On September 30th, 2014, during
the Willowdale Federal Liberal Nomination
election,
while two of the four running
candidates for the Canadian Federal Parliament
were of
Iranian descent, namely Mr. Ali
Ehsassi and Ms. Lily Pourzand , Mr. Reza Banai
was openly campaigning for another candidate of
non-Iranian descent, Mr. Vince Gasparro,
actively encouraging voters to vote for Mr.
Gasparro.
While we recognize and respect Mr. Reza Banai's
rights as an individual which entitle him to
support the candidate of his choice in any
election, we believe that he is ethically and
professionally obligated to adhere to the
responsibilities he has undertaken as the
president of the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC).
As clearly outlined in ICC's bylaws and charter,
some of the ICC's objectives are:
"…to uphold the interests of the Iranian
Canadian community…", and;
"…to identify, present and promote the leaders
of the Iranian-Canadian community who can
be a voice for the
community and to assist them in becoming
prominent members of the Canadian society in all
levels of civic life including Municipal,
Provincial and Federal level". (Please refer to
ICC Bylaws at http://iccongress.ca/organization/bylaw
In this respect, Mr. Banai’s
advocacy for Mr. Gasparro has been squarely
against the
mission of ICC, has been
inappropriate and uncalled for, and has parted
him from his
obligations as the president of
ICC .
Based on the above, we, the undersigned of this
letter, strongly believe that Mr. Reza Banai
has acted in a manner
contrary to the fundamental objectives of ICC
and has violated its Charter and Constitution.
We therefore urge the esteemed members of the
Board to take
action and remove Mr. Reza
Banai from his position as the President.
Next Step
Mehrdad Ariannejad
Toronto, Canada NOV 24, 2014 — Dear all,
As you know, the ICC board of
directors chose not to respond to the petition
that has been signed by 125 individuals. Hence,
we would like to get together in a brainstorming
session to address the issue and to map the next
steps.
Date and Time: Sunday Nov 30
at 3:00 PM Location: North York Civic Centre
(Mel Lastman Sq.) – Committee Room# 2
In the meantime, we would like
to share with you the following well written
article by Dr. Shahram Tabe
http://www.shahrvand.com/archives/55636
جذابیت کنگره ایرانیان
برای نیروهای تمامیتخواه/شهرام تابع محمدی جذابیت
کنگره ایرانیان برای نیروهای تمامیتخواه/شهرام
تابع محمدی آنچه نهادهایی شبیه کنگره ایرانیان
کانادا را برای نیروهای تمامیتخواه جذاب میکند
ارتباط مستقیمی است که چنین نهادهایی قادرند با
دایره قدرت در کانادا ایجاد کنند. کنگره، بنا به
ذات خود، اولین…
