Thursday, August 05, 2021

A year after Beirut blast, Lebanese diaspora in Canada demands accountability

Activist group brings together Lebanese people in 35 cities around the world


Michelle Ghoussoub · CBC News 
· Posted: Aug 04, 2021 

Julnar Doueik is a member of the United Diaspora Network — also called Meghterbin Mejtemiin — a group based in 35 cities around the world including Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, that seeks to support Lebanon from abroad. 
(Antonin Sturlese/CBC)

A year after a massive explosion in Beirut killed 214 people, destroyed much of the city and sank Lebanon's economy further into despair, Lebanese Canadians are calling on Ottawa to redirect its financial assistance away from Lebanon's government while demanding a complete investigation into the blast.

On Aug. 4, 2020, a fire at the Port of Beirut ignited a stash of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored for six years in a warehouse, without proper safety measures, after having been confiscated by the Lebanese authorities from an abandoned ship.

It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. Two Canadians, including a three-year-old girl, were among those killed.

Documents have since shown that high-level officials were warned multiple times of the risk but failed to act.

An investigation has so far failed to determine who ordered the shipment of chemicals and why officials ignored those warnings.

Parents of Canadian child killed in Beirut blast say lack of justice is 'enraging'

Julnar Doueik, who moved from Beirut to Vancouver just weeks before the explosion, says there has been little to no accountability, making it impossible to move on.

"Our wound is still open, our emotional and psychological bruises are as painful as they were a year ago — but we're also very furious because justice is nowhere to be found in Lebanon. The political class that is the cause of the Beirut blast, because of criminal negligence, they're still obstructing the investigation," she said.

"A lot of lives were lost. A whole city was destroyed. Canadian lives were lost as well during this explosion and we don't have answers."

People in Beirut carry pictures of some of the victims of the blast in the city's port district, during a march on Wednesday, as Lebanon marks the one-year anniversary of the explosion. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

Doueik is part of the United Diaspora Network — also called Meghterbin Mejtemiin — a group based across 35 cities around the world including Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, that seeks to support Lebanon from abroad.

The group is calling on the Canadian government to provide technical assistance in the investigation, to halt humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese government and to, instead, redirect funds to civil society groups.

Over the past year, Canada has provided around $50 million toward early recovery efforts, humanitarian assistance and long-term reconstruction of the city.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said Wednesday that Canada continues to call for a full and transparent investigation.

"We continue to firmly stand with the Lebanese people and are ready to support them further. Canada will continue to reiterate that Lebanon's leaders must act now to form a government that can and will begin the reforms the country so desperately needs," Garneau said in a statement.

Thousands of Lebanese call for justice 1 year after massive explosion
Economic crisis deepens

Since the explosion, Lebanon has fallen further into economic crisis while trying to rebuild, leading to a devastating currency crash, hyperinflation and widespread shortages.

Doueik says the United Diaspora Network is fundraising to send supplies, including life-saving medicines, in suitcases with people travelling back to Lebanon.

"We're trying here to mobilize the Lebanese community in Canada. We need to gather our energy to support the people back home," she said.

"We get calls every day from our families back home, from friends, about how hard it is the get the basic supplies. Mothers cannot find milk for their babies. Sick people cannot find medicine. There's a shortage of electricity and fuel. It is heartbreaking."

A vigil for the victims of the blast will be held at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver at 6 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Ghoussoub is a television, radio and digital reporter with CBC News in Vancouver. Reach her at michelle.ghoussoub@cbc.ca or on Twitter @MichelleGhsoub.

OPINION
Lebanon is edging toward the abyss, suffering from existential divisions stoked by sectarian leaders


DANY ASSAF
CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED  AUGUST 4, 2021
Dany Assaf is a Toronto-based lawyer and author and member of the Lebanese Canadian Coalition, which helped organize relief efforts for the Beirut explosion.


On this first anniversary of the devastating explosion in Beirut, it’s important to assess the broader damage suffered in Lebanon and the global implications. In the aftermath of the disaster, I worked with Lebanese Canadians and people from many other backgrounds to get humanitarian aid to Lebanon.

Yet a year on, the larger issues for Lebanon’s rebuilding and its progress remain unresolved as the country edges toward the abyss, threatened by forces of institutional corruption and outdated sectarian government structures.

At the time of the explosion, Canadians of all stripes and our government jumped to help because of the strong connections built over the past century. Many of us see Lebanon as an ancient crossroads of civilization and, like Canada, a place of accommodation between peoples of different faiths and family histories, and one that has contributed much beauty in poetry, the arts, fashion, food and culture.

Indeed, Lebanon is a place where Christians and Muslims share life and love of country. Yet today, sadly, it suffers from existential divisions. These divisions have been stoked and manipulated by sectarian leaders in the wake of the devastation of the explosion and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lebanese joie de vivre is renowned, but today the country’s indelible spirit has been weakened and Lebanon is aching for a hand up. Sometimes in helping friends, we can also help ourselves by engaging globally in responsible ways to champion shared values. In this case, “we” means not only Canada, but the West generally as the values that are important to us are important to most Lebanese, who are fiercely independent people who cherish the value of freedom.

This is why the West can’t lose Lebanon. With recent failures to bring sustainable security and beat back threats to freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine and elsewhere, it becomes only more critical today for the West to prioritize help to save Lebanon. If, as U.S. President Joe Biden has stated, “America is back,” Lebanon is the place to unite the West to push back against the erosion of freedom we see in many corners.

While we have seen the folly of unwise military adventures, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a continuing role for leaders of freedom and inclusive progress to support liberal values in this increasingly multipolar world. Times change, but it remains constant that humans are born free, yet many people then spend their lives struggling to resist the efforts of others to control them. Regardless of what we see in any headline or government news release, humanity always yearns for freedom.

The loss of Lebanon and what it represents to its region and beyond would be a sad chapter in the current global climate. The country should be a model for religious accommodation, the advancement of women’s rights in Asia and entrepreneurial energy in the digital age.

Yet Lebanon is being threatened by a sectarian government framework that substitutes loyalty to sect for merit as the operating principle to run its vital functions. In short, Lebanon is an extreme example of a country no longer run in the interests of a large majority of its population, and it is incapable of self-correction.


So how can the country be fixed? Today, the U.S. is in the midst of renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran’s government, and a hard term of settlement should include support for the demilitarization of all militias in Lebanon and the consolidation of all military power in the hands of the Lebanese army.

This is an essential starting point, as the very definition of a nation is that the state controls its sole military power. As well, no significant investments can be made in a country with more than one military force.

Lebanon also represents key U.S. and Western interests as home to a large refugee population, and the collapse of Lebanon would trigger another wave of refugee migration to Europe. Successful efforts by the U.S., Canada and others may also improve Lebanese-Israeli security, and help set the stage for more effective future Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Today, Canada should draw upon on its Lester B. Pearson moment in the Suez Crisis of 1956 to reinvigorate our diplomatic tools and rally global efforts to help save Lebanon and secure a win for freedom and hope in these messy times. It has often been said the world needs more Canada. The question today is whether Canada will deliver.


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