Stockwell Day’s recent comment about Muslims and Canadian values is wrong and dangerous

Day’s comments fit neatly into a pattern where Muslims are framed as inherently suspect, inherently foreign, and inherently incompatible with Canadian values.

By Fareed Khan

A version of this article can be found on Substack.

When former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day recently questioned the compatibility of Muslim values and Canadian values, he did more than repeat a worn-out, groundless talking point. He poured gasoline on a fire already burning across the country — a fire stoked by years of political opportunism, media sensationalism, and a growing willingness among public figures to treat Muslims as a problem that Canada had to deal with rather than as full citizens. Day’s claim is not only demonstrably false, it is reckless, inflammatory, and deeply harmful to millions of Canadians who have every right to call this country home.

Day has a record of rejecting facts about racism in Canada, famously insisting on national television in 2020 that systemic racism does not exist in Canada — a statement so out of touch with reality that it cost him his seat on the board of Telus, his position as a strategic advisor with the law firm McMillan LLC, and his role as a regular panellist on CBC’s Power & Politics. His latest comments follow the same pattern — sweeping declarations that erase the lived experiences of a racialized community, denying historical reality, and emboldening those who already view Muslims with suspicion or hostility.

This comment comes at a time when Canada is experiencing a surge in Islamophobia unlike anything seen since the aftermath of 9/11. During the 12 months after October 2023 incidents of anti-Muslim hate rose by 1,800% according to the National Council of Canadian Muslims and another 72% the following year.  During the same period political rhetoric has hardened, and media narratives increasingly frame Muslims as outsiders or threats because of their advocacy for Palestinians and their demonstrations against the genocide Israel is committing in Gaza. In this climate, Day’s words do not exist in isolation. They legitimize prejudice, signal permission for bigotry, and tell Muslim Canadians — especially youth — that their place in this country is conditional, fragile, and perpetually under review.

If Day truly believes Muslim values clash with Canadian ones, he should be asked to specify which values he means. Charity? Justice? Equality? Respect for religious diversity? These are not fringe concepts for Muslims, but rather foundational principles of the Islamic faith.

Zakat, the obligation to give to those in need, is one of the five pillars of the faith. The Qur’an also teaches that all humans share a common origin and that no race or tribe is superior to another other than through piety (49:13). In addition, Islam recognizes Jews and Christians as “People of the Book,” granting them respect and religious legitimacy. These teachings align seamlessly with Canada’s stated commitments to multiculturalism, equality, and human dignity.

If these values are “un‑Canadian,” then Muslims aren’t the issue it’s people like Stockwell Day.

Canada’s social contract and who is breaking it

Canada’s strength has always come from its ability to integrate people from every corner of the world into a shared civic project. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not fringe concepts, they are central to the country’s identity. Yet Day and others on the political right have spent years attacking these principles as “woke,” a term now used as shorthand for those who oppose racism and hate, embrace inclusion and diversity, and defend human rights.

When politicians rail against “wokeness,” they are not critiquing policy — they are signaling hostility towards the diversity of people who make up Canada. Quebec’s secularism law (Bill 21), which targets Muslim women who wear hijab, is a prime example of how governments cave in to public prejudice and weaponize hate and bigotry rather than uphold the fundamental Charter rights of Canadians. As documented in analyses of the law’s impact, Bill 21 has already derailed careers, pushed Muslim women out of public‑facing jobs, and normalized state‑sanctioned discrimination.

Similarly, federal and provincial leaders have used police powers and legal threats to suppress peaceful protests against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel — protests largely led by Muslim Canadians exercising their Charter rights. These actions contradict the very democratic values and freedoms politicians like Day claim to defend.

If anyone is violating Canada’s social contract, it is not Muslim Canadians, it is those politicians who selectively apply rights and freedoms depending on who is exercising them.

The human cost of Day’s rhetoric

Day’s comments inflict a heavy psychological burden on Muslim youth. Imagine growing up in Canada — celebrating Canada Day, cheering for national teams in hockey or the recent World Cup, dreaming of representing your country in sports or wanting to run for public office, only to hear a former national political leader declare that your faith makes you incompatible with the nation you love.

Whether he accepts it or not, Day’s words have real world impacts. Muslim Canadians have lived through decades of being “othered” by politicians like him, especially after 9/11, when children were assaulted on school grounds and called “terrorist,” mosques were vandalized, Muslim community  leaders received death threats, and Muslim businesses were targeted. The demonization of Muslims in media and politics helped create the conditions that led to the Quebec City mosque massacre in 2017, the murder of a Muslim volunteer outside a Toronto mosque in September 2020, and the killing of three generations of the Afzaal family in London in June 2021.

These tragedies did not emerge from a vacuum. They grew from toxic and racist narratives — the same narratives Day is reinforcing with his comment.

