According to poll, Canadians are split on views of Islam

The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld

• By Raheel Raza

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Canada’s Senate human rights committee outspent all other committees combined last year with a detailed study of ‘Islamophobia.’

Records show committee expenses totalled $155,146 last year, including $78,575 for hearings in Vancouver and Edmonton. Six senators, six staffers and three interpreters attended the Western meetings. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the panel also spent another $77,571 on similar hearings in Mississauga, Ont. and Québec City, pegging the total number of witnesses at 135.

Asked on its Twitter feed, “How does the Senate human rights committee define the term Islamophobia?” 

The committee replied:

The Senate human rights committee hasn’t limited its study to one definition and expects to hear testimony about the definition, scope, and impact of Islamophobia in Canada.

I am an Indian born in Pakistan, a Punjabi born in Islam; an immigrant in Canada with a Muslim consciousness, grounded in a Marxist youth. I am one of Salman Rushdie’s many Midnight’s Children,' said @TarekFatah.

FULL REPORT by @TheMenzoid https://t.co/nXonCPLWEW pic.twitter.com/aTNMWvuWtX

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) December 2, 2022

Submissions to date include a petition from the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council to monitor “anti-Muslim discourse” by MPs and Senators, and even a testimony from former Calgary mayor, Naheed Nenshi, who said he feared white people were radicalized in Canada.

“When do we start talking about the radicalization of white people in this country?” said Nenshi. 

“When do we start talking about the fact there are generations — not students but the next generation up — people in their 20s and their 30s and older who are feeling dispossessed, who are wondering about the change in their community, who are very, very susceptible to radicalization messages?”

“Growing up in Calgary, I never for a moment thought there was any job in the community, except maybe priest or rabbi, that was unavailable to me because of my faith,” said Nenshi.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, he claimed “things got worse” when he became the first Muslim elected mayor of a major Canadian city. 

“The whole time I was mayor, I was invited to innumerable conferences on the radicalization of young Muslim men,” testified Nenshi on February 13. 

WATCH: Rebel News' Raheel Raza discusses how activists from around the world gathered at a conference in Austria to examine the threat of "political Islam" and "Islamist tyranny."

FULL REPORT by @RaheelRaza: https://t.co/JeE3lNbONX

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 15, 2022

“How do we stop the radicalization of young Muslim men? I would submit to this committee our problem in this country is not the radicalization of Muslim men.”

“We need a strong statement from this committee that across this country, the importance of the dignity of Muslim people matters and that Muslim people cannot be used as political footballs,” concluded Nenshi.

According to a new study from the Angus Reid Institute, nearly 40% of Canadians hold an unfavourable view of Islam.

Nearly two in five (39%) of those surveyed held a “Negative” or “Very Negative” view of the religion amid ongoing discussions across Canada about Islamophobia.

Participants in the study were asked six questions about five religions — Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Judaism.

The favourability of each religion, along with views on people wearing distinctive religious symbols in public, opinions on the establishment of different places of worship in their neighbourhood, and the issue of child marriage, were among the dimensions measured.

Since 9/11 have we really grasped the reality and enormity of political Islam? What we haven’t seen in the past 21 years is acceptance and acknowledgement that political Islam/Islamism is alive and well.

FULL REPORT from @RaheelRaza ► https://t.co/OaAf8xtCkf

— Rebel News USA (@RebelNews_USA) September 11, 2022

In 2015, Parliament passed Bill S-7, the Zero Tolerance For Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, to criminalize forced marriages. The Conservative Cabinet, 17 days before that year’s election, announced it would establish a police tip line dedicated to “barbaric cultural practices” if re-elected.

“In 2015, things changed in a very significant way,” said Nenshi. “Do I believe the government of that day, in its Barbaric Cultural Practices Act and its niqab bans, was particularly Islamophobic? Did I believe those people were Islamophobic? No.”

Responses to the Angus Reid survey comprised views on Islam into Very Positive, Positive, Negative, and Very Negative.

More than one-third of Canadians hold a “Very Positive” view on Islam (37%), with 27% generally holding positive opinions. In contrast, 16% of Canadians had “Very Negative” perspectives on the religion.

“Do I believe they saw a political benefit in a cost-benefit analysis by targeting Muslims?” posed Nenshi, “Yes, I do.”