Canadian Heritage committee  My view of that would be—

Canadian Heritage committee  My view of that would be that it would be very useful, because a lot of new communities, immigrant communities, really struggle with coming together and building capacity to come to a level where they're able to even access funding that may be available and to figure out how they

Canadian Heritage committee  Clearly there are such websites and individuals who have exercised their right to free speech in a way that has been divisive and harmful. Is it hate speech? I don't know—I'm not a lawyer—but at the same time, clearly this is something that is growing, and it exists. It would be

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. Number one, when it happens, call it out. Don't accept it. We know that political candidates and members of Parliament have Facebook pages. Let's face it: we all have people in our communities who are sometimes just categorized as loonies, haters, radicals, or whateve

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. I'm sure ethnic media are avenues that are already being used, but there is the power of relationships. Getting to know communities, getting to know people within communities, and then employing those channels to disseminate information is one of the most powerful w

Canadian Heritage committee  I would say that countering the stereotypes with stories and images is extremely powerful. You're absolutely right. We all have preconceived notions and biases about others. It's hard and it takes effort to overcome them. I have to say if we look around the world, in my opinion,

Canadian Heritage committee  I think it's very concerning and disappointing. I know that many Canadian Muslims are looking at this issue very closely, especially considering that the Charter of Values debate in Quebec was very divisive. Following that, there was a change in government and then, of course, th

Canadian Heritage committee  I really don't have an answer to that. I do think that so far the position of the federal government has been positive with regard to these types of issues. I would encourage it to continue forward in the same direction. One thing I would say—and I know I'm speaking to MPs, poli

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely, because it's a national issue and it needs to be dealt with nationally. Of course, there are certain limits as to what the federal government would do with provincial jurisdiction and so on. At the same time, it's happening to people across the country—I don't think a

Canadian Heritage committee  I agree with those comments. Also, we need to look at stakeholders and perhaps have round tables or other mechanisms that make consultations with racialized communities possible. A lot of times, if that lens is missing and their voice is not around the table, it's very easy for i

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a good question. For every verse or prophetic saying or tradition that can be misinterpreted or misunderstood, there is always another one that can act as a counterbalance to show that the misinterpretation and the misunderstanding is not correct. Anti-Semitism, of course

Canadian Heritage committee  There are members from across the country. It's Sunni as well as Shia imams.

Canadian Heritage committee  Sorry, could you repeat that?

Canadian Heritage committee  Interfaith work is extremely important. We try as much as possible to find opportunities for interaction. As Rabbi Bulka mentioned, there's an event happening tonight at his synagogue, and I'm actually one of the panellists. It appears that each community comes with its own pre

Canadian Heritage committee  Each community will deal with the circumstances as they come up. I can tell you that there was an instance where a gentleman had stood up after Friday services at a local mosque and had expressed support for the Parliament Hill shooter. The authorities were called, and he was tak