Attacks against Muslims indicate Islamophobia rooted in Canada

TRENTON, Canada – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has often emphasized that diversity is Canada’s strength. However, Islamophobia continues to be on the rise in the country.

The 9/11 attack on the US had profound effects in Canada, fanning the flames of Islamophobia. In 2017 the Quebec mosque attack exposed the extent of Islamophobia in the country when a lone gunman killed six Muslims and wounded 19 during evening prayers.

Another shocking attack took place when a man deliberately drove his truck into a Muslim family out for a stroll on June 6, 2021, in London, Ontario.

Three generations of a family died — including a husband, wife, daughter and grandmother – leaving a 9-year-old boy orphaned.

Racism and Islamophobia are on the rise throughout Canada, particularly in the most heavily populated provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Fatema Abdalla, communications coordinator for the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) says:

“We’ve seen a number of attacks on the Muslim community, including the shooting at the Quebec City Mosque, the attack outside of the IMO (International Muslim Organization mosque) in Toronto, the killing of the Our London Family, as well as ongoing threats and attacks, to primarily Black Muslim women in Alberta.

“Canada is the leading country, when it comes to the number of people who have been killed in the last 5 years because of Islamophobia, amongst all G7 countries,” she said.

The NCCM, Canada’s largest Muslim organization, lobbied Trudeau for a national summit on Islamophobia and made recommendations to combat surging hate.

In the aftermath of the London atrocity, Trudeau initiated the summit that was attended by all three levels of government — federal, provincial and grassroots municipal — and Muslim organizations and individuals. The prime minister issued a clarion call for Canadians to eradicate hate.

“Because right now, we do have to fight for the kind of Canada we all want to see,” he told those in attendance at the virtual summit. “A place where we celebrate diversity, where we stand together, where we look out for each other.

“Together, we can stand against Islamophobia and that’s exactly what we’ll keep doing,” he said.

Statistics Canada reported that in 2019 hate crimes targeting race and ethnicity increased by a staggering 80%. But while the perception is that Muslims, whose population was slightly more than 1 million in Canada as of 2017, were the primary target, that is not necessarily true.

Canada does lead the G-7 in hate-motivated killings of Muslims, but those instigated against them declined in 2020.

“Police-reported hate crimes targeting religion declined 16% from 613 incidents in 2019 to 515 incidents in 2020,” according to a Statistics Canada compilation of police-reported hate crimes in 2020.

But in 2020, police reported 2,669 criminal incidents motived by hate, the largest number ever recorded since data became available in 2009. The Statistics Canada report was released March 17, 2022.

“This decrease was primarily due to fewer hate crimes targeting the Muslim population, which declined from 182 to 82 incidents in 2020 (-55%). Hate crimes against the Jewish population rose slightly in 2020, from 306 to 321 incidents (+5%).”

Experts believe many more incidents are not reported to authorities.

There is, however, no doubt that hate crimes against Muslims are the most violent, as reflected by the Quebec mosque shootings and the London incident and a recent attack in Toronto.

On April 16, six worshipers were injured in a drive-by shooting outside a Toronto mosque. Authorities have increased security at mosques and community centers.

But there is hope.

The Trudeau government’s 2022 budget includes CAN$85 million (US$69 million) to be spent over four years to fund a “national action plan” to address racism.

Mustafa Farooq, the NCCM chief executive officer, said the budget allocation demonstrated that combatting Islamophobia was no longer just words, but finally resulted in action.