
Yesterday, MPP Schein re-
introduced his bill to push
forward the immediate
electrication of the Union
Pearson Express Air Rail
Link.
Schein asked the minister
when the Liberals will -nally realize their diesel
line is a bad plan and com-
mit to immediate electri-
cation of the Union Pear-
son Express. In response,
Murray was dismissive,
putting fears of embar-
rassment ahead of the
health of those families
and schools located close
to the Air Rail Link.
An electried line would
allow multiple stops. It
would generate higher rid-
ership, be more affordable,
and serve as a downtown
relief line for the west
end, stated Schein. The
governments plan to run
a diesel-powered execu-
tive service on the ARL
is a train wreck waiting to
happen. My bill will en-
sure that the governmentswitches tracks and moves
to immediately electrify
the line.
Scheins bill is supported
by Canadian Physicians for
the Environment, TTC Rid-
ers, and community groups
calling for the electrica-
tion of the Air Rail Link.
His bill is also supported
by the Asthma Society of
Canada, the Canadian Can-
cer Society (Ontario Divi-
sion), and the Clean Train
Coalition.
Liberals snub growing movementagainst toxic trains: NDP
rin being spoken within a
span of three subway sta-
tions. One might expect to
feel lost and overwhelmed
amidst such diversity but it
has an odd way of making
you feel right at home. It
has a way of making you
feel welcome even with
all you cultural and back-
ground differences.
Being a new comer to any
country is a tricky busi-
ness. One can go througha rollercoaster of emo-
tions of feeling defeated
and disappointed or elated
and optimistic all withinone day. Everyday has its
own set of challenges and
rewards and you can liter-
ally go out of breath trying
to keep up with the speed
at which your life is chang-
ing. But I chose to look at
my introduction to Cana-
da, specically to Toronto
as an adventure and so far
it has been a truly enjoy-
able adventure. Its been a
pleasure to meet you Can-
ada, hope well have greattimes together!
Rigat M.
From page 24The Adventures . . .
Electronic communications
could take place invisibly and
securely with ordinary equip-
ment, using a new cloaking
technique developed by re-
searchers at Purdue Univer-
sity in Indiana.
Its a potentially higher
level of security because it
doesnt even look like you
are communicating, said
Joseph Lukens, lead author
of a scientic paper describ-
ing the new technique, in a
statement. The paper was
published online Wednesday
in Nature.
The technique is a form of
temporal cloaking which
hides the movement of data
over time, rather than the
movement of physical objects
through space that is hidden
in spatial cloaking.
The data in the study was car-
ried in the form of light puls-
es along optical bres, much
like cable TV and internet
signals in your home.
The researchers hid the trans-
mission of the data by alter-
ing the transmitted signals us-
ing hardware devices called
phase modulators, which are
commonly used in optical
networks for a variety of dif-
ferent purposes.
In the study, two phase modu-
lators were set up to make sig-
nals interfere with each other
in such a way as to create
holes in the data. Two oth-
ers were used to cover up the
fact that the data was altered,
said a news release from Pur-
due University, which is lo-
cated in West Lafayette, Ind.
Eavesdroppers wont realize
the signal is cloaked because
it looks like no signal is being
sent, Lukens said.
The technique could also be
used to disrupt communica-
tions between two people and
can also easily be turned on
and off to thwart detection,
the researchers added.
The technique was able to
cover up the communications
about 46 per cent of the time,
making it potentially prac-
tical for commercial applica-
tions, said the news release.
The researchers suggested
the technique might be useful
for the military, homeland se-
curity or law enforcement.
Previous techniques for data
transmission cloaking re-
quired expensive, specialized
equipment and succeeded in
cloaking only a tiny fraction
of the data transmission.
Source: CBC
Cloaking technique makes data
transmission invisible
-
7/28/2019 Meftih Newspaper June2013
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 23
Please see page 24
The government is secretly
collecting the telephone
records of millions of U.S.
customers of Verizon under
a top-secret court order, ac-
cording to the chairwoman
of the Senate Intelligence
Committee. The Obama
administration is defend-
ing the National Security
Agencys need to collect
such records, but critics
are calling it a huge over-
reach.
Democrat Sen. Dianne
Feinstein told reporters
Thursday that the court or-
der for telephone records,
rst disclosed by TheGuardian newspaper in
Britain, was a three-month
renewal of an ongoing
practice.
I think people want the
homeland kept safe to the
extent we can, Feinstein
said at a Capitol Hill news
conference. We want
to protect these privacy
rights. Thats why this is
carefully done in federal
court with federal judgeswho sit 24/7 who review
these requests.
The disclosure raised a
number of questions: What
is the government looking
for? Are other big tele-
phone companies under
similar orders to turn over
information? How is the
information used and how
long are the records kept?
