How do Canadians Combat Islamophobia?

Picture Courtest: Charette's facebook Page

The Ottawa resident  Hailey DeJong  had no idea what she was going to face when she left her home and  headed off to the Rideau Centre to do some shopping.  The 20-year-old convert to Islam  was rattled when her fellow passenger shouted profane remarks at her about her appearance in the niqab during the bus ride. (Niqab is a traditional cloth piece that some Muslim women wear to cover their heads and faces.) Later the abusive man called her a terrorist and a freak. Yet, DeJong is grateful to the bus driver Alain Charette, who parked the bus and came back to her defence. The driver warned the abusive passenger that he would have to face the police if he didn't get off the bus immediately.

These incidents of Islamophobia seem ordinary but leave painfully deep scars on the soul. And the support one gets in these instances means a lot for the victim, "I just told him [Charette] what it meant to me and what it means to our community because Islamophobia is such a problem," says Dejong in an interview with the CBC.

According to the Toronto Police, hate crimes are  rising in Canada and there is a noted increase in incidents targeting the Muslim community. Similarly, Muslims feel a strong societal pressure to respond to answer the violent acts carried out in the name of Islam. Veiled or hijabi women are often more vulnerable as targets of Islamophobia because of their apparent identity.

The good news is that the victims are often supported by fellow Canadians like Charette in their war against hatred. An average Canadian rejects racism and intolerance against any targetted community.

"Oh absolutely! it does exist. If anybody tells you that Islamophobia doesn't exist in Canada, he is not telling you the truth,"  says Amarjeet Sohi --the federal minister for infrastructure and communities-- answering to a question about the existence of Islamophobia in the Canadian society in a face to face interview (taken before the 2015 elections when he was a councillor in Edmonton city)

"Muslim community  is passing through the same difficult time we [Sikh Community] faced after Air India bombing," he refers to the biggest terrorist attack on the Canadian soil in 1984 in the aftermath of the Golden Temple military assault in India. "Every Sikh was seen as a terrorist in those days."

Muslims represent the fastest growing religious minority in Canada today but their perception is fueled by security concerns. A recent  survey conducted by Environics Institute  suggest that  an overwhelming majority  (83%) of Muslim Canadians reported being very proud Canadians, compared to 73% Non-Muslim Canadians but at the same time, one-third of them reported discrimination because of their religion. The problem largely stems from the fact that the Muslim community is not well understood by other Canadians, whose impressions are formed largely through generalizations and stereotypes in the international media.

Picture Courtesy: Toronto Star

Yet, a recent  ad campaign launched by the city of Toronto shows the thoughtfulness and concern of the Canadian government to combat Islamophobia. One of the ads, placed in 100 bus shelters across Toronto features a white male in profile telling a woman in a hijab to go back where she came from. "Where," the woman responds, "North York? Pointing to the fact that all Canadians have immigrant backgrounds except the first nations. The campaign which is a joint collaboration of the city and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants cost around $ 80,000.

Last year, the niqab became a defining issue in the Canadian election campaign when Zunera Ishaq, a Pakistani housewife, challenged the Harper government's policy of banning the niqab during the citizenship oath in the Federal Court. The court declared the niqab-ban unlawful stating that it violates the Canadian Citizenship Act and federal regulations which allow would-be-citizens the greatest possible religious freedom.

"One certainly experience prejudice but I feel people are not bad, they are just ignorant of our culture,"  says Ishaq.  Ishaq strongly trusts the Canadian judiciary  who rejected the sitting prime minister's appeal against an immigrant, "I can never think of challenging the government in Pakistan," says Ishaq mentioning the fact that she enjoys freedom and justice in her adopted country.

Similarly, the Canadian police have been assiduous to react hate crimes and Islamophobia. In various instances, Police commissioners have assured Muslim communities of their full support in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Europe and the US.  When Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council  initiated an Islamophobia hotline to report   incidents of discrimination or harassment against Muslims, Edmonton police welcomed the move.

