A rebel fighter walks on the rooftop of a house which used to be an observation post for Gaddafi forces in the town of Kikla, about 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Tripoli June 14, 2011.Youssef Boudlal/Reuters
If Colonel Moammar Gadhafi's regime no longer represents Libyans, who are the people that Canada is now supporting?
The National Transitional Council officially formed on March 5 at a meeting of representatives from each of Libya's then-liberated cities, most of them in the east of the country. Its leaders come from upper tier of society - lawyers, professors, politicians.
The council is constructed like a government, with ministers handling all the standard portfolios. This group of professionals, ex-pats and ex-prisoners is now the voice of nearly seven million Libyans - although it does not, at least yet, govern all of them. The exact numbers of people supporting the rebellion and Col. Gadhafi are not known. The rebels have control of Benghazi and the eastern part of the country, but they do not control the west, including the country's capital, Tripoli, which is home to a third of the population.
The rebellion's Free Libya Armed Forces operates under the NTC, and consists of civilians and defectors from Col. Gadhafi's forces, many using makeshift weapons against the regime's well-equipped soldiers. The rebel fighters, many from the youth movement, are not visible in the NTC's cabinet, with most positions going to established professionals, even though two-thirds of the country's population is younger than 30.
When cities were freed from autocratic rule, many formed governing councils and appointed individuals to what is now the National Governing Council. Some of them are defectors from Col. Gadhafi's regime: chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, who represents the town of Beyda, was once a judge and then was justice minister under Col. Gadhafi.
Others are prominent human-rights figures, such as vice-chairman and spokesperson Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga of Benghazi. Others, including journalist Mahmoud Shammam (spokesperson) and business professor Ali Tarhouni (finance minister), have spent much time out of the country.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, Encyclopedia Britannica, World News Digest, Agence France-Presse, Foreign Policy, the University of Washington and the National Transitional Council website.