(Ottawa and Laval) A journalist and human rights activist, Amira Elghawaby, who once wrote that Quebecers seem “influenced by anti-Muslim sentiment”, has just been appointed as the special representative for the fight against Islamophobia by Justin Trudeau’s government. This decision does not pass with Quebec, which apologizes to Mr.me Elghawaby.
“I want to be very clear. I do not believe that the vast majority of Quebecers are Islamophobic, ”she defended herself in an interview while maintaining that her column had been misunderstood.
The Prime Minister announced the appointment of Amira Elghawaby in a press release Thursday as Canada’s special representative in charge of the fight against Islamophobia. She will act as a “spokesperson, advisor, expert and representative in the federal government’s efforts to combat Islamophobia, systemic racism, racial discrimination and religious intolerance”.
On July 11, 2019, Mr.me Elghawaby denounced the Islamophobia of Quebecers in a column published in theOttawa Citizen. “Unfortunately, the majority of Quebecers seem influenced not by the rule of law, but by anti-Muslim sentiment,” she wrote. The article was co-authored by Bernie Farber, president of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and former director of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
The two authors opposed Law 21 on secularism, which prohibits the wearing of religious symbols for state employees in positions of authority, including teachers. They relied on a Leger poll conducted in May 2019 for the Association for Canadian Studies, according to which 88% of Quebecers who had a negative perception of Islam supported this legislation from the Legault government.
“It was to encourage people to think about why they support the attack on religious freedom that this law represents,” she explained. Today, she says she wants to build bridges between communities.
In her column, she also accused Prime Minister François Legault of denying the existence of Islamophobia. “Politicians who continue to pander to xenophobic tendencies must be called to order,” Ms.me Elghawaby and his co-author. She was also on the board of directors of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
Others of her posts are controversial, including a tweet in May 2021. “I’m going to puke,” she wrote on Twitter in response to an op-ed from University of Toronto philosophy professor Joseph Heath , which noted that French Canadians had been the largest group in the country to have experienced British colonialism.
The former candidate for the leadership of the Parti Québécois, Frédéric Bastien, had made a complaint to the employer of Mme Elghawaby at the time. “Why does it make him want to vomit that someone reminds us that French Canadians have been victims of discrimination and injustice? he asked in an interview. We think of the hanging of Louis Riel, the deportation of the Acadians, the closing of French schools in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan…”
“I regret that tweet,” she admitted. She said it was written out of emotion after the first graves were discovered on the grounds of the former Indian residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. “I did not want to despise the discrimination experienced by French Canadians. She took down the tweet a few months later.
Mme Elghawaby also made an indirect link between Bill 21 and the London, Ontario, attack on Muslims that claimed the lives of four members of the same family in an interview with a journalist from New Delhi, India. . “When people are treated differently and their rights are restricted, it can create a climate that normalizes the rejection of these communities and is tolerated,” she said.
A dubious appointment, says Quebec
The appointment of Mr.me Elghawaby did not go unnoticed on Thursday at the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), while the Caquiste deputies gathered in caucus in Laval a few days before the start of Parliament.
“I find it a dubious choice to have this person who seems to be animated by anti-Quebec sentiment to have a position in the federal government. I think she should withdraw her remarks, apologize for the remarks she made,” declared the Minister responsible for Secularism and Canadian Relations, Jean-François Roberge.
According to him, the statements of the new representative of Canada in the fight against Islamophobia are “unacceptable” and demonstrate a “prejudice against Quebecers”.
“The Government of Quebec and Quebecers are not racists. There may be racists in Quebec, as there are in the rest of Canada and as there are in the rest of the world. There may be people who are anti-Muslim and I regret that. […] But to call Quebecers anti-Muslims, to say that the law on secularism reflects anti-Muslim sentiment, is to show a great misunderstanding of who Quebecers are and what the law is,” said Ms. Roberge.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office had yet to respond at the time of this article’s publication.
Law 21 on the secularism of the State was adopted under gag order in June 2019 by Quebec. By adopting it, the CAQ government used the notwithstanding clause to prevent legal challenges based on certain sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This law is still being challenged in court.