Dhigsan

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan iyo soon wanaagsan.

 

Came across this on today's local's front page paper, Toronto Star, about the harassment our people face daily in one of the most famous places our people call home in qurbaha -- Xaafadda Dhigsan [Dixon].

________________

 

Residents allege harassment

 

Security firm issuing tickets, banning people

Manager cites drug trafficking in Dixon Rd. complex

 

Sons cannot visit families. Mothers can't pick up their children from daycare. And the disabled have been banned from their relatives' homes.

 

Some Somali-Canadians who live in three Dixon Rd. high-rises, also known as Little Mogadishu, complain they are being harassed by a security company that is issuing tickets to residents, banning them from some buildings for up to three years — with a warning that showing up again will get them arrested for trespassing.

 

While some claim the trouble results from a misunderstanding of how Somalis mingle socially, others blame outright discrimination.

 

At least 50 residents, joined by members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, gathered last week to protest their treatment by Intelligarde, the firm that provides security at 320, 330 and 340 Dixon Rd.

 

Their complaints aren't new. Fifteen years ago, Somalis who were fleeing civil war and settling in the Dixon Rd. area faced similar problems with another company's security service, amid complaints their customary evening gatherings were too loud. [ ]

 

"We don't know our rights. That's the problem," said Burhan Mohamed.

 

He said neither he nor his wife, Faduma, have been allowed to pick up their three kids from the daycare that's located behind 340 since Faduma was issued a trespassing ticket while compiling signatures on a petition against the security firm. (He had been issued a ticket earlier.)

 

Faduma claims the guards followed her back to her apartment and then ticketed her.

 

She has proof. On a videotape she took of the incident, a guard, shown writing a ticket in front of her neighbour's door, says: "You cannot go into 330, 340. You live at 320."

 

Intelligarde's president, Ross McLeod, said his firm was hired to deal with a drug-trafficking problem in the buildings.

 

McLeod claims that large amounts of khat (or qat), an amphetimine-like stimulant popular in the Middle East and East Africa, are being bought and sold within the buildings. Legal in some countries but listed as a controlled substance in Canada since 1998, khat is typically chewed or made into a tea. It is a traditional part of social gatherings in the Somali community.

 

"The issue there is the place was used as a ... sale point for this drug, and even running a business out of a condo unit is contrary to all the declarations of the bylaws, and certainly selling an illegal drug is even more so," McLeod said.

 

McLeod added that he is not concerned with anyone who uses it mildly or "consumes this product in their own apartment."

 

"Maybe some people see it as an attack on their culture. It certainly is not from our point of view. It is an action against people who are in the business of selling an illegal drug.

 

"Is there some level of misunderstanding at the level of individual consumption? I have no doubt there is," he added.

 

Among those joining Friday's protest was a limping man who has formally complained to police that he was handcuffed and beaten while paying a visit to the complex on Sept. 17 — so badly so that he was hospitalized.

 

Abdulkadir Al-Jellani said he was visiting friends, including a disabled relative for whom he buys groceries, when a security guard asked for his identification in the elevator. When he refused, he was taken out of the elevator and beaten, he says. His case is awaiting a court date.

 

"Everybody you see has a complaint has a pain (injury). We are not complaining for nothing," Al-Jellani said.

 

"I've lived in Canada for 17 years. I pay taxes here and I'm a landlord of two condos," he said, gesturing to a nearby building at 370 Dixon. "But they handcuff and beat me up and say, `You shouldn't be in this country. Go back to where you came from.'"

 

McLeod said the company's employees have the authority to ask for a visitor's ID.

 

"If new people just appear to be hanging out, or going to known drug units, yes, then they may be asked for identification. Establish two things: Either you live here or you're a legitimate guest," said McLeod.

 

Property manager Joe Natale estimates 4,000 people live in the buildings' 900 units. The board of directors elected by the condo owners was disbanded over administrative problems, replaced by a court administrator.

 

Natale agreed that "the harassment has to stop," after he was surrounded by protesting residents showing him tickets they'd been issued. He said it's important to single out those who traffic in khat but he has also agreed to co-ordinate a meeting between residents and Intelligarde.

 

Some non-Somali residents welcome the security company's vigilance, including one man who said he had been jostled by men in the corridors. But Ahmed Jama, who still rents an apartment at 330 Dixon, is staying away in fear after being ticketed for causing a disturbance. The mentally disabled man said he was issued a ticket when guards found him leaving his aunt's home at 320 after he had dinner with her. He claims they threatened to lock him up for three years.

 

Tenants recently created an association, and workshops are underway at which Somali Canadian National Council members teach residents about their rights.

 

 

From left, Faadumo Max'ed, Xaliimo Xirsi and Ismaaciil Max'ed are among residents who say they are under siege by security guards.

