OTTAWA | The federal Minister of Diversity and Inclusion knew that an “anti-racist” consultant he had hired had made anti-Semitic and Francophobic messages, but he took a month to get rid of them publicly.
• Read also: Consultant with racist remarks: unacceptable, says Trudeau
• Read also: Racist comments from a consultant: Ottawa cuts funding to an “anti-racist” organization
• Read also: A consultant with embarrassing racist and anti-Semitic remarks for Canadian Heritage
Grilled by the opposition on the Heritage Standing Committee today, Minister Ahmed Hussen finally admitted that it was on July 20 that he was warned against Montreal consultant Laith Marouf and his organization, the Center media support community (CCAM).
Anti-Semitic and Francophobic tweets from the man had resurfaced, even as he benefited from a $133,000 federal contract to prepare a series of events about racism.
In these mailings, reported by Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Marouf repeatedly called French speakers “frogs,” insulted their intelligence, and called Jews “shitbags” who deserved a bullet in the head.
A month later
But it was only a month later, on August 19, after the case caused a social media scandal, that Minister Hussen came out publicly to announce that his department was reassessing funding for CCAM and Marouf.
“It was your responsibility to act as soon as you were made aware […]. You haven’t done anything for a month, ”decried Conservative MP Rachael Thomas.
The Minister countered that he had not been inactive, rather he had taken the time to study his legal options to withdraw the funds from CCAM and Marouf before making his public statement.
But for Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux, it was rather the smell of hot soup that prompted him to action.
“It had to explode on social networks for him to finally react,” he denounced, indicating that in his opinion, the ministry had not given the situation the seriousness it deserved.
The Quebec MP added that it took four additional weeks before Francophobia was taken into consideration in this file.
“It still took until September 12 before you also recognized that there were hateful remarks towards Francophones in the comments made by Mr. Marouf,” said Mr. Champoux, noting that denouncing Francophobia in no way prevented us from also rising up against anti-Semitism.
Although CCAM and Marouf lost their federal contract, they would still benefit from CRTC funding which has paid them more than $500,000 since 2016, the daily revealed. Globe and Mail Thursday.
The Conservatives want the minister responsible for the CRTC, Pablo Rodriguez, to explain this to the Standing Committee on Heritage.