Since September 11, Arab Canadians have felt increasingly misrepresented in the press and government. A group of people came together in early 2002 to increase our collective understanding on issues of importance to Arab Canadians, such as the Palestine question and the imminent war on Iraq.

We felt a relevant organization was needed to counter the complacency and present balanced and factual information on these issues. The new lobby and advocacy organization was established to build the capacity of interested Canadians, to better respond to the media and policy makers, and to promote fair coverage and balanced decision making.

Adala's goals are to:

* Heighten public awareness of Arab issues
* Foster participation of Arab-Canadians into political and public discourse
* Promote fairness in Canadian foreign policy towards the Arab world
* Defend civil and human rights of Arab Canadians in Canada

What we do:

* Support and encourage balanced and fair reporting and provide constructive critiques of discriminatory or false reporting
* Create dialogue with politicians at the local, provincial and federal level to support and encourage fair representation in our governments and legislation
* Respond to media and politicians through public speaking, letter writing, phoning government representatives, and writing articles to both the mainstream media and the alternative press
* Create a national network of communication between the existing experts, practitioners, academics, analysts, and policymakers working on issues important to Arab Canadians
* Send consistent updates to members on current events and local actions
* Follow-up and address Arab-Canadian issues/current affairs with media alerts and press releases
* Maintain a website and online resource centre