CANADA’S OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, ITS FATE IN QUESTION, LOOKS TO HELP YOUNG SYRIANS BUILD A FUTURE FOR THEIR COUNTRY, INOCULATING THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS FROM SECTARIAN DIVIDES.
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• Before Syria’s five-year war destroyed his family house in Aleppo and killed some of his relatives, Rami had a budding career in corporate communications and yearned for a nice sports car.
“Now it’s the most dangerous city on earth,” says the 27-year-old, for whom the National Post has agreed to use a pseudonym. “You can hide and cry, or you can fight, or you can try to make a positive change.”
With help from Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom, Rami is one of several young Syrians who have dedicated their lives to building a future for their country, inoculating their fellow citizens from the sectarian divides that have wrought five years of civil war.
It’s those deep-seated problems that the office — amid speculation the new government will shutter its doors — tries to tackle, according to its ambassador, Andrew Bennett.
“We’re talking about longterm, multi-generational change. Nothing is going to change in these countries overnight,” Bennett says in an interview.
Bennett describes his office as an advocate both abroad and within the Foreign Affairs Department, amid more immediate initiatives like refugee resettlement and aid.
“Within government, in a highly secular country like Canada, we tend not to be very comfortable talking about religion or religious faith,” he says.
“Part of our work is to educate and raise awareness about the role that religious faith plays in foreign policy, and more generally in how people see themselves.”
In one case, Bennett’s staff invited the Mennonite Central Committee, which already runs development projects in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, to submit a proposal in December 2014 — four months into Canada’s airstrikes in Iraq.
A Manitoba couple who oversees MCC’s regional work found groups in all three countries, and applied for $500,000 in funding. A fifth of that money supports the three Syrians’ projects, which teach youth to respect strangers. The couple helps the activists manage their budget, tallies their progress and offers moral support.
All three Syrians admit they won’t see any fruits of success for decades, but say they’re in it for the long haul.
The activists spoke with the Post during a recent regional conference in Beirut, which was funded by the grant. To get there, each made dangerous taxi trips darting through rebel- and government-held territory toward the Lebanese border.
At the conference, the three learned from local activists who ran similar projects during the 15-year-long Lebanese civil war.
Looking at today’s Syria, Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour recalls Lebanon crumbling in 1975 because adherents to 18 different sects lived parallel lives, building resentment and suspicion among neighbours.
“It’s so good to have children learn about living with each other, respecting each other, before they grow up and have something build in their minds because of no education,” says Jarjour, who founded the Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue.
He believes Canada was ahead of the curve in opening the Office of Religious Freedom three years ago, modelled on a U.S. position created in 1998.
“The conflicts in the Arab world today have divided our different communities,” Jarjour says, on the Sunni-Shia divide that fuels clashes across the world.
“This kind of meeting on religious freedom is a unique one, to somehow construct what was destroyed.”
In Canada, the federal government has hinted at closing the office, saying in January that religious freedom should not be “disconnected” from other human rights. Bennett is still waiting to learn whether his term concludes at the end of this month. An opposition motion to extend the mandate of the office is on the House of Commons agenda for Monday.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement defends the initiative as part of his government’s legacy.
“Religious freedom is under attack around the world and it deserves special attention, and in particular focused resources,” he said in an interview.
“A lot of people have fled to Canada over decades, fleeing that kind of persecution.”
As for Rami, he wants Canadians to know that more is happening in Syria than sieges and massacres. His smartphone menu background shows a list of life goals, from buying a new house for his family to dissuading people from taking up arms.
“We’ll all do the best we can,” he says. “The rest is up to God.”
THE SECURITY CANADA OFFERED US, WITH THIS LACK OF CLARITY ABOUT WHETHER WE HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED OR NOT, HAS TURNED INTO INSECURITY. — CARLOS HUGO JIMENEZ WE TEND NOT TO BE COMFORTABLE TALKING ABOUT RELIGION OR FAITH.