 

[To those who hadn't had the privilege to see Dhigsan in person, the Saraha Dhigsan is at the back, where four of the six buildings are visible.]

 

Xigasho

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

MMA, all these condos were bought by the Indians while our Somali brothers/sisters were just paying rent, correct? Now the Indians are introducing new "security rules" just to protect their investments? I think not long ago those condos were selling for less than 100K.

 

Brampton ha u guureen maryooleey. lol. Iyadana waa looga horeeyaa.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Libaax, sheekada gadaashaa iska badashaa filaa. A considerable percentage of Soomaalis do now own their own units. Even the article mentions this:

 

"I've lived in Canada for 17 years. I pay taxes here and I'm a landlord of two condos," he said, gesturing to a nearby building at 370 Dixon. "But they handcuff and beat me up and say, `You shouldn't be in this country. Go back to where you came from.'"

The problem is Soomaalis do not have a greater power at board of directors, elected by condo owners, where Soomaalis still are relatively minority. Still the Board is in disarray now and, accordding to the article, is led by a court-appointed administrator.

[Xalimopatra]

Salaams,

How many Somalis live there(estimate)?

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-

Legal in some countries but listed as a controlled substance in Canada since 1998, khat is typically chewed or

made into tea

.

Allah! Really? What a fool I've been - if it is made into sweet tea - what possible reason can I have from staying away from it

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Allah! Really? What a fool I've been - if it is made into sweet tea - what possible reason can I have from staying away from it

Dadka ilkaha beelay see jaad u cunayeen ayaa tunto, sida qurfo iyo heyl shaaha lagu kariyo camal, doing it in kal iyo mooyo, then chewing it with their bare jaws. They drink it with plenty of cabitaan, mostly shaah, that is why the jaad itself became 'tea' then.

 

I used to see them before the war back in Xamar, dad badan ilkahooda bololay calaajin karin xataa no more, tabar beelay, yet rafaad haayo and doing everything they can trying to chew.

 

Jaad asagana dhan qasaaro socoto waaye. Ilkahaaga aad u jeedid ayaa ku beelee. Hurdo la'aan. Cuntadii dhadhan makuu lahaan doonto no more. No appetite. Dhafar. Madax xanuun. Addictional. Withdrawal. Depressional. Low sexy drive. Wasting lacagtaada, qasaaro.

 

Waxaan oo jiro still dad ayaa cuno, waa iga yaabiyaan runtii. Eebbe iima dhaweynin cooskaan.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

This unrelated article was on today's GTA front page as well.

 

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Somali neighbours pitch in for Thanksgiving dinner

 

The aroma of Somali chicken and rice mixed in nicely with the traditional community Thanksgiving fare of turkey, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy at the Nelson Mandela Park Public School gym in Regent Park.

 

It was the contribution of Fatima Hussein, Hawa Ali and a group of Somali mothers for members of the Salvation Army's 614 Regent Park church, who nearly didn't have their traditional Thanksgiving dinner yesterday after a fire ripped through their building on River St. early last week

 

The kitchen where the meal is normally cooked was destroyed, along with the Sally's Ann's cafeteria, the result of a faulty wire attached to a coffee machine.

 

[sNIP]

 

"I'm a Muslim, they're Christian, it doesn't matter," said Hawa Ali, 45, the mother of three children aged 12, 18 and 21.

 

What the Somali moms said they were giving thanks for yesterday was a special relationship that has blossomed since last October. That's when the Sally Ann gave them a space and snacks every Saturday afternoon for an after-hours math and English tutoring program to help young Somali-Canadian boys.

 

Hussein and Ali, who work as cleaners, were instrumental in setting up the program, which is taught by Abdul Karim, a York University student. They see it as a way to help keep their children on the straight and narrow.

 

"This is not a religion thing," added Fatima Hussein, 44, the mother of seven children aged 3 to 23.

 

"When we need help, they help us and now we help them," said Hussein as her 14-year-old son Abdi helped buy, prepare and serve the food.

[Baluug]

Originally posted by Libaax-Sankataabte:

MMA, all these condos were bought by the Indians while our Somali brothers/sisters were just paying rent, correct? Now the Indians are introducing new "security rules" just to protect their investments? I think not long ago those condos were selling for less than 100K.

 

Brampton ha u guureen maryooleey. lol. Iyadana waa looga horeeyaa.

Let the Indians pay all the riba they want. It'll come back to bite them when they're brought in front of their Lord, Allah SWT.

[Tuujiye]

MMA, wili digsan maa Cowke ka tahay saaxiiboo oo wili "ISTAR" maa kasoo coowkeesaa???

 

 

Wareer Badanaa!!!