The Canadian Arab: The First Arab Political Organ in Canada

Abstract

In the early 1940s, Arab lobbying activities started to be noticeable in Canada. In 1944, Muhammad Said Massoud, a Druze emigrant from Lebanon, founded the Canadian Arab Friendship League in Montreal. The League soon became the spearhead of Arab lobbying activity in Canada with a declared goal of improving Canada’s relations with the Arab world. The Canadian Arab, published by Massoud between May 1945 and December 1947, was the most significant enterprise of the League. Being the first of its kind in Canada, the journal was intended to refute Zionist arguments regarding Palestine and prevent Canadian public opinion from being sympathetic to the establishment of a Jewish state. The journal, in English but with the editorial also translated into Arabic, was distributed gratis to statesmen, religious leaders, university lecturers, teachers, lawyers, businessmen, and libraries. Besides Massoud’s editorial, it included news, political essays, protests, correspondence, and historical reviews.