When the position of Canadian representative for the fight against Islamophobia was announced, many of us underlined the abusive and militant use of this term, which in its use confuses respect for people of Muslim belief with absolute respect precepts of Islam.
The latest Angus Reid poll illustrates our point well by renewing such confusion. According to this survey, Quebecers have a more negative opinion of Islam than the Canadian average and are more in favor of Bill 21.
As we know, Quebec has a more negative view than the rest of Canada of all religions and a greater aspiration to secularism. This stems from its historical background and its attachment to a model of living together based on common civic values. However, the Angus Reid firm does not fail to conclude that Quebecers are more Islamophobic, in the sense of racist, than the rest of Canada. Would the fight against Islamophobia consist, in the name of a misguided anti-racism, in inculcating a positive vision of Islam? Should the same be done for all religions?
What the fight against Islamophobia hides
More concretely, we have just learned that the Review and Examination Division (RED) of the Canada Revenue Agency, responsible for ensuring that charities are not used to finance terrorism, under investigation due to allegations of Islamophobia. In particular, the plaintiffs argue that 75% of organizations whose charitable status has been revoked are Muslim. It will be up to the Office for the Surveillance of National Security and Intelligence Activities to decide after investigation, but it should be emphasized from the outset that such a statistical discrepancy in no way presumes an injustice.
Among the revoked organizations, the media have already reported the case of the Islamic Center of Ottawa for promoting hatred and intolerance, IRFAN-Canada for financing Hamas or ISNA for financing Jamaat-e -Islami, both listed as terrorist entities in Canada. A simple scan of this list also shows that the vast majority of it is made up of Islamist groups. Moreover, a document on Canada’s counter-terrorism strategy draws the same conclusion: “Violent Islamic extremism is the main threat to Canada’s national security.”
In fact, suspending the work of the ERD was one of the recommendations of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCMC) at the 2021 National Islamophobia Summit that led to the creation of the position of Canadian Anti-Israeli Representative. Islamophobia. Among its other recommendations, the CNMC calls on the government to halt its national counter-violent extremism and radicalization strategy, as well as to monitor national security agencies, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Canadian border services. For what ? The CNMC suspects them of racism, Islamophobia and even demands a study on “the penetration of white supremacy” within them.
Is stopping the surveillance of organizations likely to finance terrorism and bringing national security agencies under control under the pretext of racism, is this what the position of Canadian representative for the fight against Islamophobia will contribute? Are Canadians fully aware of what all of this entails?
Secularism as a weapon of massive demonization
Following the Angus Reid poll, the media relayed outrageous remarks on the supposed rampant “Islamophobia” in Quebec, the CNMC even going so far as to speak of a mortal danger for Muslims.
In this regard, Fatima Aboubakr provided enlightening testimony on how Bill 21 was used, even if it meant exaggerating its scope, to demonize Quebec and advance Islamist objectives. Witness to the radicalization of young people around him, Mr.me Aboubakr participated in the foundation of an Arab-Muslim association with a humanist and secular vocation to help these young people. However, this humanist vocation was quickly undermined by pressures prohibiting any statement favorable to secularism. It also testifies to the state of dependence in which many immigrants find themselves recruited by associative workers who have broken with their host society.
This is not the first time that such an observation has been made. In 2016, as part of the departure of a dozen young people from Cégep Maisonneuve to Syria, a report by the Center for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence reported a polarizing climate maintained by “agents of radicalization” manipulating the feeling of victimization of young people by exploiting the draft Charter of secularism. These agents of radicalization would have contributed considerably “to sow hatred among young people, by insisting on the collective rejection of Muslims and Islam on the part of Quebec society”.
The fight against Islamophobia is a smokescreen allowing unscrupulous or radicalized individuals to keep their fellow citizens in a state of community confinement isolating them from the rest of Quebec, not to mention non-profit organizations with a religious vocation that take advantage of impunity. resulting from this to serve as a transmission belt for the financing of international terrorism.
If the Canadian government must certainly fight against hatred, it must not let itself be fooled by the deliberately confused use of the term “Islamophobia” to the point of hindering the proper functioning of national security organizations. Its primary role is to ensure the safety of its citizens while preserving its credibility abroad.