Shafaqna English- 1300% increase in Islamophobic incidents recorded in the North American country, according to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).
MP’s on a committee investigating Islamophobia and antisemitism heard on Thursday (06 June 2024) that more Muslims have been killed in targeted attacks in Canada in the past seven years than in any other G7 country, and that Islamophobia has increased exponentially since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza last October.
Giving evidence before the Commons justice committee, Stephen Brown, chief executive of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), added that Islamophobia is a “dangerous form of hate” which has spiked in recent years.
The committee also heard that social-media algorithms are promoting vile anti-Muslim content, which is translating into hate in the real world.
Mr. Brown said Muslim communities are experiencing unprecedented hate and violence “from every level of society.”
Mr. Brown was speaking on the third anniversary of the terror attack on June 6, 2021 in London, Ont., when a white nationalist drove his pickup truck into a Muslim family, killing four of them and leaving a young boy orphaned.
“In our sacred places of worship, and in public spaces, Muslims in Canada are not safe from violent Islamophobia,” he said, giving as an example the Quebec City mosque attack in 2017 when a gunman opened fire at the Islamic Cultural Centre, killing six worshippers and seriously injuring five others after evening prayers.
Mr. Brown told the Commons committee investigating Islamophobia and antisemitism that before the shooting, the Quebec city mosque had been targeted repeatedly, yet the authorities “did nothing.”
He called for recommendations made last year by a Senate committee, which held a year-long inquiry into Islamophobia, to be adopted in full. Among them was the establishment of a hate-crime hotline to allow victims of Islamophobic attacks to report abuse.
Islamophobia in UK’s Media