It's been a pleasure to serve on the international human rights subcommittee with you tackling issues of equality and ensuring that people's rights are maintained and respected.
The definition of Islamophobia I subscribe to is an irrational fear or hatred of Muslims or Islam that leads to discrimination. The committee is now commencing this study on all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination. I'm looking forward to having this committee engage experts on how we can help impacted communities and how we can work with impacted communities, not just of the Muslim faith but of the Jewish faith as well as indigenous communities, black Canadians, Chinese Canadians, and all minorities impacted here in Canada. How can we can work together with them as policy-makers to build those bridges and to tackle the difficult issue of systemic racism and religious discrimination here in Canada? I think it's about building those bridges.
Canada is a very diverse country. As I said in my statement, I feel that the whole world is represented in my city of Mississauga. Last I checked, there were about 43 different languages spoken in that city, which goes to show how diverse we are as Canadians.
When we are looking at a study that tries to tackle systemic racism and religious discrimination in Canada, we really are looking to hear from those who are impacted. I think that the committee has reached out to a lot of different impacted communities.
I'm looking forward to following the progress of this committee and the recommendations that come from your hard work here.