Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 30th, 2017

Evidence of meeting #81 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was organizations.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Systemic Racism and Religious Discrimination

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Shahen Mirakian President, Armenian National Committee of Canada

Robert Kuhn President, Trinity Western University

Zuhdi Jasser President, American Islamic Forum for Democracy

Balpreet Singh Legal Counsel, World Sikh Organization of Canada

Muainudin Ahmed Director, Muslim Food Bank and Community Services Society

Azim Dahya Chief Executive Officer, Muslim Food Bank and Community Services Society

5:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Before you leave, I have a question for Mr. Singh, Mr. Ahmed, Mr. Dahya.

Over and over we've been hearing at this committee the fact that the colour of your skin makes a difference, and that if you're a visible minority, you face greater discrimination because you can't hide. We have Sikhs being thought of as Muslims, etc.

There used to be a term called “visible minorities”, which has sort of disappeared a bit from the terminology. When we're asking questions of Statistics Canada, is it important to ask about visible minority status? If you're not a visible minority, you could, as they say, go into the closet. You could hide. You could pretend. You could change your name. You could pretend to be somebody else. Do you think it's important to distinguish between the two?

5:35 p.m.

Director, Muslim Food Bank and Community Services Society

Muainudin Ahmed

In my view, yes. It is absolutely important to distinguish and to be very clear about what we consider to be a minority.

5:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Mr. Singh.

5:40 p.m.

Legal Counsel, World Sikh Organization of Canada

Balpreet Singh

Terms like racialized community [Technical difficulty—Editor].

5:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

I'm sorry, Mr. Singh, we can't hear you. I think I heard you say yes, though, so that's great.

I want to thank you all for being here.

Before adjourning, I want to remind you, Mr. Singh, that you were going to submit some answers that you didn't get to put on the record. Please send them to the clerk. Everything you submit should be sent to the clerk, and the clerk will distribute it.

Thank you very much. The meeting is adjourned.