National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) Statement on Justice Committee Studying Islamophobia and anti-Semitism

Today, a study will begin in the Justice Committee that will ostensibly be studying Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Let us be clear: the rise of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are clear rising problems that we cannot ignore.

Tragically, however, it is quite clear to us that this committee has zero interest in studying these very serious issues. Rather, members of this committee are interested in carrying out a political witch hunt in what can only be compared to McCarthy’s sham committees decades ago.

How can we accept an invite from a committee where a Liberal member of that committee has happily shared content from the past leader of the JDL, a wildly Islamophobic group that has ties to the listed terrorist entity of the Kahanists, and has never apologized for doing so?

How can we accept an invite to testify on this serious issue when no Muslim stakeholders were consulted, to our knowledge, as to whether this study should be launched?

How can we participate when months of work just went into an excellent study on Islamophobia sponsored by the Senate, which we participated in and supported, and that this “study” is completely ignoring?

Simply put, this study of Islamophobia is a sham.

That is why, if we receive an invite, we will not be participating.