Latest / Kvetch & Release / Former MP Kevin Vuong Calls for Stripping Mohamad Fakih’s Order of Canada Over Dehumanizing Post

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Former MP Kevin Vuong Calls for Stripping Mohamad Fakih’s Order of Canada Over Dehumanizing Post · Kvetch & Release

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  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome to Convet's with John Lidkey. Today we
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  Speaker 1: are diving into a story that has sparked heated discussion
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  Speaker 1: from coast to coast to coast. There is a petition
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  Speaker 1: to revoke the Order of Canada from Mohammad Faki, the
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  Speaker 1: executive chair of Paramount Find Foods. He used to be
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  Speaker 1: their CEO. He was the founder and this petition has
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  Speaker 1: been gaining significant traction. It has amassed over eleven thousand
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  Speaker 1: signatures in just over seventy two hours. But even more
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  Speaker 1: than that, it was labored a weekend that people were
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  Speaker 1: deciding to sign this petition. They could have been at
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  Speaker 1: the cottage kicking back, having some end of summer fun,
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  Speaker 1: but people decided to en mass sign this petition. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it was launched by former MP Kevin Vuang alongside former
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  Speaker 1: Ontario MPP Lisa McLeod and former BC MLA Selena Robinson.
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  Speaker 1: That was just it started. Now there's twenty more former
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  Speaker 1: parliamentarians who have all endorsed and signed onto this as well.
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  Speaker 1: Now it cites Fake's controversial anti Israel social media posts
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  Speaker 1: as grounds for stripping him of this prestigious honor. And
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  Speaker 1: it's you know, Fake has stirred debate on and offline
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  Speaker 1: with comments that some are calling dehumanizing and threatening. And
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  Speaker 1: it's not the first time that he's waded into this
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  Speaker 1: territory on social media either. About a year ago, he
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  Speaker 1: said that his business didn't need the money of baby killers,
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  Speaker 1: something many considered was anti Semitic, anti Zionist, anti Israel
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  Speaker 1: considering the timing of it took place, of course, during
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  Speaker 1: the ongoing Israel Hamas War. Now, following the launch of
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  Speaker 1: this petition, Faki took to social media to launch a
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  Speaker 1: conspiracy theory and said that it was a coordinated, well
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  Speaker 1: funded pro Israel campaign let us out to go after
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  Speaker 1: his reputation, his business, his or of Canada, and that
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  Speaker 1: it includes threats and smears and even physical attacks. And
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  Speaker 1: it's only because he says that he speaks about what
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  Speaker 1: he calls the quote genocide in Gaza. He says it's
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  Speaker 1: not just about one tweet, it's about silencing anyone who
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  Speaker 1: dares to speak up. He says he won't be intimidated.
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  Speaker 1: Joining now to discuss that petition, the motivations and the
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  Speaker 1: broader implications for the Order of Canada is one of
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  Speaker 1: the key organizers, former member of Parliament. Kevin Vuan, Welcome
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  Speaker 1: Kevin John, thanks for having me, Thanks so much for joining.
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  Speaker 1: So listen, why'd you launch this thing?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think for the three of us, one
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  Speaker 2: of the big things has always been looking at the
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  Speaker 2: hate and the vitual that has been put out into
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  Speaker 2: the public sphere.
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  Speaker 3: And I think there needs to.
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  Speaker 2: Be a line in the sand, Bestauant and for us,
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  Speaker 2: it's what crossed the line? What went beyond freedom of expression?
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  Speaker 2: And you know, mister Fox, he just like any other Canadian,
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  Speaker 2: is entitled to express their views, ill informed or not.
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  Speaker 2: But I think what crossed the line is when mister Faki,
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  Speaker 2: who uses his postnominals that comes with being a member
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  Speaker 2: of the Order of Canada, that is included on his platform,
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  Speaker 2: that puts it there and then goes on to say
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  Speaker 2: specifically that And I'm going to read his entire remarks
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  Speaker 2: here so your listeners have the full context, and that
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  Speaker 2: is that quote on behalf of literally every Canadian of conscience.
