A new scholarship has been established at uOttawa’s Faculty of Law. The Canadian Muslim Network Arar-Mazigh Scholarship will be awarded to a Common Law student specializing in human rights.
Named in honour of Maher Arar and his wife Monia Mazigh, the scholarship will allow a student to pursue the protection and preservation of human rights in Canada.
Bruce Feldthusen, Dean of the Common Law Section, was honoured that the Faculty had obtained this new scholarship. “This is an appropriate scholarship for a law school, especially our law school with its commitment to social justice. Had there been respect for the law,” commented Dean Feldthusen, “Mr. Arar would never have been sent to Syria and tortured in the first place. This is a scholarship that speaks to the need for a better appreciation of domestic and international human rights law, and to the value of a strong and independent bar and judiciary.”
The scholarship will be awarded annually with the minimum amount of $3,500, depending upon the funds collected in the course of the year. Selection criteria are still to be determined but it will have a financial needs-based component.
“I can only imagine the great honour that one of our students will receive next year when being named the first recipient of this magnificent scholarship,” remarked Dean Feldthusen. “This is a scholarship named after a 21st century hero and heroine, marking one of the most important modern events in Canadian history.”
The scholarship was announced on February 14 at a dinner on Parliament Hill celebrating civil liberties in Canada. Speaking for a national coalition of Muslim organizations, Professor Tyseer Aboulnasr of the School of Information Technology and Engineering and the event organizer, said, “This is a gift from Canadians to Canadians.”
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Full article on the Canadian Muslim Network Arar-Mazigh Scholarship
