Madam Chair, members of the committee, good day, bonjour, salaam alaikum.

Thank you for this invitation to join you today on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.

Your study on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Canada, as well as what we can and should do about it, is not only necessary, but it is also urgent and has been for a long time.

The timing of this study is notable. Just last week I was in London, Ontario, for the third annual commemoration of the brutal terrorist attack that killed four members of the Afzaal family. On June 6, 2021, a man ran his pickup truck into the family while they were out for an evening walk. He killed a mother, a father, a grandmother and a sister, and left a nine-year-old boy orphaned.

This was a landmark case. It was the first in Canadian history that found that a violent act based on white nationalism had met the threshold of terrorism. It serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of Islamophobia and why the work being undertaken by this committee is so important.

The attack on the Afzaal family followed the equally devastating 2017 mass murder at a Quebec City mosque, when a man entered and opened fire, killing six worshippers and injuring 19 others.

As a result of these incidents, Canada holds the devastating and regrettable distinction of having the most targeted murders of Muslims of any G7 country. Quite simply, being Muslim in Canada is not as safe as it should be.

For the past eight months, things have only gotten worse. We are seeing a terrifying rise in Islamophobia everywhere, compounded by anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism.

In London, Ontario, of all places, just this past weekend, a Muslim family's home was deliberately set on fire in what police are now investigating as an Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian hate crime. I spoke with a family member last night who told me that had they been at home and had they rushed to open the door to see what was going on, a family member would have certainly been engulfed in the flames that spread across the front porch and door of the house. This is absolutely horrifying.

As this committee has already heard, the National Council of Canadian Muslims reported an over-1,000% increase in Islamophobic incidents since October 7.

The Naseeha Mental Health organization reported an alarming, 600% increase in helpline calls in the first five weeks after the war began.

Furthermore, based on our office's research, between October 7, 2023, and March 5, 2024, a variety of organizations collectively received over 1,000 incident reports related to Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, with the large majority of cases being handled by NCCM and the Muslim Legal Support Centre, which have operational legal clinics. This number represents nearly seven cases received per day in this period. The cases ranged from discrimination to defamation, doxing, blacklisting, assault, vandalism, harassment and violations of civil liberties.

Online, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found a 422% increase in Islamophobic social media content within the first few weeks after October 7.

There have been hateful and horrific acts of vandalism in schools, community centres and places of worship. A few blocks from here, a mosque's windows were covered in feces.

There have been various cases of harassment and violent assault. Visibly Muslim women and girls have been targets, being spat on while waiting for public transit or on university campuses, or even more violently assaulted.

Disinformation, misinformation and violent rhetoric proliferate online, further fuelling tensions and emboldening bad actors.

It feels like near-constant fear, vigilance and worry for oneself, one's family and one's community. You don't even have to be Muslim to feel it, as Islamophobia is often conflated with anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment and impacts allies as well.

Madam Chair, I am deeply worried about all of this, and I am worried that things will only escalate. The dehumanization of Muslims that is transpiring in Canada is disturbing in its similarity to the post-9/11 era and the ensuing war on terror.

It saddens me that we are once again back to feeling othered and excluded, unable to freely exercise our rights and freedoms, our loyalty to Canada questioned and our efforts to contribute positively overlooked or dismissed.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I look forward to the questions from the committee.

Transcript

Discussions (0)