Our first recommendation is to invest in a dedicated, national anti-Islamophobia strategy. The persistent rise of violent and systemic Islamophobia demands proactive measures. We suggest two top priorities.
First, let's support good policy work in government and amongst the public. To that end, we recommend increased funding to both the special representative on Islamophobia and the York University Islamophobia research hub, which is providing strategic, non-partisan and evidence-based approaches to challenging Islamophobia and its intersections with anti-Palestinian racism.
Second, let's invest in public education campaigns to drive down anti-Muslim sentiment. As we know, Islamophobia kills and will continue to kill in Canada unless we take more proactive measures. We need to deal with it as we do any other public health problem: by investing in public education campaigns.