Christians targeted in Egypt
Mary Gerges, an SFU School of Public Policy graduate student and an Egyptian woman with a distinctly Coptic minority perspective, worries greatly about the fate of Copts in Egypt’s so-called second revolution. More than 40 people have died in the worst violence since former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s downfall. Gerges can talk about events involving Egypt’s state media. She says the media have been imploring the public to go out and defend its army against Copts, native Egyptian Christians, “who were demonstrating peacefully against the burning of a church in Southern Egypt. It all ended in the brutal killing of several Copts with armoured vehicles targeting peaceful protesters and running over them.”

Mary Gerges, 604.783.5591, maryg@sfu.ca

Evaluating French
Claire Trépanier commends the B.C. government for retracting its plan to put French on the same level as other languages taught in the public school system.  Trépanier is the director of the SFU Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs (OFFA). "Since 2004, the OFFA has been a leader in supporting post-secondary programs in French,” says Trépanier.  “The OFFA is pleased to see that the ministry of education has recognized the importance of French as one of Canada’s two official languages and has designed its language curricula to reflect that reality."

Claire Trépanier, 778.782.6981, trepanie@sfu.ca