Latest news with #IslamophobiaResearchHub
CTV News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Muslim leaders say anti-Palestinian racism is casting a chill on free speech
Director of the York University Islamophobia Research Hub Nadia Hasan, centre, addresses a press conference following the release of a report in Ottawa on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby Schools and employers are linking Palestinian culture with terrorism and retaliating against people who are speaking out about the war in Gaza, a new report suggests. 'Many Canadians have paid an unfair price,' York University professor Nadia Hasan told a Wednesday news conference on Parliament Hill. Hasan leads the university's Islamophobia Research Hub, which released a report that says public and private institutions are violating the speech rights of those speaking out against Israel's war in Gaza. The report urges all levels of government to officially recognize anti-Palestinian racism and to pursue training on how to detect and prevent discrimination against this community. The report cites cases of law students, teachers and medical professionals facing occupational investigations or reprimands for speaking out about the war in Gaza. The report says many of those people were later cleared of wrongdoing. It cites the University of Ottawa's decision to suspend Dr. Yipeng Ge for posts a Jewish colleague said were meant to undermine the existence of Israel; the school later reinstated him. 'The silence of many of our institutional leaders was really harmful,' Hasan said. 'It set a tone. A lot of people interpreted it as a threshold for what's tolerable in their workplaces, in their educational spaces.' Jesse Robichaud, a spokesperson for the University of Ottawa, said in an email that no suspension was instituted but that a resident was 'temporarily removed' from the clinical and academic settings while professionalism complaints were considered. 'These types of interim measures are not disciplinary actions,' said Robichaud. 'Every effort was undertaken to ensure a timely treatment of the case. Notably, while waiting for the case to be considered and for the decision of the subcommittee, the resident continued to receive the full salary and benefits of the position.' The report says that students have been being bullied or officially punished for wearing a traditional kaffiyeh scarf or for posting a Palestinian flag on social media. 'Students are being denied the ability to mourn their family, to mourn the death of their family members, just because they are Palestinian,' said Nihad Jasser of the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians. 'We want our children to grow up proud of who they are. We want them to celebrate their Palestinian heritage with dignity and pride.' She said there appears to be a 'Palestine exception' in place for policies on diversity and inclusion. 'Institutions in our society will support all human rights -- except Palestinian rights all cultures except Palestinian culture,' Jasser said. Amira Elghawaby, Ottawa's special representative on combating Islamophobia, said governments' weak pushback against incidents of anti-Muslim hate risks emboldening those bent on violence. 'Many of these are shocking in and of themselves. Taken altogether, they point to a system of oppression,' she said. 'These dangerous trends must be interrupted before doing further harm.' The report also calls on Ottawa to crack down on foreign interference targeting Muslims in Canada. They noted a March 2024 analysis by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, that found evidence of 'anti-Muslim and Islamophobic narratives directed at Canadian audiences' originating from Israel. The Israeli government has denied any involvement in the campaign, which used AI-generated profile pictures and sought to garner Canadian media coverage that could link antisemitism with on-campus protests. Wednesday's report also argues that corporate leaders have failed to call out Israeli policies causing mass death and hunger in Gaza. The report notes that the Royal Bank of Canada issued a statement of support for Jewish Canadians after the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 but 'did not go further to include the rising civilian casualties and displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.' A bank spokeswoman said it 'won't be providing further comment.' The report also notes that Scotiabank donated to both the United Jewish Appeal and the Red Cross response in the Middle East, but did not take note of the situation facing Palestinians. Scotiabank has been asked to comment. Conservative MPs have pushed back on the idea of officially recognizing anti-Palestinian racism. The House of Commons justice committee called for such a move last December. The Conservatives said that recommendation would introduce 'new and complex categories that risk complicating the conversation and fostering division rather than unity.' The Conservatives cited the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which argued that anti-Palestinian racism could be used as a shield for groups calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. 'The endorsement of APR is an attack on Jewish identity (and) undermines the important work of combating antisemitism,' CIJA said. Hasan said that Canada should be able to tackle both anti-Jewish and anti-Palestinian hate 'through a good-faith engagement with impacted communities.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2025.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anti-Palestinian racism report calls for Canada to recognize May 15 as Nakba Day
