It was an unseasonably warm fall day on 26 November when Black Ottawa Scene sat down with Abdirazak Karod, Executive Director of the Somali Centre for Family Services in his office at 1719 Bank Street, located across from the ever busy commercial hub of the city’s capital. The smartly dressed Abdi was his usual bubbly personality with a refreshing view of issues affecting people of African descent.
Where you born, and when did you come to Canada?
I was born in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia; I came to Canada in 1992, while the war was on in the country. It was the genocide and killing each other that led to us immigrating to Canada.
Can you tell us a bit about your childhood? What were the things and the people that influenced who you are today, your parents, family, teachers?
My parents, older siblings and my teachers played a big role. One of my best teachers was my Math, who directed where I was heading. There were other world leaders I read about when I was growing up, like Martin Luther King, Steve Biko of South Africa and Nelson Mandela. Those were my role models.
How long have you been the Executive Director of the Somali Centre and can you talk about what the centre does?
When I came here in 1992, I found it difficult to land a job even with a graduate degree. I started with a one year contract as a settlement worker and everybody left the organization because there was zero funding. So I said don’t close it, let me see if I can work something out. In 1995, I took over the whole organisation which had no money. Today we have 23 staff, 6000 square feet of office space, diverse community members working here from Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Canada, Russia and from everywhere.
What are the challenges you have faced as Executive Director and how have things changed from the time you took over in 1995 to now in 2013?
For the past nine years, I really focussed employment for the Somali community, especially for those who graduate from Canadian universities. We made very good headways , for example in the Ottawa Police we have about eight Somali officers. When we started here it was even taboo to have police officers. Now we have RCMP and OPP officers, the city has hired a lot. Without employment, integration would be difficult. We haven’t reached the promised land yet but compared to so many other immigrants we are doing really good in the employment side.
Some years ago, then Mayor Bob Chiarelli created a special committee for Somali youth, because of their concern over crime and other anti-social behaviour among Somali youth. Is this committee still functioning? What is the situation today with Somali youth, are they fully integrated into Ottawa society or are you having social problems?
Yes, the Somali youth committee is still functioning. The youth are doing really great, the crime rate is very low. Yes we have a problem, that’s the same for other communities. We are now focussing on education and integration, the kids we now have parity between girls and boys. There are many recreation programs, leadership programs, we are using ten schools every winter and last summer 240 participated in the soccer program. Recently our youth organised a gala with 300 people, it was an amazing thing.
There have been a lot of negative comments in the media, the most prominent has been about piracy by Somali in the high seas along the Somali coastline, and more recently the terrorist attack in the Kenyan shopping centre. All this is doing a lot of damage to the Somali people image. What is the community doing to counter this image because it is surely not good to have this type of reputation?
Although we are all Canadian but we still have connection with back home. We are very sorry about what happened in Kenya. But it also happens every day in Somalia, it is something that really the Somali people outside and in the country because we have no government yet , there is no law. The north and the north west they are really doing good. The south is having difficulty and I am not sure how long it will take to solve this problem. About the pirates, they started because the young people had no jobs , they used to fish, but the big trawlers and fisheries scooped everything and they said what do we need to do? That’s how it started. But beyond that, there are big gangs. Eighty five per cent of the money went back to the big gangs outside Somalia, only 15% reached the young boys doing the dirty job.
You mean they have some kingpins that sponsor them?
Imagine when the ships leave somewhere in Africa, Europe or the Arabian gulf, these kids already know the ship is coming. Also these kids travel 800 kilometers down the sea, how can they come back to the sea shore, if they don’t have sophisticated navigational equipment and communications. How can they make 150 million dollars? Most of it goes to the kingpins outside the country.
There is also a perception that Somali people don’t identify themselves as black, as Africans, only as Somali. I’ve heard it said by many people they don’t associate with other people, they only associate with other Somali; they only do programs for Somali people. Is this a true perception and what can you do to correct it?
Somali is part of Africa is part of the black community. As an organisation, I have other African staff, not only Somali. We identify ourselves as Somali. It doesn’t mean we don’t like the blacks. I always separate the African from the black community; there are so many blacks in this world, but my blood works a lot with Africans . I love Africans, I am first generation African I will be African forever. When I was growing up, my role models were people who were really not African, not Somali but other blacks. You identify yourself as Nigerian, why are Somalis different ?
Can you say if things have changed since 1995? Are black people any better off, do they have better access to jobs or are things the same as they were in 1995?
Things have changed a little bit. When I came here, there were not a lot of blacks here. Why has it not changed? Because we are not united. We can change if we come together when it is election time or when it is not election time, we have to speak with one voice. Sometimes it really gives me a sense of non-belonging here when I see some people who have a Masters’ or PhD’s not getting jobs because of who they are. What also pains me is seeing the same direction with my other community leaders. For example, when Ontario says they are going to create a black school, that was labelling the community, I disagree with it. If someone graduates with that school, I don’t think they will access colleges and universities, because they will tell them they are not teaching anything because it is a black school. Therefore we are now putting a barrier to the schools. If our kids cannot excel in the public schools, they will never excel in a black school. All we need to do is to have role models such as black teachers as role models. Richmond High School has a black principal, he will have a lot of impact, he can mentor. We need more teachers to reflect who we are. To whom do they give the jobs, why are we begging? We are qualified, why are we not fighting for our rights? If we don’t get our act together, our children and grandchildren will live the cycle of not getting jobs. A hundred years from now, whatever the seeds we put now, those kids will enjoy. .
You said that black community leaders are not united, how do you see that happening, what process do you want to see in place, how do you see that unity coming about?
Two years ago I went to Carleton University for a Black History Month event and there were four speakers including myself, I didn’t know the other speakers, never heard of them, never saw them before. That was a shock.
You mean you didn’t know any of them prior?
I never saw any of them prior to the presentations. Four black community leaders doing presentations about black history and we didn’t know each other. How can we say we are community leaders and we don’t communicate with ourselves, we don’t know ourselves and we want to solve our problems . To remove that barrier we need to have a council that is committed for change. Change doesn’t come easy. To be united, in one front, in one voice. If we cannot support the 19 year old who ran for mayor in this city, there is a hope because a 19 year old ran for mayor. What are we doing, are we standing behind him?
So you are suggesting that black people should support black candidates?
Absolutely. I have no hesitation to support community members who want to excel because everybody is voting for one person for a reason. Why we are not going to support him, the young man still in university, has no money, but he has a vision. When you have vision, you are a leader. It’s up to us to support this young man. To give him a hope that he will need. Do you know how many elected Somali officials we have in the US? You cannot imagine, city councillors, school trustees and we are now going to Congress. Why not here? For the first time in the history of the US, the first black Muslim congressman was elected by the Somalis in Minneapolis. What kind of legacy are we going to leave? I believe there is a future generation of young people who will lead this country but they need our support now.
Finally what message would you like to leave for readers of Black Ottawa Scene?
Let us unite let us come together let us make this journal a bigger one, that can convey our message, convey our voice. I think maybe we can use this kind of media to become our voice. Let other people read it also, our comments and our interviews, but if we don’t help each other, who are we going to help? We have to support the publishers of Black Ottawa Scene on this endeavour and be part of change, because part of change is the media because we are lacking the media. You haven’t seen the media talking about the Somalis, because we challenge them. Ottawa Citizen, CTV, CBC, we always challenge them and they never say Somali anymore. But if we have this media, this journal, this on-line communication, we can make a change. We can say to the mayor of Ottawa or Toronto, this is who we are, this is our condition, this is what we need and they will deliver.