On the second anniversary of hate-motivated murder of Muslims in London, Ontario, governments’ efforts to fight all forms of hate are woefully inadequate

"There have been ample opportunities for federal leaders to go beyond political spin about fighting hate and racism in favour of meaningful and decisive actions over the past several years as hate crime numbers have continued to increase."

 

By Fareed Khan

 

Two years ago, on June 6, 2021, Canadians were shocked to hear of another deadly act of hate targeting Muslims, when a white supremacist drove a pick-up truck into five members of a Muslim family while they were out for a walk in London, Ontario.  The hate-motivated crime resulted in the deaths of Yumna Afzaal (age 15), Madiha Salman (age 44), Talat Afzaal (age 74) and Salman Afzaal (age 46).  Nine-year-old Fayez Afzaal, who was seriously injured in the attack, was left orphaned as a result of the hate crime.

Since this horrific attack occurred there has been a 71% rise in hate crimes targeting Muslims, and there has been a 72% increase in hate crimes overall, according to Statistics Canada's annual hate crimes report.  In spite of these disturbing numbers the federal and provincial governments only seem to be tinkering around the edges in addressing hate and white supremacy across the country rather than taking an aggressive and coordinated approach to fighting these growing cancers in our society.  This is despite the calls by anti-hate advocacy groups representing various minority communities that for years have called on the government to take more aggressive action against the rising tide of hate, and even though a 2015 CSIS report concluded that home-grown white supremacist and right wing extremist groups posed a bigger security threat to Canada than foreign terrorist groups like ISIS or Al-Qaeda.

 

Since the Afzaal family was murdered there have been numerous high profile anti-Muslim hate crimes in different parts of Canada reported in the media.  In March of 2022 Peel Region police were called to the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario after a man with a hatchet and a can of bear spray attacked congregants who were gathered for early morning prayer.  A number of the men in attendance wrestled him to the floor and held him until police arrived.  The same month the mosque in St. John’s, Newfoundland was vandalized while someone was inside praying.  He was left “shaken to the core” and the small Muslim community in St. John’s was left very unsettled.  In addition, during Ramadan Muslim worshippers leaving a Scarborough mosque were victims of a drive by shooting.  Fortunately no one was injured in the incident.

 

In 2023 there have been a series of high profile hate incidents targeting Muslims in Ontario and Quebec.  On March 31st worshippers attending Toronto’s Towfiq Islamic Centre found hateful messages sprayed in red, defacing the front of the mosque when they arrived for worship, which police investigated as a hate crime.  On April 9th in Montreal a Muslim man was followed as he was entering a downtown mosque and threatened with a shovel.  After the congregant entered the mosque and locked the door the male assailant smashed the glass with a concrete block, stormed into the mosque and yelled racial and Islamophobic slurs at those gathered to pray before running out.  Another incident, also on April 9th, occurred at the Islamic Society of Markham, where a man rushed into the mosque, yelled Islamophobic slurs at those gathered inside, threatened to burn down the mosque, and then tried to run over worshippers with his car as he drove out of the mosque’s parking lot.  A few days later at a mosque in Richmond Hill a man threatened and then assaulted several congregants outside the mosque before driving away.  The assailant in this incident was caught and charged by York Region police.   A fifth incident occurred in Kitchener, Ontario, where things could have turned deadly, when two Muslim women were accosted by a man at gunpoint while walking home from morning prayers.

 

 

Of course these are just the incidents that involve Muslims.  According to the Statistics Canada annual report there has also been a significant increase in hate crimes targeting Black people, who have experienced a 91% increase in hate-motivated attacks, a 77% increase in hate crimes linked to sexual orientation, and a 64% increase in those related to gender identity.  In addition, there has been a 500% increase in racist incidents or crimes involving police when they engaged with Indigenous people compared to non-Indigenous people.  Despite these dramatic increased in acts of hate targeting all racialized, religious and gender diverse communities across the country it seems that Canada’s political leaders are paying lip service when it comes to tackling all types of hate in a decisive and meaningful way.