A new report from the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University calls on governments across Canada to increase oversight on how universities, schools, police forces and Parliament deal with the recent spike in instances of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. The report also calls on all levels of government in Canada to officially recognize May 15 as Nakba Day. Palestinians mark the day after Israel declared independence in 1948 as the beginning of the destruction of their homeland. "Provincial governments should develop curriculum, train staff and educate students on Palestinian culture, identity and history, including the history of the Nakba," the report published Wednesday said. It also wants all levels of government to "recognize and adopt" a definition of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) "as a distinct and detrimental form of racism that operates at multiple levels of state and society." The director of the research hub, Nadia Hasan, an assistant professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at York University, said recognizing both Nakba Day and an official definition for APR would set Canada apart from other countries. "These are important things for Canada to take very seriously," Hasan said. "I think it would be a first and an important step for Canada to lead on." The report examines the increase in Islamophobic verbal and physical attacks directed at Arab and Palestinian Canadians since the beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities and military bases near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, including more than 700 civilians, and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's military response has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, killing more than 61,000 people — mostly civilians — according to Palestinian health authorities. The report says its findings are based on interviews conducted virtually with 16 Canadian community-based organizations that focus on addressing Islamophobia, APR and anti-Arab racism. Media reports were also used. The report does not include any first-hand accounts from victims or injured parties. Recommendations and calling out the CBC The report calls for greater oversight of post-secondary institutions by striking "advisory tables" made up of students and faculty to develop strategies for colleges and universities to use in combatting discrimination on campus. The authors of the report also call for those institutions to undergo third-party reviews of how they responded to incidents of Islamophobia and campus protests against the war in Gaza. They say school boards across Canada should also face province-wide reviews to determine how schools have dealt with incidents of anti-Palestinian racism and examine "cases that were insufficiently or never investigated." Aside from the increased scrutiny on universities, colleges and school boards across the county, the report wants to establish provincial and territorial "hate crime accountability units." The units would allow people alleging they have been the victims of discrimination to "report directly about law enforcement agencies' mishandling of hate-motivated crime cases." The report also calls for Canada's public broadcaster to be "reviewed to ensure fair and balanced coverage of Palestinian perspectives." This external review, the report says, should probe the possibility that CBC is disproportionately "rejecting Palestinian guest commentators" leading to biased media coverage. The report provides two reasons for its focus on CBC. The first is a report by a former employee who alleged she faced backlash for pitching "stories that would bring a balanced perspective" to the war in Gaza. The second reason is a letter sent to CBC signed by more than 500 members of the Racial Equity Media Collective asking the public broadcaster to "address an apparent pattern of anti-Palestinian bias, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism within the corporation's news and documentary culture." CBC's head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said an external review is not necessary because CBC is already accountable to the independent CBC Ombudsman, Maxime Bertrand, who regularly reviews complaints about the corporation's journalism. "CBC News has amplified countless Palestinian voices in our ongoing coverage of the conflict in Gaza," he said. "There are now thousands of stories we've published and broadcast about Israel and Gaza since 2023, all archived here … we think the work speaks for itself." The York University report references CBC News journalism covering dozens of instances of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. A policy for MPs The report is also calling on Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein, who administers the Conflict of Interest Act and the code of conduct for MPs, to be given increased responsibilities. The commissioner, the report says, "should develop a clear and enforceable policy on how parliamentarians are to be held accountable when they disseminate disinformation, especially … when such acts target marginalized communities." It provides only one example of an MP allegedly spreading disinformation, a post on X by Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman. The post includes the line: "Stickers with ❤️s glorifying terror on campus popped up today at UBC." The report notes the stickers were falsely associated with the UBC Social Justice Centre. CBC News has reached out to the Official Opposition for reaction to the allegation but has yet to receive a response. The 15 recommendations contained in the report also call on the federal government to address issues with the temporary resident visa program for refugees fleeing Gaza and probe alleged Israeli foreign interference in Canada. A Senate report released November 2023 found Islamophobia remains a persistent problem in Canada and concrete action is required to reverse the growing tide of hate across the country. The report, the first of its kind in Canada, took a year and involved 21 public meetings and 138 witnesses. It said incidents of Islamophobia are a daily reality for many Muslims and that one in four Canadians do not trust Muslims. Police and advocacy organizations have also reported increases in antisemitic incidents. In the spring, B'nai Brith Canada reported that in 2024 the total number of reported cases of acts of hatred targeting Jews had reached a record high of 6,219 incidents.
