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—