November 1, 2012
Why free tickets to the Charger dinner, Nov 10
To help a broader section of the Canadian public gain a better understanding of the true meaning of Islam, the Canadian Charger is encouraging purchasers of tickets to its November 10 fundraising dinner in Waterloo, Ontario to bring a non-Muslim friend, free of charge.
And you can save $5 if you buy your ticket online now
Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, the Charger founding editor, said he believes that it is a good step against the backdrop of the movie smearing the Prophet and the continuously negative publicity about Islam – especially in the United States, but secondly in Canada. "Dr. Ingrid Mattson's presentation at the November 10th dinner will promote a more accurate understanding of Islam," he said.
A native of Kitchener and former student at the University of Waterloo, and currently Chair of Islamic studies at the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Mattson will be attempting to define Canadian Islam against the ubiquitous backdrop of the negative perspective on Islam and Muslims that permeates our society.
Dr. Mattson's presentation is important because many Canadians have never heard another Canadians speak about Islam.
Being white and Canadian born, she was exposed to certain perceptions about Islam. She then converted to Islam and studied it. She has a certain view of the public image of Islam and Muslims in Canada. It's important for us to hear from her because she can explain her perceptions of Islam before converting at that time, her search for true information, why she converted and what motivated her to study for a PhD. in Islamic studies. She's been a professor in the US for over 15 years.
After 40 years in the domain of trying to help the Muslim community in Canada, starting with community projects to build mosques, followed by weekend Islamic schools and then full-time Islamic schools, as well as a variety of other functions important to the survival of the Muslim community in Canada, Dr. Elmasry founded the weekly online magazine The Canadian Charger in May 2009 to provide a forum for marginalized groups, which were often portrayed in a negative light in the mainstream media.
The Charger's Editorial Board consists of a number of people from diversified backgrounds including Abigail Bakan, Head of the Department of Gender Studies at Queen's University, Michael Keefer, professor emeritus in the English Department at the University of Guelph, Margaret Pappano, Associate Professor of English Literature and Language at Queen's University, and Sumaira Shaikh, a lawyer who practices in the area of civil litigation.
As an alternative, not-for-profit, independent publication, the Canadian Charger seeks to express the views of and inform a wide variety of Canadians with; for example, a series of articles about the harmful effects of radiation from cell phones and WiFi. It's a left-of-centre publication that advocates for marginalized groups such as blacks, natives and Muslims.
At the Charger we try to give a balance to the government policies of an extreme right wing government in Ottawa that promotes unfair taxation, unfair immigration policies, and cutbacks on social programs and transfers to poorer provinces while at the same time instituting a skewered foreign policy in favour of Israel and US militancy, that includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As an independent, not-for-profit weekly publication, the Canadian Charger relies on the support of its readers and the many people who contribute articles free of charge. A company that monitors visits to the Charger's website recently reported that the magazine has reached over 100,000 viewers per week.
When you consider the number of readers who forward articles to friends, you can multiply the 100,000 by two or three to get an idea of the actual number of people reading the Charger's articles.
It's very respectable for an independent, not-for-profit magazine and we hope to grow in the years to come to achieve our dream of reaching many Canadians and English-speaking people around the world.
The Charger currently features two very informative, unique, online games, each includes 600 multiple choice questions, one game about alternative energy and climate change and the other about the Muslim world.
The players with the top ten scores have their initials posted on the website and players can play again to improve their scores and make it to the top ten.
Once a year, the Charger holds a draw for the top ten finishers in both games. First prize in the 2013 draw will be an iPad 2, worth $1,000, while second and third prizes will be a set of books worth $300 each.
