Guide aims to help schools deal with Islamophobia in wake of refugee influx

Last spring, school boards grappled with the practical issues that came with welcoming thousands of new Syrian students: finding them desks, pencils, books.

But as they gear up for this school year, Muslim organizations hope they can turn their attention to another problem: warding off the dirty looks — and worse — that many Muslim students say they get at school.

Schools have wrestled with Islamophobia since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 but there was never intense educator interest in combating the problem, said Amira Elghawaby, communications director for the National Council of Canadian Muslims. That’s changed, she said. “The previous federal election where Islam and Muslims were at the forefront for all the wrong reasons, combined with the arrival of Syrian refugees, suddenly this is on people’s radars,” she said.

As upwards of 25,000 Syrians have arrived in Canada since November, her organization has begun fielding far more calls about the issue — ranging from people ranting about refugees seeking to change Canadian culture to parents panicked about their child experiencing Islamophobia on the playground.

Teachers, too, were phoning, seeking resources to help them understand the issue and how to respond.

So the NCCM, the Islamic Social Services Association and the Canadian Human Rights Commission have developed a guide for educators to help them understand the impact of the trauma Syrian kids have experienced abroad and also the experience they, and other Muslims, have of Islamophobia here.

One Winnipeg woman said she welcomes the fact the Syrian arriv- als are forcing a discussion.

Two years ago, her then-10-yearold daughter was taunted by a substitute teacher for wearing a head scarf. The teacher went so far as to try to grab the girl’s hair through the scarf.

It was the same school the woman herself had attended decades earlier, a school where she wore a hijab without attracting a second glance.

“We like to think we’re getting more tolerant,” the woman said, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect the identity of her children.

She said the fact her daughter was comfortable going to the principal — the teacher was later disciplined — shows the power of a school taking the time to create an environment that’s inclusive of Muslims.

She hopes the guide can help lay that groundwork elsewhere.

“What if this had happened to someone with immigrant parents, who maybe don’t speak the language, who had been taught teachers were always right?,” she said.

The guide discusses the psychological impact of hate and discrimination, offering by way of an example a U.S. news story about Muslim children running to pack up their dolls and toys in response to rhetoric there about a ban on Muslim immigrants. It also takes people through some of what newly arrived refugee children grapple with, such as issues of grief and mistrust, and how that can play out in the classroom.

“The biggest take away is just to put yourself in the shoes of a Canadian Muslim student or a newly arrived refugee or immigrant student who is Muslim,” Elghawaby said.

Many schools are adding teachers, interpreters, orientation sessions and other programs.

But finding enough pencils still remains a problem.

Last year in Ottawa, the Somali Centre for Family Services needed backpacks filled with school supplies to help 63 kids in need.

This year they have 300 children on that list — 97 per cent are Syrian.