Former federal Islamophobia representative Amira Elghawaby charged taxpayers $17,816 for a four-day trip to England, including $10,522 in business-class airfare and a $2,947 hotel stay, according to newly released expense records.

Blacklock’s Reporter obtained the records through an access to information request. They show Elghawaby travelled to London to address a private session of a British working group tasked with developing a definition of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.

Elghawaby, whose federal position paid $191,300 annually, told departmental managers that she needed to attend personally. She stayed at the four-star Thistle Hotel Piccadilly, near the National Gallery.

The records describe discussions about Canada’s terminology, the relationship between Islamophobia and racism, and how definitions influence government policy. They do not specify how many hours of the four-day visit were spent meeting with the five-member working group.

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According to Blacklock’s, Canadian Heritage withheld the expense details for a year and offered no comment.

Elghawaby had already outlined examples of Islamophobia in a 2024 workplace memo. These included difficulties obtaining religious accommodations for prayer, fasting and clothing, as well as removing an employee from the workplace over pro-Palestinian remarks.

Her memo also described anti-Palestinian racism as including the denial of Palestinian identity and defamatory portrayals of Palestinians or their allies.

Elghawaby was dismissed on February 4, with a year remaining on her contract. Ottawa also dissolved her office, which had five staff and a $5.4-million budget.

Heritage Minister Marc Miller said the closure was not intended to save money and maintained that the office had performed important work.