The View From Here

2022-11-02

By disqualifying Anjali Appadurai from party’s leadership race BC NDP sends message that smart, savvy, racialized women need not apply

By Fareed Khan and Jenn Courtney

When British Columbia premier John Horgan announced his resignation earlier this year, thereby initiating a race for the leadership of the province’s New Democratic Party, little did anyone expect that it would end in controversy with the party disqualifying Anjali Appadurai, one of the two candidates in the race.

Many NDP supporters reacted to the decision by claiming that it smacks of racism and misogyny, and is the latest example of how the party has strayed from its social democratic roots under Horgan's leadership. The party that prides itself on standing for progressive values, promoting diversity, equity and inclusivity, fighting racism, and supporting women has done exactly the opposite with this decision.

The reason given for Appadurai's disqualification is that she broke rules set out by the NDP for the leadership race by engaging with a third party to help sell memberships in support of her candidacy. However, the rules prohibiting third party engagement came into effect on August 31st and were retroactively applied to an event Appadurai attended on August 6th. How can someone be disqualified for violating a rule that did not exist at the time the alleged infraction took place? Appadurai's supporters and long-time party members have called this retroactive application of the rule unjust and undemocratic, and expressed disappointment and disgust by this betrayal of NDP values.

One has to wonder what the party's top leaders were thinking when they made this decision, and how they treated Appadurai in its aftermath. According to leaked reports the party did not give her an opportunity to appeal the disqualification, and a motion at the leadership council to allow an appeal was dismissed outright.

On its face the disqualification certainly appears to be an example of racism and misogyny, not to mention that racialized communities which flocked to support Appadurai will see it as further political disenfranchisement of people who are vastly underrepresented in politics.

But the fix seemed to be in from the beginning. The NDP attacked Appadurai from the moment she announced her candidacy, and sabotaged her every step of the way – a flagrantly anti-democratic move against a racialized woman who dared to threaten the hold of the white boys club at the top of the party.

During the campaign Appadurai was clearly more successful in selling party memberships than BC cabinet minister David Eby, the only other candidate in the race who was supported by the NDP establishment. She brought back alienated former supporters while energizing new supporters from racialized communities. She tirelessly recruited members, who joined with the expectation that they would be able choose who would lead the party. By disqualifying Appadurai the party denied those members their democratic right, and damaged relationships with new and returning supporters. Jagmeet Singh used a similar recruitment approach when he ran for the federal NDP leadership. The only difference is that Singh was allowed to run, and eventually became leader of the federal NDP, while Appadurai was torpedoed for being too successful in her campaign.

What message does the NDP decision send to young, racialized women in British Columbia? The answer is that they are welcome in the party as long as they are prepared to be a prop, and they had better not get uppity, or embarrass those who control the party. At its heart, the decision to terminate Appadurai’s candidacy speaks directly to the issues faced by all racialized Canadians in politics, especially racialized women.

With Appadurai’s disqualification Eby was handed the leadership of the BC NDP on a silver platter. He was anointed to preserve the power of the party’s white elites, and we know this because his only opponent, a Brown woman who was on track to win, was disqualified on the weakest of pretenses.

It is beyond insulting for the NDP to use racialized women members as fodder to propagandize support from racialized communities. But it seems if those women dare to give voters what they actually want then they had better watch out, because that would threaten those who control the party, something that cannot be permitted.

In today’s Canada it is crucial for young, racialized women to see themselves represented in political leadership roles. The NDP in BC claims to welcome such women, but in this instance it chose to silence a woman of colour because she dared to challenge the old boys network. NDP supporters and BC voters will not forget this betrayal, and the party will pay a political price when the public realizes that its leaders cannot be trusted to live up to the values it claims to support.

Fareed Khan is the Founder of Canadians United Against Hate / Canadiens Unis Contre la Haine.

Jenn Courtney is the British Columbia Director for Canadians United Against Hate / Canadiens Unis Contre la Haine.

2022-10-24

OP-ED -- New Alberta premier says the un-vaxxed are "the most-discriminated against group" in her lifetime

"Her white privilege has clearly contributed to her ignorance about the racism faced by members of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) communities."

By Fareed Khan & Trent Daley

Oct 19, 2022

https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-danielle-smith-must-apologize-for-calling-unvaxxed-the-most-discriminated-group

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith decided to mark the start of her leadership of Alberta by demonstrating a serious lack of leadership when she made a comment in a media conference last week that unvaccinated people are “the most discriminated-against group” in her lifetime. In the opinion of many Albertans, including opposition MLAs and leaders of racialized communities, she must apologize unreservedly for her outrageous and ignorant comment.

Perhaps Smith has not met very many racialized people in her lifetime or learned about Canada’s history of racism? But in truth this is not ignorance or an isolation bubble, but rather a premier adopting divisive and dog-whistle rhetoric representing white supremacy and anti-intellectualism.

Despite numerous calls to do so, Smith has failed to apologize for making the comment or adequately address the incident. Instead, she responded by claiming that her comment was referring to people facing government restrictions. Whether that is the case or not, it is still wrong and offensive.