The sweeping roundup ofU.S. phone records has
been going on for years
and was a key part of the
Bush administrations
warrantless surveillance
program, according to a
U.S. ofcial.
The White House had no
immediate on-the-record
comment. Attorney Gener-
al Eric Holder sidestepped
questions about the is-
sue during an appearance
before a Senate subcom-
mittee, offering instead todiscuss it at a classied
session that several sena-
tors said they would ar-
range.
The order was granted by
the secret Foreign Intelli-
gence Surveillance Court
on April 25 and is good
until July 19, the Guard-
ian reported. It requires
Verizon, one of the na-
tions largest telecommu-
nications companies, on anongoing, daily basis, to
give the NSA information
on all landline and mobile
telephone calls of Verizon
Business in its systems,
both within the U.S. and
between the U.S. and other
countries.
The document shows for
the rst time that under the
Obama administration, the
communication records of
millions of U.S. citizensare being collected indis-
criminately and in bulk,
regardless of whether the
people are suspected of
any wrongdoing.
A former U.S. intelligence
ofcial who is familiar
with the NSA program said
that records from all U.S.
phone companies would be
seized by the government
under the warrants, and
that they would include
business and residential
numbers.
Source: AP
U.S. secretly collect-
ing huge number of
phone records
By Stewart Bell
TORONTO Canada is
expelling an Eritrean dip-
lomat after he was caught
using his consulate in To-
ronto as a fundraising front
for the repressive Africanregime and its military in
violation of international
sanctions.
Consul Semere Ghebre-
mariam O. Micael was
ordered home Wednesday
after a government investi-
gation conrmed his ofce
was soliciting money from
expatriates some of it
explicitly for the Eritrean
armed forces.
The fundraising scheme
was illegal because the
United Nations Security
Council has imposed sanc-
tions on the Eritrean mili-
tary over its support for
armed groups in the Horn
of Africa such as the al-
Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab.
Canada has taken steps
to expel (declared perso-
na non grata) Mr. Semere
Ghebremariam O. Micael,
Consul and head of the
Eritrean Consulate Gen-
eral in Toronto, effective
immediately, Foreign Af-
fairs Minister John Baird
said in a statement.
Mr. O. Micael must leave
Canada by noon on June 5.
As is typical in such cases,
the government gave no
explanation for the expul-
sion. The statement said
only that Ottawa had re-
peatedly told Eritrea to
respect international sanc-
tions and Canadian law.
Todays actions speak for
themselves, Mr. Baird
said.
The expulsion is meant
to send a message to the
Eritrean regime that its il-
licit fundraising practices
would not be tolerated in
Canada. It comes after
Foreign Affairs had repeat-
edly warned Eritrea in dip-
lomatic notes to stop.
But the consul continued
anyway and last week the
National Post revealed that
as recently as two weeks
ago he was still using hisofce to pressure Cana-
dians to hand over 2% of
their wages to the regime,
Canada expels Eritrean diplomat
as well as an additional
$300 to $500 for the coun-
trys military.
In an interview Monday,
Mr. Micael denied he was
collecting taxes and in-
sisted he was only provid-
ing information on how
donate to his impoverished
government He also said
he had not collected money
for the military for ve,
six years.
But an internal letter dis-
tributed by the consulate
last August explained how
to send money collected
in Canada to the regimes
military. Victory to the
masses! read the one-
page letter, obtained by the
National Post.
It told consulate repre-
sentatives how to use a
German bank account to
transfer payments from
Canada meant for Eri-
treas Ministry of Defence.
Dated Aug. 31, 2012, the
letter was evidence of an
organized attempt by the
Eritrean consulate to fund-
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
-
7/28/2019 Meftih Newspaper June2013
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Meftih May 2013 Volume 8 Issue 8: page 24
From page 18
fanos Negussie, the long-
time PFDJ representative
in Toronto. He quietly sat
as if he was a regular sup-
porter and never appeared
on the stage. Lately, he has
been pressured by family
and friends to do the right
thing and resign. Even a
close friend went as far as
telling him that history will
be haunting him as an en-
abler of the suffering of his
people. A decent man, cor-
rupted by PFDJ, he ndshimself between a rock and
of the Eritrean Canadian
Association of Ontario
(ECAO), an organizationthat receives funds from
the tax payers of Canada,
while it is hosting and sup-
porting PFDJ. It is also al-
leged by many that it col-
laborates with the Eritrean
government to collect the
2% taxes that Canada cat-
egorized as illegal.
[i] In Tigrinya language,
antonym of Mohway Gi-
bri (healing tax). The 2%tax that bleeds Eritreans.
PFDJ Toronto Mourns . . .
raise for the state and its
armed forces in deance
of Canadas repeated de-
mands that it stop.
