The Toronto Raptors have succeeded in establishing themselves as a major cultural and economic player in both the city of Toronto and beyond, with several offshoots of the outdoor fan zone Jurassic Park popping up in the suburbs and across Canada. The Raptors have cemented themselves into the fabric and psyche of the city, with Raptors gear flying off the shelves.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has introduced what’s known as “an Act respecting the laïcité of the State.” This is the latest attempt by a Québec government to enact secularism legislation. The bill will prohibit civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols at work.

I was a full-time high school teacher in an Ontario Islamic school in 2008 when I noticed that my Arab Muslim students led lives of religious conformity at school that reflected their Islamic values at home but did not necessarily define their full selves.

Some Canadians outside of Québec have reacted with disbelief at the tabling of a bill in the provincial legislature by the Coalition Avenir Québec government to ensure the religious neutrality of the state.

The recent Ontario budget included a 30 per cent cut to legal aid. This will cause hardship for many low-income residents of Ontario, who are disproportionately drawn from racialized communities.

Québec’s provincial government recently tabled Bill 21 on state secularism. The bill prohibits the wearing of religious symbols for public employees in positions of authority such as judges, police officers and teachers. The actual list is much longer.

Humanity has been shocked by the recent terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand that killed at least 50 people and left 50 wounded.

In 2006, I wrote a book about how Canadians — journalists, politicians, lawyers, teachers and everyday people — are in denial about racism. I explained our tendency to regard explicit racism as something that happened in the United States. Racism in Canada was camouflaged in politeness or regarded as a simple preference. It was erased from the national Canadian narrative, except for exceptional cases where the evidence was irrefutable and could not be explained as an overreaction on the part of the aggrieved, or trivialized as a meaningless irritation.

Gap released a back-to-school ad campaign a couple weeks ago which included a picture of a young girl wearing a hijab which raised many questions for many people.