Justice committee  Yes, there are so many points I can add. One of the things I wanted to say is that the study looked at women who were working within the public sector, but a lot of them were working outside of the public sector. The impacts of Bill 21 are well beyond the technical scope of the law.

Justice committee  Yes, well beyond the letter of the law.

Justice committee  That's within the public sector. Sorry, was that...?

Justice committee  Yes, the letter of the law is discriminatory in and of itself, but we're seeing discriminatory impacts also well beyond the law. To truly understand what the impact of Bill 21 has been on Muslim women in Quebec—

Justice committee  That's right.

Justice committee  Yes, I can.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  I think now we've legalized our ability to discriminate against women who dress a certain way, and discriminate not in an insignificant way. These are their livelihoods we're talking about. These are their investments in their careers, which have just vanished because of a law that says they can't work in certain public sector jobs.

Justice committee  Absolutely. Especially as we're talking about the current moment that we're in, we're seeing that many Islamophobic attacks are actually directed at Muslim women who wear a hijab. These attacks range from Muslim women having their hijab ripped off to being physically assaulted—punched in the head, punched in the stomach—and Muslim women being spat on, a wildly common phenomenon since last fall.

Justice committee  I think student protests are such an amazing phenomenon in Canadian history when it comes to standing up for issues related to social justice. They're something that's such an enriching part of our democracy. Throughout Canadian history, we've seen again and again the way that student protests can lead to real change in the right direction.

Justice committee  I'm actually.... Over the last three years I've been conducting a study on the impact of Bill 21, specifically on the experiences of Muslim women in their workplaces and in their experiences in searching for jobs. This is very much about Muslim women's livelihoods and their ability to actually work and live in Quebec.

Justice committee  Thank you so much for the invitation to speak at this committee. My name is Dr. Nadia Hasan, and I'm an assistant professor at the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at York University in Toronto. My research and my work focus on Islamophobia and racism. Just four days ago, we marked the three-year anniversary of the Islamophobic terror that was visited upon our London family, and just six days from today we will mark another shameful anniversary.