(Ottawa) Two Liberal cabinet ministers have called for government transparency after Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia was reprimanded by Canada’s Information Commissioner. Amira Elghawaby will be ordered to provide about 3,000 pages of emails and documents to The PressThe matter resurfaced during question period on Tuesday.
The access to information request was initially ignored by the Department of Canadian Heritage, to which M.me Elghawaby. Commissioner Caroline Maynard recently issued an order to force him to disclose the documents.
“However, Mme Elghawaby is not a minister, she has no confidential strategic information. Gee, what does she have to hide Mme Elghawaby? Why are the Liberals so afraid to release his emails and documents to the public? asked Bloc Québécois critic for secularism Martin Champoux.
“All government organizations, all departments, all Crown corporations, all officers who work for the Canadian government have the same responsibility to respect the access to information law and that is what is expected in this case as well,” responded Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Quebec lieutenant for Justin Trudeau’s government.
PHOTO BLAIR GABLE, REUTERS
Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Quebec lieutenant for Justin Trudeau’s government
The Bloc Québécois MP returned to the charge. “Frankly, if the Liberals are so afraid of the public knowing what she writes and who she talks to, why wait for it to come out in the newspaper? Why not fire her immediately, then immediately eliminate her position?” he added.
“We are absolutely committed to open and transparent government,” Diversity, Inclusion and Disability Minister Kamal Khera reiterated. “The request will be made public before the extension is granted by the Information Commissioner.”
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, Kamal Khera
The Bloc Québécois has been calling for the abolition of the position of Canada’s special representative responsible for combating Islamophobia since the heated controversy sparked by the appointment of Ms.me Elghawaby in January 2023 because of her past positions. She had notably written, in a column published in the Ottawa Citizen, that the majority of Quebecers seemed “influenced by anti-Muslim sentiment” in the wake of the adoption of the Law on the Secularstate cityShe then apologized for having offended them a few weeks before starting her mandate. Quebec nevertheless asked for her resignation.
The National Assembly unanimously reiterated the request last week after fresh controversy over its recommendation to “increase the representation of Muslim, Palestinian and Arab professors” to address the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campuses.
Prime Minister François Legault had described this suggestion as “totally unacceptable,” deploring both an intrusion into an area of provincial jurisdiction and the fact of wanting to favor a religious group in a secular province.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims believes that the position held by Amira Elghawaby is necessary. Its creation was one of the recommendations of the National Summit on Islamophobia held in 2021, which followed several violent events against Muslims in Canada, including the attack on the Grand Mosque of Quebec City in 2017.