Global Courant 2023-04-20 13:45:48
The first findings from the Canadian Senate committee said that far-right and anti-Muslim hate groups and therefore hate incidents have increased.
Toronto residents attend a rally sponsored by the Canadian Muslim Association to highlight anti-Muslim hate crimes in their communities and in other parts of the world. (Reuters)
Islamophobia is deeply rooted and on the rise in Canada, and headscarf-wearing Black Muslims are special targets, according to a Senate committee findings.
The Senate human rights committee is examining the matter, and preliminary findings suggest that anti-Muslim incidents involve more violence than against other religious groups.
“Canada has a problem,” the committee chairperson, Senator Salma Ataullahjan, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.
“We hear about intergenerational trauma because young children witness it. “Muslims are raising their voices because there are so many attacks and they are very violent,” he said.
The committee traveled around the country to speak with Muslims, including victims of the attack, doctors, teachers, and others.
The committee, which will prepare a full report in July, said that far-right and anti-Muslim hate groups and therefore hate incidents have increased.
Statistics Canada reported last month that hate crimes reported by police “increased from 2,646 in 2020 to 3,360 in 2021, a 27 percent increase.”
The figures also showed that hate crimes targeting Muslims reported to the police rose 71 percent over the same period – roughly eight incidents per 100,000 Muslims.
About 1,775,000 Muslims live in Canada. This corresponds to approximately 144 events.
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However, Ataullahjan said the problem was worse and many other incidents were not reported.
The committee found that women were particularly vulnerable.
“Some of these women were afraid to leave their homes and it was difficult for them to take their children to school. Many have been spat on,” Ataullahjan said.
“Muslims have to constantly look behind them.”
In a statement, the National Council of Muslims of Canada (NCCM) welcomed the Senate’s decision to compile the report.
“This is something everyone everywhere needs to work on,” said NCCM spokesman Steven Zhou.
The organization recently sent out a newsletter detailing the hate incidents.
These include “hateful messages” sprayed at a Toronto mosque in March, and a man breaking into a mosque in Montreal and breaking windows with a shovel.
In another incident, a man was found “yelling Islamophobic insults” at the Islamic Society in Markham, near Toronto, in April, while two Muslim women were “held at gunpoint” in Kitchener, Ontario.
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Source: AA