However,  some African Muslim of Somali descent complained  of unfair treatment from the Edmonton police  and racial profiling during the random search on streets. As a response, Edmonton Coalition of Human Rights --made up of agencies, activists, lawyers and students-- organised a forum to listen to the complaints and documented them. Considering a large number of complaints, John Humphrey Center for Peace and Human Rights generously offered the community's volunteers a special training of documenting the incidents of racial profiling to be submitted to relevant agencies. Edmonton Police maintained that they appreciate the submission of complaints and are ready to review them.

Canadian Human rights organizations have always advocated religious freedom guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Human Rights. They provide legal help to victims of Islamophobia and encourage them to file a petition in the court. When in January this year, a 19-year-old University of Alberta student Sari Gulab was refused services in a shop because of her niqab, the human rights organizations urged her to sue the shopkeeper stressing that it was her right to wear whatever suited to her religious beliefs. Sari refused the suggestion of litigation and sent flowers to the perpetrator of the hate crime.

The Canadian public also vociferously rejects the bigotry and prejudice. When a Quebec judge refused to hear the case of a Syrian-Canadian lady Rania El-Alloul against the automobile insurance board which had seized her vehicle --telling her that the case would not be heard until she removed her head cover-- an online Canadian group raised $52,230  as a gift for her so that she could buy herself a new car. Although, she refused to accept the gift but the awareness raised by this campaign was enormous. Later, the campaigners came up with the idea of  creating a perpetual $500 annual bursary with an amount of $20,000 called  ‘Rania El-Alloul Bursary’ for any student who demonstrated a commitment to combat injustice and protect human rights.  El-Alloul later pursued the legal action through the National Council of Canadian Muslims also called NCCM. NCCM has been very active in delivering legal help when it comes to the religious rights of Canadian Muslims.

Wherever possible, Canadian civil institutions attempt to play a proactive role in combating Islamophobia.  In February this year, International Hijab day was observed in public schools throughout Canada to bring awareness to the Canadian public about the diverse cultural traits of the Canadian Muslims.

But with all this support available from the Canadian civil society, human rights organisations, police, and judiciary, the Muslim community's responsibility to respond timely and positively to such events increases many manifolds. It has been observed that the new converts as well as the first generation Canadians  (Children of immigrant parents, born and raised in Canada) are more prompt in registering their complaints as compared to new immigrants to report and react to Islamophobic incidents effectively.

For instance, DeJong not only thanked Charette before leaving the bus she also managed to take a selfie of her with him and wrote a public appreciation letter to an Ottawa news outlet, Muslim Link .  The letter went viral on the social media as Charette posted the link on his facebook account with his humane remarks.  Ottawa Police, OC Transpo (the Ottawa Bus Corporation also appreciated Charette on their respective twitter accounts. The story was later covered by the Canadian national media as the media is also swift in responding to racist bullying incidents and tends to fairly report the perspectives of all parties involved.

Though the incidents of terrorism on the name of Islam and their skewed portrayal by the international media negatively influences the Canadian public perception of Muslims, the current liberal government rejects any association of terrorism with the Muslim community,  "We [liberals] are against associating terrorism with any religious group. There are political reasons behind terrorism and they must be tackled if we want to tackle terrorism." says Sohi.

"Terrorism is not a reflection of one's culture. It's a reflection of individual's distorted views of whatever faith they belong to but it has nothing to do with Islam. As it has nothing to do with Christianity and Sikhism or any other religion," Sohi reiterates.

Canadian Muslims are not alone in their fight against Islamophobia, the Canadian public, and civic institutions largely refuse to be a part of it and full square support their Muslim neighbours. Yet, the Muslim community needs to devise a well thought out strategy to reduce the social gap with broader Canadian societies. The human rights Experts emphasize on the Muslim community to work on joint ventures (not necessarily related to Islamophobia) with their other Canadian neighbours to improve interfaith understanding and relations. "(Islamophobia) is a complex and long-term issue. Muslim and non-Muslim individuals and organizations can collaborate on joint activities and public education initiatives," says professor Audrey Macklin,  Professor and Chair in Human Rights at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto.

Tazeen Hasan is a Journalism student at Harvard Extension School.