I think the polls show that things are worse, not better, if we look at the report on hate crimes between 2012 and 2015.
There are a few reasons that I started with my story. One, and this is something that has been brought to the committee before, is that it's important to analyze data in the light of experience. I think it's also important to have theory that is rooted in experience. I was growing up pre-9/11, so I know that post-9/11 things have been much worse for Muslims in Canada. I think Dr. Jasmin Zine's work really addresses that. She looks carefully at what it is like for Muslim children to grow up in a post-9/11 world in Canada. To be honest, it breaks my heart when I think about that and when I hear the stories in my community. It makes me really sad that these children are growing up feeling like they don't want to disclose that they're Muslim, that there are children who wear a hajib who are having stones thrown at them, that they're being harassed in all sorts of different ways, that their teachers are making fun of their names. I didn't ever have a teacher make fun of my name and I don't know how that would have felt if that had happened to me. I think that things are worse and it makes me worried.