 

Furthermore, it should be noted that politicians seem to be quick to get in front of cameras and microphones to condemn hate crimes or to make statements about how such things are "unacceptable" in this country.  Federal party leaders and provincial premiers have made a point of speaking at events commemorating hate-motivated incidents where victims are killed or injured.  However, when it comes to putting in place the resources and funds to fight hate in a decisive way not only are government initiatives insufficient to meet the needs, but more often than not they leave the heavy lifting up to community and non-profit groups which don't have the capacity to lead a national effort to fight the growing wave of hate and white supremacy in this country.  What has been put in place by governments, such as the federal government’s commitment in its 2022 budget of $84 million over four years, is inadequate to push back against the increasing waves of hate Canadians are witnessing.  This needs to change before Canada sees the level of hateful rhetoric that is occurring in the US, much of it coming from politicians, governments and evangelical Christian groups, targeting various minority communities, and most recently the LGBTQ community.  This rhetoric poses a clear and present danger to these communities and it is only a matter of time before tragedy strikes.

 

For years anti-hate and advocacy groups across the country have repeatedly called on federal and provincial governments to take aggressive action and coordinate with each other to fight hate in Canada.  But the actions of both federal and provincial leaders have been woefully inadequate with only occasional progress.  And while we can criticize senior levels of government for their ineffectiveness in fighting hate, opposition parties in the House of Commons are also due for harsh criticism.

 

The biggest villain in this bunch is the Conservative Party, which didn’t even include the words “racism” or “white supremacy” in their 2021 election platform document, despite a reported increase in hate crimes the previous year.  This was before current Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre took over the Conservative leadership, a time when he decided to embrace the role of “hypocrite-in-chief” when it comes to fighting hate.  As a minister in Stephen Harper’s cabinet he pushed the message of an inclusive Conservative Party (as did other ministers) while he supported the government’s court case against a Muslim woman who refused to remove her niqab (a face covering worn by some observant Muslim women) in a citizenship ceremony.  A case which the Harper government lost.  He followed that up with support for the so-called “barbaric cultural practices” tip line, which was seen by many as a blatantly racist attack targeting the cultural or religious practices of certain immigrant communities.  In opposition Poilievre associated with and supported white supremacist and racist elements since before he launched his campaign for the Party’s leadership.  He stood behind former leader Andrew Scheer in his support of the extremist “yellow vests” movement, which embraced anti-immigrant and anti-refugee racism, and he made a point of vocally and visibly supporting the leaders the convoy protest in 2022, despite the fact that the key protest leaders had a record of promoting racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and other forms of hate.

In addition, Poilievre has turned a blind eye to members of his caucus who met or collaborated with agents of hate, or posted hateful messages on social media.  Several members of the Conservative caucus willingly met with a neo-Nazi member of the European Parliament, who had a record of promoting anti-immigrant and racist narratives.  When called out on this he responded with platitudes, insincere mea culpas, or slaps on the wrist for his offending MPs.  He has continued to issue statements about how the Conservative Party does not condone hate (words deemed to be worthless by many anti-hate activists) while at the same time he and his caucus continue to associate with hateful elements behind the scenes.

 

There is also the matter of the lack of conviction demonstrated by all party leaders to oppose government sanctioned racism and Islamophobia in Quebec.  When asked what action they would take to oppose Quebec’s so-called “secularism” law (Bill 21) – a law deemed to be racist and unconstitutional by lawyers and human rights experts – Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh said they would only take action if the law came before the Supreme Court, while Pierre Poilievre and previous Conservative Party leaders said it is an issue for Quebec voters to address, and BQ leader Yves Francois Blanchet has supported Quebec’s right to implement such laws even if they violate the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of minority communities.

 

There have been ample opportunities for federal leaders to go beyond political spin about fighting hate and racism in favour of meaningful and decisive actions over the past several years as hate crime numbers have continued to increase.  But despite considerable mainstream and social media coverage of hate motivated violence against Muslims, Black people, Jews, Indigenous people, Asian Canadians, members of the LGBTQ2 community, and others, Canadian politicians seem to be okay with taking a go slow approach to respond rather than taking urgent and aggressive action.

 

Whether it’s Muslims or other vulnerable minority communities in Canada, words are no longer enough.  Action speaks louder, and action to fight the growing tide of hate in this country should have been taken years ago.  The fact that it hasn’t in spite of the mounds of data showing the growing detrimental social and economic impact that hate is having on the fabric of Canadian society calls into question the leadership and character of those who are leading governments in this country or hope to do so in the future.

 

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