Motion targets anti-Islam sentiment
OTTAWA • Liberals and New Democrats signalled their strong support Wednesday night to have the federal government seek ways to combat rising anti-Muslim sentiment in Canada.
Conservative MPs, however, accused the Trudeau government of playing politics and sowing division by asking the House of Commons to vote on a parliamentary motion condemning “Islamophobia,” a term Conservative MPs argued was too vague.
“It’s time we talked about these issues in much more mature terms,” David Anderson, a Conservative MP from rural Saskatchewan, told the House of Commons Wednesday night during an hourlong debate on M-103, a motion put forward by Liberal MP Iqra Khalid. “This word is a conversation-stopper and it needs to be set aside.”
But while Anderson and fellow Conservative Scott Reid presented legalistic arguments about the definition of Islamophobia and the motion’s potential effect on speech rights, Liberals, supported by New Democrats, argued Khalid’s motion was the appropriate response to a dangerous new trend in Canadian society.
“Twenty four days after six Muslim men were gunned down in cold blood in a mosque simply because of their religion, it is incumbent upon this government and this Parliament to signal to Canadians that we recognize there is an acute problem with anti-Muslim sentiment,” said Liberal MP Arif Virani, one of several Muslim members of Parliament, and the parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism. “If we can’t call out Islamophobia for what it is now, at this juncture, when will it ever be appropriate to do so?”
Irwin Cotler, the human rights expert and former Liberal Justice Minister, said in an interview with iPolitics.ca that he would have advised Khalid to strike the word “Islamophobia” and replace that term with “antiMuslim.” He also would have added a reference in Khalid’s motion to earlier House of Commons resolutions condemning anti-Semitism.
But Khalid said she was unwilling to “water down” her motion. She noted that nearly 70,000 Canadians signed a petition calling on MPs “to join us in recognizing that extremist individuals do not represent the religion of Islam, and in condemning all forms of Islamophobia.”
Among the nearly 70,000 who signed that petition were more than 12,000 Quebecers and more than 8,000 Albertans.
Khalid, a first-time Liberal MP who represents Mississauga—Erin Mills, Ont., seeks to accomplish three things with M-103: First, that the House “condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination;” second, that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage be instructed to study the issue of “eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia;” and, finally; that the federal government collect data on hate crimes for further study.
The motion is not a piece of proposed legislation. Indeed, many opponents of the motion and commentators often refer incorrectly to M-103 as “a bill.” It is not and, should it pass in a House of Commons vote, it would create no new laws nor would it change any laws.
The Conservative caucus appeared prepared to have a Commons committee study faith-based intolerance but did not want to privilege anti-Muslim intolerance, arguing any study should address itself to hate aimed at Christians, Jews, Sikhs and other faiths, as well as Muslims.
Indeed, Conservatives will introduce a motion Thursday that does just that for separate consideration by the House of Commons.
Khalid’s motion, in the meantime, is expected to be voted on in early April.