Status of Women Committee on June 17th, 2021

[Amira Elghawaby]

Thank you so much, MP Mathyssen, for supporting that motion for a summit on Islamophobia. It is certainly welcome. As MP Wong mentioned, hate cuts across many communities, and we also stand in solidarity with our Asian Canadians, Black Canadians, indigenous Canadians and Jewish Canadians. Sadly, the gamut runs long, and we know that many communities are targeted.

In terms of the summit on Islamophobia, I would like to say that solutions that I would put forward would help address hate across communities, so to essentially address the poison that is impacting on many communities. To begin with, there are a few things.

The number one thing that I'd start with is that in order to fully address a problem, we need to know the full scope of it. At the moment, as mentioned in my intervention, we actually don't know the full scope of hate crimes and hate incidents in Canada. As I mentioned, two-thirds are not reported.

Every five years Statistics Canada releases what's called a victimization portion of their general social survey. In fact, the most recent one for 2021 came out in May, and we still don't have the numbers. In that victimization survey, Canadians who have experienced any type of crime self-report, and for 2014, we actually saw that 5% of all crimes people reported were hate crimes. That basically translates to 300,000 people in Canada who said they were a victim of a hate crime. One solution to help us really grapple with this issue is to have that victimization survey released annually to help us have a better understanding.

Next, what I would say is, again, along with that idea of reporting, we need to remove barriers to reporting. I talked a little bit about that. That includes, for instance, allowing for online reporting, being able to report hate online. We've seen that here in Ottawa. The Ottawa Police Service has allowed for an online portal, and we could look for other ways, or at third party reporting. We could be bolstering community organizations, providing them the support to take reports of hate crimes and hate incidents and funnel that information back to law enforcement locally, and also to our national law enforcement agencies in order to track white supremacist groups and hate groups in this country and their activities.

There are many things, but I would say one thing is really to bolster our anti-racism directorates. There's a federal anti-racism directorate. It needs to be bolstered in order to not only review barriers and discrimination internally within and across government departments, but also to be front-facing, public-facing, and promoting national campaigns against hate. As well, we need to convene summits that look more broadly at the issue of hate, so that we can bring communities together and examine the different ways that people are impacted.

Finally, I have one more point. I am a board member of the Silk Road Institute, and one of the things that we do is hold cultural arts programming. We are the only Muslim theatre company in North America. With supports from government we're able to showcase cultural arts to help win hearts and minds. There's a lot of misrepresentation of Muslim communities, just like there is of Asians and other minority communities. Their representation is often very negative, which helps to feed that “authorisation” and dehumanization of various minority communities. Bolstering the funding for cultural arts and the ability to reach across communities would be also very helpful.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Mr. Khan.

[Asif Khan]

On what our sister just explained, I'd like to reiterate those points. She spoke eloquently and much to the topic.

With regard to the national summit on Islamophobia, first, we would be advocates of having whatever solutions are provided not just being applicable to the Muslim community but to all communities that are victims of hate. Any expression of hate has to be suppressed.

One thing I would like to mention is that the term “Islamophobia” actually doesn't really help or aid the topic. I know it's not a term that anyone here has created, and it's something that has been accepted by pretty well everybody, but the term “phobia” means to be afraid of something, and then it's to be afraid of Islam and to be afraid of Muslims. That is, in essence, a bit of the problem. Nonetheless, I know it's a topic for another time.

That's all I would say right now. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

All right. That's the end of your time, Ms. Mathyssen.

Now we will go to Ms. Zahid for six minutes, please.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses, my good friends, people I have worked with for the last many years to build a more inclusive Canada.

Thank you, Madam Elghawaby, for all the work you have done to combat racism.

Thank you, Mr. Khan, for building bridges. I have been to your organization many times where you have made efforts to bring the communities together to break these walls of hatred. I really appreciate all your work.

Thank you, Ms. Jafri. We were together recently to launch the Scarborough chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. Thank you for all the work you are doing to make sure that no one in Canada feels scared or fearful.

Hate crimes have been on the rise in Canada, and the last few weeks have been very difficult for all Canadians, but particularly for the Muslim community. We saw the loss of four innocent lives to an act of terrorism motivated by hate: Islamophobia. It was very difficult to sit there and see those four coffins wrapped in the Canadian flag. In the days that followed, we saw a Somali woman wearing a hijab attacked, the Edmonton mosque vandalized with swastikas and two people arrested following an attempted break-in at the Islamic Institute of Toronto.