CBC
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Anti-Palestinian racism report calls for more oversight of education, policing and politics
Social Sharing A new report from the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University calls on governments across Canada to increase oversight on how universities, schools, police forces and Parliament deal with the recent spike in instances of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. The report also calls on all levels of government in Canada to officially recognize May 15 as Nakba Day. Palestinians mark the day after Israel declared independence in 1948 as the beginning of the destruction of their homeland. "Provincial governments should develop curriculum, train staff and educate students on Palestinian culture, identity and history, including the history of the Nakba," the report published Wednesday said. It also wants all levels of government to "recognize and adopt" a definition of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) "as a distinct and detrimental form of racism that operates at multiple levels of state and society." The director of the research hub, Nadia Hasan, an assistant professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at York University, said recognizing both Nakba Day and an official definition for APR would set Canada apart from other countries. "These are important things for Canada to take very seriously," Hasan said. "I think it would be a first and an important step for Canada to lead on." The report examines the increase in Islamophobic verbal and physical attacks directed at Arab and Palestinian Canadians since the beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities and military bases near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, including more than 700 civilians, and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's military response has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, killing more than 61,000 people — mostly civilians — according to Palestinian health authorities. The report says its findings are based on interviews conducted virtually with 16 Canadian community-based organizations that focus on addressing Islamophobia, APR and anti-Arab racism. Media reports were also used. The report does not include any first-hand accounts from victims or injured parties. Recommendations and calling out the CBC The report calls for greater oversight of post-secondary institutions by striking "advisory tables" made up of students and faculty to develop strategies for colleges and universities to use in combatting discrimination on campus. The authors of the report also call for those institutions to undergo third-party reviews of how they responded to incidents of Islamophobia and campus protests against the war in Gaza. They say school boards across Canada should also face province-wide reviews to determine how schools have dealt with incidents of anti-Palestinian racism and examine "cases that were insufficiently or never investigated." Aside from the increased scrutiny on universities, colleges and school boards across the county, the report wants to establish provincial and territorial "hate crime accountability units." The units would allow people alleging they have been the victims of discrimination to "report directly about law enforcement agencies' mishandling of hate-motivated crime cases." The report also calls for Canada's public broadcaster to be "reviewed to ensure fair and balanced coverage of Palestinian perspectives." This external review, the report says, should probe the possibility that CBC is disproportionately "rejecting Palestinian guest commentators" leading to biased media coverage. The report provides two reasons for its focus on CBC. The first is a report by a former employee who alleged she faced backlash for pitching "stories that would bring a balanced perspective" to the war in Gaza. The second reason is a letter sent to CBC signed by more than 500 members of the Racial Equity Media Collective asking the public broadcaster to "address an apparent pattern of anti-Palestinian bias, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism within the corporation's news and documentary culture." CBC's head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said an external review is not necessary because CBC is already accountable to the independent CBC Ombudsman, Maxime Bertrand, who regularly reviews complaints about the corporation's journalism. "CBC News has amplified countless Palestinian voices in our ongoing coverage of the conflict in Gaza," he said. "There are now thousands of stories we've published and broadcast about Israel and Gaza since 2023, all archived here … we think the work speaks for itself." The York University report references CBC News journalism covering dozens of instances of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. A policy for MPs The report is also calling on Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein, who administers the Conflict of Interest Act and the code of conduct for MPs, to be given increased responsibilities. The commissioner, the report says, "should develop a clear and enforceable policy on how parliamentarians are to be held accountable when they disseminate disinformation, especially … when such acts target marginalized communities." It provides only one example of an MP allegedly spreading disinformation, a post on X by Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman. The post includes the line: "Stickers with ❤️s glorifying terror on campus popped up today at UBC." The report notes the stickers were falsely associated with the UBC Social Justice Centre. CBC News has reached out to the Official Opposition for reaction to the allegation but has yet to receive a response. The 15 recommendations contained in the report also call on the federal government to address issues with the temporary resident visa program for refugees fleeing Gaza and probe alleged Israeli foreign interference in Canada. A Senate report released November 2023 found Islamophobia remains a persistent problem in Canada and concrete action is required to reverse the growing tide of hate across the country. The report, the first of its kind in Canada, took a year and involved 21 public meetings and 138 witnesses. It said incidents of Islamophobia are a daily reality for many Muslims and that one in four Canadians do not trust Muslims. Police and advocacy organizations have also reported increases in antisemitic incidents. In the spring, B'nai Brith Canada reported that in 2024 the total number of reported cases of acts of hatred targeting Jews had reached a record high of 6,219 incidents.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Muslims leaders say anti-Palestinian racism is casting a chill on free speech
OTTAWA – Public and private institutions are violating the speech rights of those speaking out against Israel's war in Gaza, say Muslim leaders who are calling for official government recognition of anti-Palestinian racism. York University professor Nadia Hasan says schools and employers are linking Palestinian culture with terrorism and retaliating against people already traumatized by the war in Gaza. Hasan, who runs the Islamophobia Research Hub, says there has not been enough prosecution or public pushback in response to incidents of anti-Muslim hate, which further emboldens those committing violence. Her group has released a report that says corporations were quick to issue statements of support for Jewish Canadians after the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, but have not spoken out about Israeli policies causing mass death and hunger. Amira Elghawaby, Ottawa's special representative on combating Islamophobia, says students are being bullied or officially punished for wearing a traditional scarf called a kaffiyeh, or for posting a Palestinian flag on social media. The report urges all levels of government to officially recognize anti-Palestinian racism and calls on Ottawa to crack down on foreign interference that targets Muslims in Canada. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2025.
