Karen Mock, federal candidate for Thornhill; International Woman’s Day Statement.
As we are in the midst of a federal election it is timely to shed some light on one of its contenders. It was ironic to read various equality comments by federal candidate Karen Mock in her recent International Woman’s Day Statement March 8, 2011. I have known Karen for almost 20 years. She certainly does not epitomize a “women’s candidate”.
Despite her reference in the statement to “equal access”, in my opinion she unfortunately serves as the stereotypical gatekeeper to keep anyone who is a Canadian Palestinian or anyone who is sympathetic with Palestinian human rights out of public discourse and out of government policy development. Karen’s statement was published under the guise of a tribute to International Women’s Day. I cannot speak on behalf of other women but in my experience Karen does not support other women in their struggles to gain equality and access, at least not Palestinian Canadian women or Canadian women sympathetic to Palestinian human rights.
In the lead up to the World Conference Against Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia (WCAR) I spoke at one of the national preparatory conferences about the issue of Palestinian human rights to a panel Karen was sitting on. At the time, Karen was in charge of travel grants for delegates to participate in the WCAR in Durban, South Africa. I had been approved for a travel grant. After speaking at the WCAR preparatory conference my travel grant was cancelled.
On the 10th anniversary of our 1991 employment equity legislation, the federal government commissioned a cross-Canada consultation on the effectiveness of the legislation. A private consulting firm was hired and I was invited to be part of the team. However, two members of the team told me that Karen had vetoed my participation. So much for her statement supporting “pathways to decent work for women”.
In 2001 an Israeli sniper killed my 13 year old cousin in Bethlehem. Although Nidah was only 13 years old, she was already a leader among Palestinian youth and we suspect that is why she was targeted by the IDF. Karen phoned me to give her condolences but added insult to injury by referring to the West where Nidah was from as “disputed territory” rather than what we all know is legally occupied territory.
Karen frequently refers to herself as “a dynamic speaker” but she can be seen as quite aggressive in obtaining these speaking engagements. In 1996 I hosted a Community Dialogue on Organized White Supremacist Activity. Karen called me and asked why I had not invited her to speak. I said our speakers list was full and we already had a keynote speaker, Warren Kinsella whose views I knew she embraced. She asked me why I didn’t have any Jews helping to organize the conference. I replied that actually we did. However, she didn’t recognize the name of the person and thought I should involve her. She also stated that she required $1,000 for speaking. Our conference was not funded and everyone involved including myself and the speakers were unpaid volunteers, and the auditorium in Welland was donated.
On another occasion a Halton/Peel anti-racism organizer invited me to be the keynote speaker at a conference training police officers regarding organized white supremacist activity in the community, among youth and on the Internet. In addition to agreeing to speak, I also helped organize the conference, traveling some distance from Niagara for committee meetings. Close to the conference date Karen’s name appeared on the conference agenda. After the conference, the organizer apologized to me that she was only able to pay me a third of what she had originally offered because she had to pay Karen $1,000 for speaking. As a fulltime volunteer for many years it was not often that I was paid for my expertise or time.
Karen often associates herself with Black Canadian women, Muslims, Arabs and interfaith and human rights organizations. However, many of us feel the association is for appearances sake only to make Karen appear more suitable for government funded positions and grants. Despite these associations she is also a staunch supporter of Israel and a friend of institutions such as Haifa University which is extremely discriminatory towards local Palestinians and their human rights.
Her aggressive self promotion was again seen when a position opened on the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. Karen had been the executive director for 12 years of the league for Jewish human rights of B’nai Brith. When the CRRF was looking for its second executive director Karen desired to fill that position. The CRRF hiring committee considered potential executive directors, and a member of the hiring committee told me in conversation that they had chosen someone other than Karen, but that apparently Karen had appealed to MP Hedy Fry who appealed directly to the Prime Minister’s Office to appoint Karen instead, which the PMO’s office did despite the hiring committee’s recommendation.
Is this someone Canadians and particularly women want to represent them in the federal government?
Susan Howard-Azzeh
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
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