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  Speaker 2: If you are a Canadian and a supporter of Israel,
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  Speaker 2: you do not have basic human values, let alone Canadian values.
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  Speaker 2: Your tweets and messages are saved and known to all
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  Speaker 2: of us. They live some might not comment around you
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  Speaker 2: because they are polite or respectful of whatever role you
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  Speaker 2: have in society, or just don't want to roll in
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  Speaker 2: the mud with you. But know this, your lack of
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  Speaker 2: Canadian and human values will never be forgotten.
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  Speaker 3: End quote.
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  Speaker 2: So let's let's decipher that real quick. Apparently he's speaking
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  Speaker 2: on behalf of every Canadian. And again, no, it's important
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  Speaker 2: to note that he's using his postnominals that provides fur
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  Speaker 2: little legitimacy. He's using the credibility of Canada's highness honor
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  Speaker 2: to further support whatever it is like. He doesn't have
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  Speaker 2: to include those, but he does. And so he says,
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  Speaker 2: if you are a Canadian and a support of Israel,
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  Speaker 2: you do not have basic human values.
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  Speaker 3: Let alone Canadian values. Who is he to be the
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  Speaker 3: arbiter of what it means or doesn't mean to be
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  Speaker 3: a Canadian? Who is he to be the arbiter of
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  Speaker 3: whether or not someone is human?
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  Speaker 2: This is dehumanizing and he's dividing can Canadians based on
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  Speaker 2: by the way uh an issue that is beyond our borders.
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  Speaker 2: Then he goes on to imply a threat. I can
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  Speaker 2: tell you that's how I interpreted that quote. Your tweets
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  Speaker 2: and messages are saved and known to all of us.
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  Speaker 3: End quote. So for me, that crosses the line.
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  Speaker 2: I think that cross the line for for any anyone
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  Speaker 2: who you know, purports to be a community leader.
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  Speaker 3: But it definitely.
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  Speaker 2: Crosses the line for someone who holds the distinction of
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  Speaker 2: Canada's highest honor.
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  Speaker 3: And so.
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  Speaker 2: You know this, this quote a well organized conspiracy that
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  Speaker 2: he accuses us of. Let me, John, just take us
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  Speaker 2: take you through this this organization. Okay, this this conspiracy,
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  Speaker 2: this grand conspiracy which by the way, uh, you know
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  Speaker 2: has anti Semitic uh threads throughout this. You know that
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  Speaker 2: that entire trope that Jews control the world. Let me
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  Speaker 2: tell you what happened. Mccleoud, a former Ontario Cabinet minister,
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  Speaker 2: a non Jew by the way, reaches out to me
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  Speaker 2: and she's like, Kevin, I'm paraphrasing, but are you as
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  Speaker 2: pissed off as I am about Mohammed Faki's post?
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  Speaker 3: And I'm like.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, And so we're like, you know what, let's reach
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  Speaker 2: out to Selena Robinson, who's a former BC Cabinet Minister
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  Speaker 2: of Jewish Heritage herself. See if she too is pissed
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  Speaker 2: off she is, and so we decide in the course
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  Speaker 2: of twenty four hours, Les, let's look at how you
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  Speaker 2: go about revoking the process the process for the Order
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  Speaker 2: of Canada. Oh, you write to the Advisory Council. Let's
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  Speaker 2: pen an open letter, and let's also put forward a petition.
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  Speaker 2: See if anyone else wants to join us. Lisa pays
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  Speaker 2: forty five dollars correction, forty dollars for the website hosting.
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  Speaker 2: I pay thirty five dollars for the Bitley link shortening.
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  Speaker 2: So this well funded campaign was seventy five dollars which
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  Speaker 2: we personally put forward and like you had said, over
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  Speaker 2: the course of seventy two hours, thousands, and I'm happy
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  Speaker 2: to share that we're now at over twelve thousand signatories.
