Assalam alaikum. Peace be upon you all.

I would like to respectfully acknowledge that I am an immigrant settler living, studying and playing on the unceded lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən people, known as the Songhees and Esquimalt nations, whose historical relationship with this land continues to this day.

Good morning, Madam Chair and honourable members. Thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee to share my experience and perspective for this committee's study on Islamophobia.

My name is Omar Babili. I am 25 years old and am currently studying civil engineering at the University of Victoria.

My first encounter with Islamophobia was in 2017 in Bellevue, Washington. The Islamic Center of Eastside, a place of worship and community for many Muslims, was burned down in an act of arson. This incident deeply affected me, as I was attending Bellevue College at the time. The destruction of our Islamic centre was a stark reminder of the hatred and bigotry that exists in our society.

Following this incident, my family suggested that I leave the United States due to concerns for my safety. They believed that Canada would be a safer place to practise our religion. However, my subsequent experience revealed that Canada is not immune to Islamophobia.

I am deeply concerned about the drastic rise of Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism across Canada. Let me be clear here. The hate my community is subjected to is not abstract. It manifests in many ways.

On December 3, 2023, my fear became a stark reality. I was volunteering at a peace protest in my city of Victoria, exercising my right to free speech and assembly and calling for a ceasefire, a cause I deeply believe in. I hope this committee and the Canadian government realize how important it is for Canada to stand for peace in the crisis in Gaza.

As the day went on, I decided to renew my parking meter. On the way back, I noticed there was some commotion along the path that I had taken. I saw a man in a red car arguing with a protester. To my utter shock, the situation quickly took a turn for the worse. Suddenly, the same individual who was in the vehicle arguing with a peace protester started accelerating towards me. The sight of the vehicle accelerating towards me was terrifying. My heart started pounding. Adrenaline surged through me. Thankfully, I managed to jump out of the way, avoiding serious injury or perhaps even death.

Following the incident, I was still shaken. I decided to attend an open office event held by Dean Murdock, the mayor of the city of Saanich, B.C., to voice my concerns and to seek reassurance that my incident would not happen again. Surprisingly, after Mayor Murdock was informed that I was the victim of the incident, he showed very little concern and did not express any words of empathy or reassurance to me.

The lack of response and concern from our elected official was disheartening to me. It felt like my experience and the broader issue of Islamophobia were being ignored and did not matter.

Around this time, I had to write my final exams. The anxiety from the incident was overwhelming to me, so I reached out to my university department explaining my situation and asking for an exemption from taking my finals. Their response was far from supportive.

Throughout this ordeal, I received no support from the university. No one contacted me or checked on me, leaving me to navigate this stressful situation on my own.

The trauma of that day has been etched into my mind. I experience sudden flashbacks of what happened, and I cannot help but live in constant fear. Every time I leave my house, I am gripped by anxiety wondering if this could happen to me again or to someone else just because they are exercising their freedom of speech.

This whole experience has made me feel like I have lost my right to express my beliefs freely and safely. The lack of support from our elected officials and the university has only reinforced this feeling, leaving me uncertain and feeling isolated.

This incident is not an isolated one. It's part of a broader pattern of violent Islamophobia and harassment that many Muslims in Canada face every day. The psychological toll of living with this fear is immense and impacts our daily lives. Hate and violence towards our community or any other community should not be tolerated.

Today, I want to ask members of this committee to take strong action against Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism and to protect our civil liberties, including the right to peacefully protest.

Thank you.