Islamophobia is alive and well
Canadians must work together to ensure growing hatred is not tolerated
Earlier this month, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) called on the Canadian government to designate Jan 29 as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia.
This Monday, Jan. 29, marks the first anniversary of the Quebec City Mosque shooting where six innocent Muslim male worshippers were gunned down while in the solemn state of worship, shot in their backs while bowing their heads down in obeisance to the God of Abraham.
Five others were injured in the shooting which occurred at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre in Saint-Foy.
The funerals of the slain men were attended by dignitaries including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and many prominent Quebec politicians, with national calls to express solidarity with the province’s Muslim community and to promote greater inclusiveness.
Sadly, the inclusiveness and social cohesion promised by Quebec’s leaders since the shooting has not been realized.
Quite the contrary. Quebec City’s Police chief announced just last month that hate incidents targeting Muslims doubled in 2017, from 21 to 42. These are just the ones that were reported. How quickly we forget. Hate, xenophobia, indeed, Islamophobia — is alive and well — especially in the melting pot of Canada — which is increasingly resembling a pressure cooker than a pot.
Make no mistake. Racism is surging in Quebec. It is not subsiding since the mosque shooting.
Since the mosque shooting, the Quebec legislature passed a controversial bill to ban women wearing niqabs and burkas from offering or receiving public services.
Quebec has seen a surge in far-right groups including La Meute — whose members brazenly circulate Islamophobic comments online. The group has held three demonstrations in Quebec City since the shootings, each attracting several hundred people.
Let’s not just focus on Quebec. Indeed, in many pockets across Canada, far-right groups are quietly, and in increasing numbers, commiserating about the rising tide of Muslims in Canada, and every so often you see a flash fire erupt. This is not what Canada is. Let us not forget the devastating attack against 14 innocent women who were massacred at l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal on December 6, 1989. In response to this horrific attack, our government declared every December 6th, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.
Do the six innocent fathers who lost their lives in the solemn state of prayer in a Canadian mosque last year, also deserve national remembrance?
What legacy do we owe to the 17 fatherless children they leave behind?
Both incidents erupted from hate. Both incidents were unprecedented in Canadian history.
If anything good can come out of these senseless, violent attacks, it is that both incidents should be used to fight hate, misogyny, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti LGBTQ or hatred toward any group of any kind.
All Canadians — young and old, rich or poor, black, white or other, need to know this kind of thinking and action is not acceptable in our great country.
As Canadians, we are individually charged with the responsibility to ensure that this kind of violence should never occur against any other minority group in the future. Period.
The ugly face of hatred here in Canada should not become so strong that just one opportunistic federal political candidate decides to ride its twisted wave into 24 Sussex Drive.
Each of us as fathers, as mothers, as brothers, as sons, as daughters — as Canadians — must ask ourselves, “What kind of Canada do we want our children to grow up in?”
Come on Canada. Let’s work together on this.
We can all agree to disagree on what Muslims believe and what Islam stands for. Yet let us collectively make sure we never forget the horrific consequences of letting hatred go unchecked — for the sake of the Canada our children will be raised in.
Never again. For all.