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  Speaker 2: Amongst those twelve thousand are twenty seven former parliamentarians, provincial
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  Speaker 2: and federal, and collectively we have served two hundred and
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  Speaker 2: fifty six years of public service. We have former cabinet
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  Speaker 2: ministers nine in total, former Premier, former Speaker, two former
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  Speaker 2: parliamentary secretaries, all of us united, all of us from
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  Speaker 2: across the country. And I'm happy to say that amongst
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  Speaker 2: the twelve thousand is a signatory from every single Canadian
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  Speaker 2: province and territory, all of us calling for the revocation
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  Speaker 2: of mister Foky's Order of Canada.
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  Speaker 1: And it truly is a multi partisan effort. Just speaking
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  Speaker 1: about the three of you who launched it initially, I
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  Speaker 1: mean you were a Liberal most recently as an independent,
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  Speaker 1: Lisa McLeod obviously as a PC member here in Ontario,
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  Speaker 1: and then Selena Robinson former NDP. Is that nobody can
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  Speaker 1: say that this is just one side of the ideological spectrum.
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  Speaker 2: No, every single major party, including the Greens, is represented.
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  Speaker 2: Amongst our signatories, we have you know, some people if
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  Speaker 2: you want to challenge whether or not Kevin was a Liberal,
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  Speaker 2: which is fine, technically I only was a Liberal card
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  Speaker 2: Carring member for three weeks and only ever sat as
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  Speaker 2: an independent house Well I'm looking at Dan Mattaigu, who
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  Speaker 2: is eighteen year Liberal MP as one example. Right, So
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  Speaker 2: we do have every single major party represented, including the NDP.
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  Speaker 2: Of course Selena Robinson was for a long time in
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  Speaker 2: NDP cabinet minister right in the BC government. So and
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  Speaker 2: of course Lisa being conservative, we also have a whole
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  Speaker 2: number of Conservatives across the board. You know, this is
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  Speaker 2: not this is non partisan. This is postpartisan, if you will, this,
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  Speaker 2: because this is something that goes beyond that. Someone who
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  Speaker 2: holds the Order of Canada is supposed to represent the
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  Speaker 2: best of Canada. And so when someone goes and tries
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  Speaker 2: to divide Canadians on the basis of what they may
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  Speaker 2: think or the views they may have of, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: a democratic ally of Canada, that is wrong and that
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  Speaker 2: crosses the line.
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  Speaker 3: And I think you know, all of his other remarks.
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  Speaker 2: Before that August twenty fifth post were immensely problematic, but
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  Speaker 2: when he crossed the line, when he tried to dehumanize, vilify,
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  Speaker 2: and then threaten Canadians.
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  Speaker 1: And this wouldn't be the first time that somebody has
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  Speaker 1: been script of their Order of Canada. So it's not
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  Speaker 1: like this is going out of the ordinary, if you will.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's happened, I believe, what now to eleven
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  Speaker 1: times in the past before.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, And in fact it was in two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and two it was David Ahanaku who was actually
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  Speaker 2: stripped of his Order of Canada for making similarly anti
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  Speaker 2: Semitic comments.
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  Speaker 1: So obviously we've heard what Muhammed Faki has said that
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  Speaker 1: this is a well funded pro Israel campaign, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: the anti Semitic undertones there are pretty clear. He says,
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  Speaker 1: it's because he speaks the truth about genocide in Gaza.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, what would your response be to that? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I think you've been pretty clear about what this is
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  Speaker 1: actually about, But how would you respond to him?
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  Speaker 2: So listen, he has the right, He has the freedom
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  Speaker 2: of expression like everyone else. That includes the freedom to
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  Speaker 2: express ill informed, incorrect things, so long.
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  Speaker 3: As they're not inciting hate and violence.
