1 APRIL 2008
DINNER IN HONOR OF CANADIAN PARLAMENTARIANS
AND OFFICIALS
IN THE EMBASSY OF LEBANON
On Tuesday the 1st of April, Ambassador Massoud Maalouf hosted a dinner in his residence in honour of a number of Canadian members of the Senate and the House of Commons and officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as well as some members of the Lebanese community from Alberta and Manitoba.
The guests included Senator Marcel Prud'Homme, Senator Pierre DeBane (Co-Chair from the Senate of the Canadian-Lebanese Parliamentary Friendship Group), and Senator Denis Dawson, Chair of the Canadian-Arab Parliamentary Friendship Group. Also present were MPs Maria Mourani, Co-Chair of the Canadian-Lebanese Parliamentary Friendship Group from the House, Paul Zed, Brian Storseth, Shawn Murphy, Mervin Tweed, Peggy Nash, Lee Richardson, Denis Lebel, James Bezan, Ted Menzies, Laurie Hawn and Cheryl Gallant.
Attendees from DFAIT included HE Gordon Venner, Director of the Department of Africa and the Middle East and HE Robert Peck, Chief of Protocol.
Mr. Nizar Ali (Edmonton) Mr. Samir Bleibel (Edmonton), Mr. Elie Ghanime (Calgary), Mr. Abdo Tassi (Winnipeg) and Mr. Ibrahim Bechara (Montreal) were also present at the dinner.
In his welcome speech, Ambassador Maalouf expressed his great appreciation at the high level of relations existing between Canada and Lebanon. He thanked the DFAIT for the assistance and support that Lebanon is receiving from the Canadian Government.
Ambassador Maalouf raised the possibility of working together on opening direct commerical air flights between Canada and Lebanon. Consolidating the Commercial and Economic Section of the Canadian Embassy in Beirut might be beneficial in promoting trade between the two countries. Ambassador Maalouf also mentioned that in the Summer of 2006, Lebanon was expecting about 1.5 million tourists, but due to the Israeli attacks of July, Lebanon was left with more than 1.5 million cluster bombs that kill, injure and maim innocent Lebanese people on an almost daily basis. He appealed to the guests for their help in the hope that Canada could contribute resources to the removal of these bombs and the antipersonnel mines left by years of Israeli occupation as well as promoting Canada's encouragement of Israel to provide maps of their cluster bomb raids and antipersonnel mines planted during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon until May 2000.
Following the Ambassador's speech, Senator Pierre Debane, MP Maria Mourani, MP Peggy Nash, MP Brian Storseth, HE Gordon Venner, Mr. Samir Bleibel and Senator Marcel Prud'Homme spoke. There was a consensus among the speakers on the will to support Lebanon. MPs Mourani and Nash spoke about their visit to Lebanon in the aftermath of the Israeli attacks of July 2006 and the level of destruction they saw. They also stressed the necessity to help in the removal of the antipersonnel mines and the cluster bombs. Mr. Bleibel informed the audience that the Lebanese community in the Edmonton area has offered an ambulance to Lebanon and is now in the process of sending 4 more ambulances. HE Mr. Venner reported that Canada has offered Lebanon a number of small ships to help monitor the Lebanese coastline.
Below are some pictures taken during the event.