For all of us, It has not been easy.

Clearly, these incidents show that Islamophobia exists here in Canada. Acts of hate exist. What can the federal government do to better support Muslim communities and the communities that have been targeted by these acts of hate?

Maybe I can start with—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Can we start with Mr. Choudhry? He has his hand up, I think.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Yes, we can start with Mr. Choudhry. Anyone can start.

Please go ahead.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Mr. Choudhry, go ahead.

[Safwan Choudhry]

Thank you so much, and thank you for your kind words.

Whenever we think about solutions and we're thinking through policy, it also helps to see examples from other nations and countries that have had similar situations and how they handled them and what are the results.

As Canada and our government will be thinking through this in the coming days and weeks, I would like to share the example of New Zealand, where in 2019 the world head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, praised the response of New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the New Zealand government and public to the terrorist attack that targeted the mosque in Christchurch.

While we all know what took place, I think what's more important is the excellent and model way that the New Zealand government, and particularly the prime minister, responded to the attack. The example she set, starting with herself, is truly praiseworthy. It has been a reaction of the highest order. We actually think that many countries, including Canada, can learn from that.

The public in New Zealand also offered its full support. The radio stations and the television stations announced that they would play the Muslim call to prayer, the adhan, at the time of the Friday prayer to show their solidarity with Muslims. Further to that, non-Muslim women, including Christians, Jews and women of no faith, decided that they would wear the head scarf as a gesture of support and empathy, starting with the prime minister.

These types of actions led by the policy-makers in New Zealand started at the top and transcended all the way down in society, in partnership and collaboration with news media outlets. It has given that country an opportunity to be more united than ever before. I think it's an example that Canada can certainly take some pointers from.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Ms. Elghawaby.

[Amira Elghawaby]

I'll let Ms. Nuzhat go before me because she didn't have a chance last time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Okay.

[Nuzhat Jafri]

Thank you, MP Zahid, for that question about what the Canadian government can do.

As I mentioned in my remarks, I think it is really important to pass meaningful legislation to deal with online hate, and enact better laws to look at hate crimes in a way that is not currently available to those making complaints, as well as the way the hate crime data are captured by different police services—well, in fact, all police services.

Different jurisdictions have responsibility for this, but the government can lead and mandate that the data be captured in a way that takes into account the intersectionality of Canadian Muslim women and Muslims in general. There is a lot more to say about this, and I don't want to take up everyone else's space, but I really like the example of the Government of New Zealand.

Platitudes are great. Shows of support are great. We saw many of the politicians come forward and demonstrate that, and we're grateful for their words of comfort and commitment to act on this, but please act. Pass the necessary legislation. Disband those hate groups. You can do that. You have the capacity to do that. These groups exist. They are easy to identify. Sometimes, yes, they hide in the dark corners of the net, but so many of them are visible and vocal, so please do find them.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Normandin, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I would like to thank all of the witnesses for their testimony and for their very personal accounts they gave.

I'm going to ask a general question and I'd like everyone to answer it, if possible.

Mr. Choudhry mentioned the example of France and the United Kingdom, as well as the comments of Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Johnson. We don't need to look very far. Very recently, we saw a U.S. president to the south fanning the flames of intolerance and we witnessed the consequences. I understand that's one thing people need to work on.

I'd like to hear from you on the smaller-scale situation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems a different number of hate crimes occur in larger cities than in smaller municipalities. I'm thinking about what Ms. Mahdi said earlier. When she was a little girl, she lived in Maple and she didn't experience any incidents. Maple is not a large community. It seems that the threshold of tolerance was much higher in this small community. I'd like to hear from witnesses about the difference between the two communities. Is there more contact when children go to school with people from the communities? After one or two generations, does the situation improve?

I'd like you to talk about this in general, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Let's start with Amira.

[Amira Elghawaby]

Thank you very much, MP Normandin, for your excellent question.

It bears more study to look at how different communities are dealing with hate. The problem, again, goes back to that reporting.

While we can share anecdotally some of the experiences we've had, the problem is in capturing that data. Because we don't have third party reporting, we are not getting reports, for instance, from community organizations or national advocacy organizations that are taking reports of hate, so it's really hard for us to be able to diagnose the problem. How we can get better data is something for this committee to think about and for the summit, eventually. That's always going to help us to understand the full extent of the problem and address the solution.