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  Speaker 2: The issue at hand is that he is doing it
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  Speaker 2: using the Order of Canada on his social media platforms.
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  Speaker 2: He uses that almost as a shield on the one hand,
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  Speaker 2: on the other to further legitimize He borrows from the
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  Speaker 2: legitimacy of our highest honor.
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  Speaker 3: And I say that as a.
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  Speaker 2: Canadian who looks up to us, to the people who
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  Speaker 2: hold this distinction, And that's really.
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  Speaker 3: First and foremost the issue.
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  Speaker 2: He can falsely, you know, make accusations of genocide, but
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  Speaker 2: I'm sorry he war is immensely tragic, but war is
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  Speaker 2: not genocide.
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  Speaker 3: What Hamas did was an attempt at genocide.
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  Speaker 2: On October seventh of twenty twenty three, they failed at it,
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  Speaker 2: and Israel did what every other nation in the world
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  Speaker 2: would do, which is to defend.
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  Speaker 3: Itself and its people. And Hamas attacked.
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  Speaker 2: A militarily superior neighbor and now they are reaping what
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  Speaker 2: they sowed, and unfortunately they are using innocent Palestinians as
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  Speaker 2: human shields, which for them serves their purposes because they
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  Speaker 2: are able to win. Right now, I think they're winning
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  Speaker 2: the war as it goes when it comes to the propaganda,
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  Speaker 2: but it doesn't make it a genocide. War is tragic,
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  Speaker 2: casualties are immensely tragic. But if he really cared about
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  Speaker 2: the innocent civilians that are being caught in the war,
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  Speaker 2: he would be calling for Hamas to surrender, to lay
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  Speaker 2: down their arms, and to release the forty eight remaining
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  Speaker 2: hostages so that a pact to piece can be possible,
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  Speaker 2: so that the war and the conflict can in fact end.
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  Speaker 2: But that's not what he's doing. He's perpetuating disinformation and
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  Speaker 2: the very propaganda that's coming out of the terrorist entity,
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  Speaker 2: an entity that is designated in this country who's highest
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  Speaker 2: honor he holds, has itself designated Helmas as a terrorist group.
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  Speaker 1: Even more concerning as well as when you consider that
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  Speaker 1: you know he says, if you're a Canadian and you're
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  Speaker 1: a supporter of Israel, and ninety percent roughly of Canadian
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  Speaker 1: Jews are supporters of Israel, so it's hard for many
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  Speaker 1: who are looking at this to not see it as
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  Speaker 1: overtly anti Semitic.
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  Speaker 3: That's correct. You know.
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  Speaker 2: I think when you have any sort of discourse as
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  Speaker 2: it relates to that conflict, you often hear, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the the prohamas they talk about the need for context. Well,
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  Speaker 2: why don't we provide the context here as it relates
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  Speaker 2: to the mister Focky's comments. Like you rightfully say, John,
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  Speaker 2: ninety percent of Canadian Jews support the state of Israel.
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  Speaker 2: And so when you provide that context now to mister
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  Speaker 2: Faki's comments about how people who support Israel are do
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  Speaker 2: not have basic human values, let alone Canadian values, he is,
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  Speaker 2: in fact, with that context, dehumanizing and telling Canadian Jews
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  Speaker 2: that they are they don't have human values, that they
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  Speaker 2: are not Canadian.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that is very important, and which.
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  Speaker 2: Begs the question, then if David hack sorry Hackney was
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  Speaker 2: stripped in two thousand and two of the Order of
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  Speaker 2: Canada for anti Semitic comments, should the advisory Council not
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  Speaker 2: then be looking at mister Foki's comments with that context
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  Speaker 2: in mind.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly so. And he says that he has been on
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  Speaker 1: the receiving end due to this petition of threats, smears
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  Speaker 1: and physical attacks. I'm confident that that's not something that
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  Speaker 1: you've been advocating for. I haven't seen it, certainly online
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  Speaker 1: or throughout a traditional media. But have you heard anything
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  Speaker 1: about this or is this news to you? When he
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  Speaker 1: said it so that that's news to me.
