About Us

The Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC) is a social, cultural, and educational community association that brings together Palestinians living in Canada’s National Capital Region with the aim of preserving our culture, history and heritage. APAC advocates for Palestinian rights in Canada, and abroad, and organizes educational, cultural and community events and programs for Ottawa’s Palestinian community.

APAC is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, democratic association governed by an elected board of directors composed of volunteers.

APAC was founded on January 15, 1985 by Qasem Mahmud, Ahmad Murad, Monzer Zimmo, and Noaman Habib.

Mission

We strive to be an association that supports Ottawa’s Palestinian community in preserving our Palestinian identity and empowering our community to participate fully in the social, political, economic and cultural life of our Canadian society and to effectively advocate for justice for Palestinians.

Vision

To ensure that Palestinians in Canada are fully integrated, and that they are empowered to advance the Palestinian cause, including the right to self determination in their historic homeland and the right of return.

APAC seeks to achieve this vision by:

1. Presenting the Palestinian cause in all its dimensions to the Canadian public, and to various communities within Canada, including the Canadian-Arab community.

2. Preserving Palestinian culture, heritage and history in order to pass them to future generations of Palestinian Canadians and to ensure that Palestinian Canadians maintain strong links with their compatriots in Palestine and throughout the world.

3. Encouraging and empowering our members to participate fully in the social, political, economic and cultural life in Canada and to support their wellbeing.

4. Joining with other Palestinians to restore all human rights in Palestine.

5. Helping less fortunate Palestinians wherever they may reside and to encourage our community to participate in charitable and volunteer activities.

6. Cooperating with other organizations and individuals that have similar objectives.

7. Advancing and protecting the collective interests of the Palestinian -Canadian community.