Casey Babb: Canada doesn't need an antisemitism or Islamophobia czar
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With the position now vacant, the time has come to permanently dissolve the post — as well as the position of Canada's special representative on combating Islamophobia. High paying jobs that don't lead to results are bad. Ones that continue to divide people are even worse.
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For nearly two years, as Canada's Jewish community has been gripped not only by the horrors of October 7 and its fallout, but by surging Jew-hatred from coast to coast, Lyons faced an arduous uphill battle. Still, despite unprecedented obstacles and criticism, she worked diligently to sound the alarm on antisemitism, to bring disparate communities together and — in whatever small ways she could — to mend the wounds of a grieving community that has been completely and utterly abandoned by the federal government.
Lyons has said that 'every day' she was 'waking up to a fight,' that she had to deal with 'a lot of angry people … all the time,' often feeling 'despondent and despairing' over how reluctant Canadians were to speak up in support of the country's Jewish population. Of course, criticism of Lyons is understandable. While in her post to combat antisemitism, the situation for Jews in Canada has worsened precipitously. But for Lyons, many of the obstacles she encountered were systemically, institutionally, socially and culturally beyond her control or influence.
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One glaring issue that likely made Lyons' job more challenging, however, was what appeared to be the relentless counter-efforts made by Amira Elghawaby, Canada's special representative on combating Islamophobia.
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Rather than focusing on things like peace-building, reconciliation and creating a united front between Jews and Muslims to counter all forms of hatred and bigotry, Elghawaby spent (and continues to spend) most of her attention on things like 'anti-Palestinian racism,' vilifying the only Jewish country in the world (there are approximately 50 Muslim majority nations, by the way), and fuelling the fabricated belief among average Canadians that antisemitism and anti-Muslim bigotry run and exist on parallel tracks, when of course, they most certainly do not.
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Further, while Lyons repeatedly acknowledged the hostages, the victims of October 7, including the eight Canadians murdered by Hamas, and condemned Hamas and other Islamic terrorist organizations, Elghawaby has — for the most part — acted as though October 7 didn't happen.
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