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### Viewing cable 05MONTREAL744, MONTREAL MUSLIMS APPRECIATE DIALOGUE WITH

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05MONTREAL744 | 2005-06-09 20:21 | 2011-04-28 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED | Consulate Montreal

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

    092021Z Jun 05

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTREAL 000744

    SIPDIS

    SECSTATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PD, DS/IP/WHA

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: KPAO KISL PREL PHUM ASEC SOCI CA
    SUBJECT:  MONTREAL MUSLIMS APPRECIATE DIALOGUE WITH
    CONSULATE, EACH OTHER

    REF:  A) SECSTATE 90992  B)OTTAWA 1488

    ¶1.  Summary.  On June 2, Consulate staff (Consul
    General (CG), Public Affairs Officer (PAO), Consular
    Section Chief and FSN Public Affairs Assistant) met
    with ten representatives of various Muslim
    organizations and constituencies in Montreal, including
    the Algerian Cultural Center, the Islamic Community
    Center, the Future Movement Canada, the Egyptian
    Student Association and an Iraqi ex-patriot group.  The
    meeting, arranged as a follow-up to a series of calls
    the CG and PAO paid on Montreal Muslim organizations
    and leaders in February and March, gave Post an
    opportunity to ascertain reaction in the Muslim
    community to the recent media stories on alleged Koran
    desecration and human rights violations by U.S.
    military forces.  End summary.

    ¶2. CG Allen opened the meeting by expressing thanks for
    the warm welcome accorded the Consulate in our outreach
    effort earlier in the year, and for the communication
    that we have had with many of the invitees since our
    initial meetings. She stated that the Koran desecration
    stories had been very troubling, particularly the
    violence and deaths that had apparently resulted from
    the coverage in Afghanistan.  She noted Secretary
    Rice's statement (which Montreal PD disseminated to
    Muslim contacts on May 16).  Finally, the CG emphasized
    that though she and the PAO would be transferring from
    Montreal this summer, the Consulate would like to
    continue to have an open channel of communication with
    Muslim groups, and to possibly collaborate on program
    activity, including potentially bringing a speaker or
    nominating Muslim Montrealers to exchange programs
    (NOTE: PD Montreal has nominated the head of the
    Algerian Cultural Center for the FY 2006 International
    Visitor Leadership Program).

    ¶3. After introducing themselves -- none of these
    contacts seemed to know each other -- several invitees
    commented on the Koran desecration stories.  An Iraqi
    Canadian said that the stories, probably all isolated
    incidents, had obviously been manipulated to foment
    anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world.  He said
    that the best way to handle such stories is for high-
    level USG officials to make public statements, quickly
    and often.  But others disagreed with him, noting how
    often the President and the Secretary of State have
    already said that the war on terror is not a war on
    Islam.  An Algerian Canadian said that though USG
    officials have to keep saying that the U.S. is not anti-
    Islamic, such statements have little effect in Muslim
    countries.  Interestingly, Vice President of the
    Montreal Egyptian Student Association (the youngest
    invitee) suggested that the U.S. needs to engage both
    the younger generation of Muslims, and the Muslims who
    disagree with us (as an example, he named a very pro-
    Palestinian student group at Concordia University).
    Several invitees picked up on his comments, saying,
    "You're preaching to the choir here."

    ¶4. The invitees got into a long and heated discussion
    over whether democracy can succeed in the Arab and
    Muslim countries.  An Algerian Canadian was skeptical,
    given his own country's experience.  Our Iraqi Canadian
    contact talked about the huge desire in Iraq for
    democracy, demonstrated by the January election.  A
    Lebanese Canadian chimed in, saying that Lebanon is
    another case of democracy taking hold.  There seemed to
    be a consensus that Egypt is the place to watch, and
    the country in which the USG should focus its pressure
    for greater democratization in the region.

    ¶5. The Islamic Community Center representative (a
    Pakistani Canadian) talked about the need for Muslims
    in Montreal to recapture the respect and dignity that
    had been lost since 9/11 for their community.  He had
    complained previously of difficulties faced by Muslims
    at border points of entry, and he noted at the meeting
    the stringent security procedures for entering the
    Consulate ("Was this security checking just for our
    group, a Muslim group?")

    ¶6. All of the invitees expressed appreciation to CG
    Allen for the Consulate's initiative in reaching out to
    Muslim groups in Montreal.  They would like further and
    increased contact and offered to assist us with program
    activity.

    ¶7. Montreal's Muslim communities are nothing if not
    diverse.  Sectarian, national origin, political,
    linguistic, and orthodoxy differences separate the
    various groups and reflect different patterns of
    immigration to the province.  According to Statistics
    Canada 2001 census data, some 96,000 Montrealers
    identified themselves as Muslims, though according to
    many people the actual number is much higher and
    growing.  Because of recent immigration from the French-
    speaking countries of the Maghreb, Arab-Muslims
    comprise the majority of Muslims in Montreal (some
    44,000 according to the census), but the older South
    Asian and Egyptian communities are also sizable.

    ¶8. In the past several weeks, Muslim organizations in
    Montreal have been preoccupied with two separate
    situations concerning Muslim integration in Quebec
    society: 1) the use of sharia-based arbitration in some
    legal situations; 2) prayer space at McGill University.
    A Member of the National Assembly (a Muslim woman of
    Moroccan origin and a long-standing Post contact), in
    the face of strong criticism from the imam who chairs
    the Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM), with whom we met
    last March, introduced a motion to oppose the
    establishment of Islamic tribunals in Quebec, a motion
    adopted by the three parties in the Quebec Parliament
    and supported by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
    McGill's decision to close a prayer room that had been
    used by Muslim students since 1998 has been bitterly
    criticized by the MCM also.  A Muslim Students
    Association spokesperson was quoted as saying, "the
    manner in which this was handled was very
    irresponsible, very juvenile, as if we were criminals."
    In response to media inquiries over the matter, the
    university communications officer's responded, "it was
    understood and it was explained . that this would be on
    a temporary basis.  The university does not provide
    permanent prayer space to any group.  McGill is a
    secular institution."

    ¶9.  Comment: We have found much receptiveness to USG
    contact and collaboration in the Muslim community of
    Montreal, though the community itself is rather
    inchoate.  The Consulate could play a significant role
    in bringing the various groups together, and getting
    them to think about ways the Muslim diaspora could help
    with democratization and development in the Muslim
    world, as well as issues of tolerance and immigration
    in North America.
    ALLEN

`