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  Speaker 2: Let's be clear, as someone who has had to endure
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  Speaker 2: you know, my my wife's been stocked, my home's been targeted.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, they put up posters falsely accusing me of
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  Speaker 2: supporting genocide and all that sort of garbage that is
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  Speaker 2: not that is that is unlawful in Canada, full stop. No,
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  Speaker 2: I would wish that on no one, not even uh
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  Speaker 2: you know, my critics or my my you know, enemies,
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  Speaker 2: if you will not that.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think I would characterize anyone as such.
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  Speaker 2: That is something that I wish on nobody. So if
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  Speaker 2: there's anyone who is doing that to mister Focky, stop,
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  Speaker 2: But if he is in fact enduring that, I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: he would be reporting that to the police of jurisdic
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  Speaker 2: and he is immensely public and vocal on his platforms.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sure we would have heard about it. Just you know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Suspect that this is, you know, the tactic with which
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  Speaker 2: to diffuse I think very valid criticisms, and of course
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  Speaker 2: our petition that we've brought forward now that has been
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  Speaker 2: supported by over twelve thousand Canadians. I think if he
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  Speaker 2: is in fact to reiterate and during any of that,
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  Speaker 2: I hope he goes to police with jurisdiction and anyone
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  Speaker 2: who may be listening who might have done that stop.
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  Speaker 2: That is not how we do things here in Canada.
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  Speaker 2: They're legitimate processes. And if you in fact agree with
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  Speaker 2: the petition that we've brought forward, I hope you will
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  Speaker 2: add your name as well as for your listeners, John,
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  Speaker 2: consider writing directly yourself. The Order of Canada has a
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  Speaker 2: process for the termination and stripping of anyone who holds
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  Speaker 2: that honor.
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  Speaker 1: Followed that, Okay, any last thoughts that you want to
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  Speaker 1: share today?
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  Speaker 2: Listen, if people want a boycott that is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's your own dollars. You're more than free to use
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  Speaker 2: your money however you want. If you don't want to
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  Speaker 2: eat at paramount foods. That's everyone's right. I think what's
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  Speaker 2: important here is that this is about defending the integrity
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  Speaker 2: of Canada's highest honor, and I think there was a need,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like you said from the top of this, John,
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  Speaker 2: we garnered over eleven thousand at the time, now over
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  Speaker 2: twelve thousand signatures on probably Canada's busiest long weekend. You know,
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  Speaker 2: in hindsight, launching it on the Friday of the long
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  Speaker 2: weekend when everyone's trying to enjoy what's last of summer
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  Speaker 2: plus getting ready for back to school was probably a
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  Speaker 2: bad idea if you wanted, you know, maximum reach and impact.
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  Speaker 2: But that so many people took time out of the
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  Speaker 2: day to sign, to share, to encourage others, I think
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  Speaker 2: speaks to the fact that Canadians are fed up and
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  Speaker 2: they agree that we need to draw a line in
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  Speaker 2: this hand. This is not a partisan matter, but and
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  Speaker 2: I think there's no better representation the fact than every
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  Speaker 2: we have representative signatories from every single major party from
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  Speaker 2: across the country and every single province and territory. This
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  Speaker 2: this is about standing up for Canada and Canadian values.
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  Speaker 2: And I hope that others who agree with us will
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  Speaker 2: consider adding their name too, if they haven't already.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Kevin, I want to thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: your time today speaking with me about this very important issue.
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  Speaker 1: I think you know just just as a Canadian the
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  Speaker 1: Order of Canada, as you said, it's it's the highest
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  Speaker 1: recognition that a civilian can receive in the country, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that the institution needs to be maintained and
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  Speaker 1: some times that means cleaning house, and this seems like
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  Speaker 1: one of those cases. So thank you so much.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Son, have a great tack YouTube ticket