Eritrean-Canadians had
long complained about the
taxation system, calling
it extortion. The Eritrean-
Canadian Human Rights
Group recently provided
new evidence of the ongo-
ing fundraising scheme to
the Post as well as to For-
eign Affairs, which was
already conducting its own
investigation.
Canada. The government
statement said Eritrea was
welcome to send a replace-
ment but that person must
be prepared to play by therules. Our resolve should
not be further tested.
Since winning indepen-
dence 20 years ago follow-
ing a war with Ethiopia,
Eritrea has fomented insta-
bility in the region by sup-
plying weapons, training
and cash to several armed
groups. As a result, in 2009
the UN imposed sanctions
on Eritrea.
most repressive and im-
poverished. It has failed
to develop a formal econ-
omy and is dependent on
diaspora taxes imposedon the large number of ex-
patriates who have ed the
country.
The taxes are collected at
embassies and consulates
around the world, includ-
ing until recently in Toron-
to. The UN reported that
threats, harassment and
intimidation against the in-
dividual concerned or rela-
tives in Eritrea were usedto extract tax payments.
From page 23
Canada expels Eritrean . . .
Let me rst of all start by
saying that Canada is the
best place to be for any new
settler or immigrant. And I
say this from experience
because I had been to two
different countries before I
came here. One of the rst
things that most new com-
ers notice about Canada is
the polite and friendly at-
titude of the people who
are always cheerful and
respectful whether when
they are giving you direc-
tions on the streets or an-swering questions in a pub-
lic ofce or simply serving
a customer in any estab-
lishment. There is a lot to
be said about the attitude
of the people in a country
when you are a new comer.
As I mentioned earlier I
had been to other countries
before I came to Canada
where the people had been
far from friendly to new
comers. It adds more anxi-
ety to a new settlers al-ready frayed nerves when
the locals look at you as if
you were an annoying in-
truder and sometimes liter-
ally bark at you for simply
asking directions. How-ever, it is not merely the
attitude of the people that
makes Canada hospitable
to new settlers, but rather
the various vital resources
you nd at your disposal to
help you settle in without
too much difculty.
For a new immigrant to be
properly settled in a new
country the two most im-
portant things one needs or
looks for in addition to the
basics is, full-time employ-
ment and opportunities to
upgrade ones education.
Having been dealing with
immigrants for sometime
now, Canada has a host of
organisations that provide
the necessary assistance to
new comers and help them
nd their way in the coun-
try. These organizations
help you write your re-
sumes in a way that wouldmake sense to a Canadian
employer and show you
how to go about looking
for a job. They also set up
mock interviews to school
you on how to conductyourself during a job inter-
view for if and when you
succeed in landing an inter-
view. But even as members
of such organisations teach
you on how to apply for a
job and which sites to visit
to search for employment,
they clearly point out that
75% of jobs in the country
are secured through con-
tacts and networking. It is
pretty daunting to learn,
as a new comer with lim-
ited contacts, that you have
only 25% chance of nding
employment from job ads.
Any new immigrant from a
third world country like me
would tell you that most of
us come with an image that
jobs grow like weed in the
western world. One only
has to make his/her way
to North America and all
will be peaches and roses
from then on. No one tellsyou about the difference
between minimum wage
jobs and professional jobs
or about taxes or about the
constant bills that come
like clock work. And notin a million years would I
have imagined that search-
ing for a job would actually
be my full-time job during
the rst three months of
my time in Toronto.
Although I was too frus-
trated for any philosophi-
cal reection then, looking
at it from the perspective
of an employed person
now, I can say that it was
during my relentless job
search days that I really
got to know my new city
and country. I had been to
so many interviews and job
trials during which I met
with all kinds of people
who have taught me lessons
that I never knew I needed.
From the environment-
friendly company selling
household appliances, I
learned that not all cus-
tomer service job ads areto be trusted. This experi-
ence would actually make
a funny story to tell friends
someday when I eventual-
ly get over the embarrass-
ment of landing myself insuch a situation. From the
manager of a telemarket-
ing company I learned that
not everyone in Canada is
polite and accommodating
and that some can actu-
ally be downright rude and
judgemental for no appar-
ent reason. And from the
supervisor of a coffee shop,
I found out that there are
plenty of biased and dis-
criminating people in the
world even in a multi-cul-
tural city such as Toronto.
The cultural diversity of
the society is also some-
thing that came as a real
surprise to me. My imagi-
nation of the city and the
kind of people I would one
day live amongst could
not have been further off
mark. I did not know what
to make of it when on my
rst day out and about inthe city I heard Korean,
Philippines and Manda-
The Adventures Of Being A New
ImmigrantBy Rigat M
please see page 22