In terms of the education, I know that, for instance, every year the federal government will send out amazing resources on Remembrance Day for teachers right across the country. These resources are posters and curricula and they're wonderful ways in which teachers can talk about Remembrance Day. Similarly, it would be wonderful to see the federal government champion similar types of educational resources and supports for a national curricula around anti-racism and anti-hate, right throughout elementary and secondary schools and provide resources for teachers.

I, myself, have done hundreds of workshops in schools. One of the things that always strikes me is the lack of information round the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for instance. It would be very useful and helpful for the Canadian government to ensure that our young people have full information on it.

The sad thing we know is that we do see hate crimes committed by young people. The accused in London is only 20 years old. From some of the statistics over the years on hate crimes, we've actually seen that in certain years hate crimes were committed and perpetrated against religious communities often by people who are under the age of 18. There is something going on with young people, with the radicalization that's happening and the hate they are feeling towards religious minority communities.

We definitely need to think about that educational piece. A national way of spreading the awareness would be a very powerful tool, I believe.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Ms. Mahdi.

[Saadia Mahdi]

I agree with what Ms. Elghawaby just said. A lot of times the onus falls on other Muslim teachers or students to educate their classes or schools. We do have Islamic Heritage Month. Through school council, I have put up posters and made presentations for our schools and helped to spread information, but it shouldn't be only when there is a Muslim volunteer available. It should be done through the education system.

It is true that this is starting at a very young age. Because social media is so unmonitored, these young children are reading these hateful things and they are the ones.... Like I mentioned, my daughters in elementary school were called those racist remarks and were referred to as terrorists.

I think that prior to 9/11, which was my experience growing up in Canada, there wasn't that much hate in Canada that was outwardly expressed towards Muslims. That's my experience. After that, the media played a big role in promoting that false narrative of Muslims being terrorists. That's when the name-calling started. That's when people began to feel that it was okay to mimic what they heard in the media.

When I see politicians and people who are in leadership positions wearing the head scarf, it is inspiring for us. Our daughters then say that they also want to go into those leadership positions, but if they are not being protected, it is very disheartening.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Your time is up, Ms. Normandin.

We'll go now to Ms. Mathyssen for six minutes.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Many of the witnesses have talked about meaningful legislation. In Canada right now, the government has set up the anti-racism strategy, but many national organizations have actually called for meaningful legislation to follow it. Of course, the two pieces we hear most of are a national anti-racism act and an online hate act.

Maybe the witnesses could talk about that specifically, including the timelines on that, what they'd like to see from that, and how important that is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We will start with Ms. Jafri.

[Nuzhat Jafri]

Thank you so much for those questions.

Perhaps I could go back to the education we were talking about before. It's really important for all of this education to begin very early.

I want to give you an example of how change can happen. I have two grandchildren who are doing online learning right now. In their classroom, they do a land acknowledgement. It's part of their routine and their opening exercises, along with things like celebrating other faiths' festivals or religious occasions and learning about them. There are many ways of doing this.

There is one other thing about where the interaction occurs. Depending on where you are, unfortunately the proximity to people of different faiths is not enough, because we have communities in which we have very large populations of Muslims and there the experiences can be as unpleasant and unwelcome as in rural communities. At every level leaders in the community have to act in a way that promotes inclusion of all communities.

On the idea of an anti-racism act or other legislation, I'm going to go back to what I was talking about. We need legislation that is perhaps very specific to gender-based violence, that incorporates the experiences of diverse Muslim communities or Muslim women in it and in any policy work that is done. Besides the racism aspect, the intersectional aspects of gender and other identities have to be incorporated into any legislation or policy that the government undertakes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Mr. Khan.

[Asif Khan]

As mentioned by my colleague earlier, words really do matter. Hate was allowed to rise to the surface because of certain political figures, especially to the south of us and overseas, as mentioned. Prior to that, suppressing hate existed all over, especially in western countries, and it took decades for us to lower hate and try to eradicate it. It's now going to take many more years to resuppress this hate that has been allowed to simmer back up.

This is where Canada's leaders calling out the world on all forms of injustice—not just hate but all forms of injustice—will help change hearts and minds. It has to happen all over the world. Our leaders have to lead by example. They have to be the ones to change hearts globally. Canada's main export to the world should be our love for humanity and our call against injustices.

Our community, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, is going to be launching something called the “love for all” initiative. We'll share some of those ideas with you. It's not just about Islamophobia but about all expressions of hate and injustice that we're going to try to do our part to help quell.

Also, our own community is going to be having a conference to better provide suggestions for this national summit that's coming up, so we'll have some concrete suggestions to forward as well.