Recent analyses show that Islamophobia has become deeply embedded in Canada’s political and media ecosystem. Right‑wing outlets profit from sensationalist and prejudiced coverage that casts Muslims as threats. Right wing politicians exploit fear to mobilize voters. Governments pass laws that disproportionately target Muslim communities. And public figures like Day feel comfortable making dangerous and sweeping claims with little regard to the lives affected.

This normalization of anti‑Muslim hate is documented extensively in reporting on Canada’s response to global conflicts, particularly Israel’s war on Gaza, where Muslim voices, which are the largest segment of the anti-genocide movement, have been marginalized, vilified, or dismissed as disloyal. When Muslim Canadians speak out against human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza, they are accused of being terrorist supporters. When they demand accountability from political leaders, they are told they are undermining Canadian values.

Day’s comments fit neatly into this pattern, where Muslims are framed as inherently suspect, inherently foreign, inherently incompatible.

Even under minimal scrutiny Day’s assertion collapses under the weight of the historical record. From the time that Islam expanded from the Middle East across North Africa to the Atlantic and west to South Asia, Muslim civilizations were among the most pluralistic in the world. In Andalusia, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together peacefully for centuries, producing advances in science, philosophy, and culture that helped spark the European Renaissance. The Ottoman Empire welcomed Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Persian and Mughal empires had vibrant Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Hindu communities, which produced some of history’s greatest works of art, architecture, and literature.

Meanwhile, Christian Europe repeatedly expelled Jews, launched violent pogroms against Jewish communities, and waged wars of religious domination against non-Christians for centuries.

If anything, the historical record shows that Islamic societies were more tolerant, more diverse, and more inclusive than many Western ones, even into the 20th century when Muslim states from Morocco Iraq had vibrant Jewish and Christian communities until Zionist elements instilled fear into those communities and convinced them that they could only be safe in Israel.  So the idea that Muslim values are incompatible with Canadian values is not only wrong, it is historically illiterate.

Muslims helped build Canada since before Confederation

Muslims are not newcomers to Canada. They have been here since before Confederation, contributing to the country’s development in every sector. Today, nearly 2.3 million Muslims call Canada home — about 5% of the population — and their achievements reflect the best of Canadian society.

Justice Mahmud Jamal made history in 2021 when he became the first racialized person and the first Muslim justice to sit on the Supreme Court.  Toronto human rights lawyer Faisal Kutty, an acclaimed legal scholar and writer has consistently been named among the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world for his extensive social justice advocacy.  Nazem Kadri, a celebrated NHL forward became the first Muslim hockey player to win the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, famously bringing the trophy to his local hometown mosque in London, Ontario. Mohammed Ahmed, Canada’s most decorated long-distance runner and a multi-time Olympian, secured Canada’s first ever Olympic silver medal in the 5000m at the Tokyo Games and a World Championship bronze. Naheed Nenshi served three terms as the Mayor of Calgary (2010–2021), becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major North American city and winning the 2014 World Mayor Prize. He is currently the leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party. Ibrahim “Obby” Khan played nine seasons in the Canadian Football League, later transitioning into business and becoming the first Muslim elected to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, and subsequently being selected as the leader of the Manitoba PC Party. Zarqa Nawaz created the ground breaking CBC television comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, recognized globally as the first mainstream sitcom about a Muslim community living in the West. Bilal Baig made history as the first trans-feminine South Asian Muslim creator and star of a Canadian prime-time television series with the critically acclaimed CBC show Sort Of. And Ali Abouchadi pioneered trade and commerce in northern Alberta during the 1920s by operating a floating general store that served isolated communities along the Athabasca and Arctic waterways.

These are examples of a long tradition of Muslim excellence — people whose values allowed them to thrive and succeed in Canada despite not being part of the white majority.  If these individuals, and millions like them, are “incompatible” with Canadian values, then the term has lost all meaning.

Day’s logic collapses further when applied consistently. If the actions of extremists define an entire community, then white Canadians — whose members committed the Quebec City mosque massacre, the Toronto mosque murder, and the London truck attack — would also be “incompatible” with Canadian values. But you don’t hear that association being made by people like Day, because that would be absurd. No serious person judges an entire faith or ethnicity by the actions of a very small minority. Except, apparently, people like Stockwell Day.

Muslim Canadians should never be made to feel they must choose between their faith and their country. They are neither guests nor outsiders, and they are not conditional citizens. They are part of the Canadian story — historically, culturally, politically, and socially.

Day’s remarks aren’t merely wrong — they are reckless. They give oxygen to bigots, fracture social trust, and signal to millions of Muslim Canadians that their belonging in this country is somehow negotiable. Canada deserves leaders who strengthen our social fabric, not men who tear at its seams for attention.

Stockwell Day’s era of relevance ended long ago. He has nothing meaningful to contribute to conversations about Canadian identity, diversity, or democratic values. The most constructive thing he can do now is step back, stay silent, and stop injecting ignorance into a national discourse already poisoned by rampant Islamophobia.

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