I arrived from Morocco in 2005 accompanied by my two young boys aged one and three. I wasn’t running away from a situation of particularly serious violence, but from a state of dependence and submission that was fairly commonplace for a woman in an Arab-Muslim culture.
It was not easy to restart the life of a single mother in a new country, but Quebec was for me a dream destination, and I am grateful for the welcome I received. I have always found the accusations of racism and Islamophobia that Quebecers are the target to be unfair. I feel more respected in Quebec than I was in my country of origin. This is where I felt like a full-fledged citizen, free to live my life as I saw fit, without judgement, and I feel like I’ve had equal opportunities.
We talk a lot about Islamophobia, but we never talk about the community pressure that weighs on nationals of Arab countries to force them to conform to cultural and religious norms and prevent them from integrating into their host country. My recent experience in associations shows how difficult it is to bring about a humanist Islam in Quebec, and how accusations of racism and Islamophobia against Quebecers are used to advance Islamist objectives.
I wanted to invest myself in associations to help other nationals of Muslim countries, especially young people, to get by. I saw the danger of radicalization and the influence that certain preachers have on young people right here in Montreal. My 25-year-old nephew living in Laval, full of talent and joie de vivre, painter, lyricist, good soccer player, suddenly fell into the clutches of radicalism. Overnight, he stopped his studies, his artistic activities and sport, to devote himself to religion. I so wanted to shout loudly: let the children live without religious influence, stop indoctrinating them.
As soon as I had the opportunity, I decided to get involved in civil society. The visit to Montreal of an Egyptian thinker advocating a humanist approach to Islam gave me the opportunity. Around this thinker, the possibility of creating an association of citizens of Arab-Muslim culture favorable to secularism arose. As part of this new association, we have started to organize cultural activities and virtual meetings with members in different cities in Canada and the United States.
Weapon in the hands of fundamentalists
However, a well-known person in the community and very influential in a certain Muslim community in Montreal was taking more and more place in the management of the association. The time granted to non-practicing people, atheists or those in favor of secularism decreased in favor of new people whom he invited, with ideas closer to radical Islam. When I spoke to him about it, he explained to me that it was important to listen to these people to bring them one day to change their ideas.
I was not convinced by his arguments, but given his notoriety and his associative experience of more than thirty years, I accepted. However, the more time passed, the more people defending political Islam joined the association which, let us remember, had been created precisely to confront the ideas of political Islam.
At every opportunity that arose – face-to-face, virtual or telephone meetings – this gentleman found a way to describe Quebec as a racist and Islamophobic province. He used all the forums to demonize Quebec. When I intervened to talk about my positive experience in Quebec, he ridiculed my remarks and explained that if I was well received, it was because of my “anti-Islam” positions.
My position in favor of Bill 21 is what earned me the most ridicule from him. He insinuated that I wanted to please Quebeckers and that I was only an instrument in their hands. When Amira Elghawaby was nominated as Canada’s Anti-Islamophobia Representative, he pressured me not to voice my opinion against her nomination.
It was after the last meeting that I decided to leave the association. Among the speakers, there was a Syrian mother who recounted her painful experience by showing us the photo of her daughter in her twenties killed by Daesh [groupe État islamique]. When the meeting was over, this gentleman reacted violently by prohibiting the broadcast of a video presenting our interventions and declared that the mother should not have qualified Daesh as a terrorist organization.
The association of which I had been a founding member no longer had anything humanist or secular about it.
I do not know what the mandate of the Canadian representative in the fight against Islamophobia will be, but I know that this concept is a weapon in the hands of fundamentalists to advance their politico-religious objectives and to drive a wedge between Muslims and others. There is cause for concern.