West Island youth want action on Darfur

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Though the troubled region of Darfur, Sudan is a world away, with its over 200, 000 dead and two million refugees, and an international community seemingly unwilling to do anything about it, a group of young West Islanders is forging ahead to make the Canadian government take action.

"I've always been interested in Darfur," said Pointe Claire resident Dan Leroy, 18. After reading about the deteriorating situation in 2003, he was infuriated with the world's seeming inaction. "We were experiencing genocide in the 21st century," Leroy said, yet here was the international community doing nothing only a few years after the Rwandan Genocide and renewed pledges of 'never again.'

Leroy's next step was to meet with his MP, Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal representative of the Lac St. Louis federal riding. However, he said Scarpaleggia's original reaction, that the issue was too big to do anything about, discouraged him.

It was not until attending a conference on Darfur at Marianopolis College that Leroy decided on his next course of action: to form a small network of volunteers that would petition members of Parliament to make the Canadian government act on Darfur.

"There's a few people in Halifax, Calgary, Ottawa," said Leroy, based on connections he made by attending various leadership forums throughout the years. With a core group composed of 20 people, the Canadians for Action in Darfur have so far gathered about 1500 signatures on around 45 petitions.

"We really felt like we had to do something in the Sudan," said Alex Walsh, 18, a pure and applied science student at Dawson College and Dollard des Ormeaux resident who helped his friend Leroy start up the organization about a month and a half ago.

Since that time, the group has been happy to note Scarpaleggia has turned around and come out to support the initiative. "He says he has plans to raise awareness in the Lac St. Louis region. He has also given a speech on the topic in the House of Commons," Walsh explained. Other MPS have responded positively to the awareness campaign as well, including Pierrefonds-Dollard Liberal MP Bernard Patry and Mount Royal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

One of the stores in the West Island area that have accepted a copy of the petition to present to customers is 10 000 Villages, a fair trade shop located at Pointe Claire Village. "We accepted the petition for several reasons," explained Jane Marcuse, one of the volunteer clerks at the store.

"May 10th is Amnesty International Day," she explained, making the plight of Darfur refugees and victims particularly timely. The store has left a copy of the petition on its main counter. "We've probably got close to 400 signatures, if not more," Marcuse explained.

As for concrete actions, Leroy is hoping Canada will commit to help set up the potential 27,000 troop peacekeeping force authorized by the United Nations last year to be deployed into Darfur. "No nation has taken the lead," Leroy said, yet Canada is one of those that has the financial resources to help.