Former Afghanistan Electoral Complaints Official Joins Ottawa Panel

The Canadian chairman of the Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission who blocked the fraud-plagued first round in last year's Afghan presidential elections will join the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee on a growing panel of hard-hitting speakers in Ottawa on March 9.

Grant Kippen was a UN appointee to the ECC when it forced a second round in last year's elections, heading off a possibly fatal political crisis in the country. Now, Afghan president Hamid Karzai has decreed that all ECC appointees will be made by the presidential palace.

Mr. Kippen brings vast experience and expertise to the “Canada and Afghanistan: Keeping Our Promises” event, hosted by the Free Thinking Film Society at the National Archives Hall in Ottawa. At the event, CASC will unveil its "Keeping Our Promises" vision for a renewed Canadian mission in Afghanistan post-2011.

His Excellency Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, also agreed to join the panel earlier this week. Ludin has outlined the systemic challenges facing the Karzai government in tackling corruption, the security challenge and economic obstacles, noting the solutions will come in partnership with the international community.

Other panelists and speakers at the event are Major-General (Ret’d) Lewis Mackenzie; Ehsanullah Ehsan, Director of the Afghan-Canadian Community Centre in Kandahar City; Nasrine Gross, Afghan-American writer and human rights activist; Dr. Nipa Banerjee, currently a professor of international development at the University of Ottawa and former head of CIDA in Afghanistan (2003-2006); Dr. Douglas Bland, Chair of the Defence Management Studies Program at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University; CASC co-founders Lauryn Oates, a human rights and gender equity activist, and Terry Glavin, author and journalist.

The event will also raise funds for the Canadian International Learning Foundation and its collaboration with the Afghan School Project in Kandahar.

Event Details

March 9, 2010, 7:00 pm
National Archives/Library of Canada, 395 Wellington St., Ottawa
Tickets: $30 regular admission, $15 students

* Purchase tickets online:
http://www.canilf.org/news/

* Purchase tickets in person:
Ottawa Folklore Centre (1111 Bank Street, Ottawa)
Compact Music (190 Bank; 7851 ½ Bank Street, Ottawa) 

Media Contacts

Jonathon Narvey, CASC Board Secretary
Phone (604) 230.2638 Email jnarvey@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

Brian Platt, CASC Outreach Coordinator
Phone (604) 754.2413 Email b.t.a.platt@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

Fred Litwin, CASC Ottawa Contact / Free Thinking Film Society of Ottawa Executive Director
Phone (613) 261.9060 Email fred.litwin@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org