From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Iraqis/Muhammad A. Shuraydi
In the absence of meaningful democracy and human rights, civic participation is minimal in the Arab world. Lacking civic experience in Iraq and being sometimes perceived in Canada as security risks, Iraqi immigrants, like Arab Canadians more generally, are little involved in politics.
Some Canadians may fail to distinguish the people of Iraq from their leaders, and many Iraqis in Canada worry about the continuing economic embargo on Iraq, which is devastating the ordinary citizens. The decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict has exacerbated discrimination and even official harassment against Arab Canadians. One scholar, who has long been documenting such cases, claims that they contributed to Iraqi Canadians’ feeling of “double alienation,” from the country of their birth and from the country of their adoption.