In addition, past social media posts have come to light showing that Smith engaged in genocide denial in relation to Indigenous people. How can someone who aspired to be leader of Alberta have posted such lies and disinformation when we have been hearing more and more stories about the horrific experiences of Indigenous people over the past decade?

The premier’s comment shows she is out of touch with reality, and that Alberta now has a leader who is ignorant of the ugly, racist history of Canada. To claim that the unvaccinated have been more discriminated against than Indigenous people, Black people, Muslims, Jews or the 2SLGBTQ+ community, is beyond the pale. All these communities deserve an apology from Smith and she needs to publicly commit to learn how racism, hate and white supremacy have played major roles in Canada’s evolution.

Her white privilege has clearly contributed to her ignorance about the racism faced by members of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) communities. Historically, racialized Canadians and those from minority faith communities have had to face racism in their daily lives and continue to do so today. Just ask Indigenous people who have faced genocide, Black people who have experienced police brutality, or Muslims who have been targeted by governments under national security laws simply because of their faith. Smith’s comment does not instil confidence in Alberta’s BIPOC communities that she will be a friend to them.

Over the last several years, hate crimes have skyrocketed in Alberta and across the country, particularly during the pandemic. Indigenous children’s graves are still being discovered at former residential school sites, Muslim women have been attacked in Edmonton and Calgary and 11 Muslims have been killed in hate attacks since 2017, and yet Smith thinks that the unvaccinated are the bigger victims. It boggles the mind.

The vast majority of the unvaccinated made conscious decisions to not receive COVID vaccines, and as such, they pose a health threat to those with compromised immune systems. Furthermore, their decision violates the rights of those who are immunocompromised and discriminates against their right to live free of threats to their health. Why does the premier not express concern and outrage about how the freedoms of these people are being violated?

If the way she campaigned during the UCP leadership race is any indication, Smith has chosen to continue to embrace far-right ideologies and messaging, and has adopted the anti-government radicalism of the so-called “freedom” convoy as part of her brand. What we have is a premier flirting with domestic extremists, someone who has laid out the welcome mat for white supremacists, rather than representing all Albertans responsibly.

The only way that Smith can dissipate the outrage her comment elicited is to make a sincere apology to racialized and marginalized communities who have been the targets of hateful and racist attacks, who have faced government policies that have deprived them of their human rights, and commit that her government will stand against hate, racism and xenophobia, and defend those in affected communities.

Premier Smith needs to be held accountable for the harm her comment has caused. She must retract it lest the fallout from this incident energizes and enables far-right and white supremacist elements to further target BIPOC communities with racist violence.

Fareed Khan is founder of Canadians United Against Hate.

Trent Daley is on the Anti-racism Advisory Committee to the City of Edmonton.

© 2022 Edmonton Journal, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.

2022-09-14

Election of Pierre Poilievre as Conservative leader means Canada now has its own Trumpist political party headed by a politician who embraces extremism

By Fareed Khan

For the third time in five years the Conservative Party of Canada has elected a new leader. This time it is Ottawa area MP Pierre Poilievre. And if his campaign to lead the Conservatives is any indication then his victory poses a potential threat to Canada's democratic and social stability.

Since the start of Poilievre’s leadership campaign there have been repeated dire warnings by political analysts and media voices about the possible danger to Canada of a Poilievre led Conservative Party. Now that he has won the leadership Canadians need to pay more attention to those warnings.

One columnist called Poilievre "Canada’s most dangerous, appalling politician". Another who was critical of Poilievre's campaign tactics said that the Conservatives should now be called the "Convoy Party of Canada" given his embrace of that movement. A third media voice was extremely critical of Poilievre as a future prime minister given his association with "dangerous Diagolon extremists”. While a fourth accused him of using “abusive” and “sexist” language that endangered female journalists, racialized women journalists in particular.

The targeting of racialized and female journalists by some of his supporters is a phenomenon that Poilievre does not seem to take seriously, similar to what happened in the US under Donald Trump when media was labeled as an “enemy of the people”, and his supporters attacked and intimidated reporters who were critical of him. While Poilievre has not used those exact same words those he has used have motivated extremist, racist and misogynistic elements to target female and racialized journalists with threats of violence when they have portrayed him negatively in their stories.

In addition, these same elements have posted hateful comments on various social media platforms targeting minority communities, including the Jewish, Muslim and LGBTQ2 communities. Part of Poilievre’s victory can be attributed to support from these fringe elements of society, as did his willingness to welcome convoy protesters, white supremacists, homophobes and transphobes into his tent. If the reactions to his victory on social media are any indication a majority of Canadians are very unsettled, especially those from many minority communities.

The way that Poilievre ran his leadership campaign, and the fringe element that see him as "their guy", should raise all kinds of red flags for Canadians. His readiness to appeal to these unsavoury elements in society means that if the next election is won by the Conservatives Canada could see the same sort of societal divisiveness and instability in this country as we saw in the US during the Trump era.

Like the convoy protesters and extremists who supported him Poilievre's leadership poses a threat to Canada’s social and political stability. More so because the size of his leadership victory means that Tory voters from the far right to centrists decided to vote for him in overwhelming numbers despite warnings about the dangers of his style of politics. In the end Poilievre received 68 per cent of the vote giving him a decisive win, and a mandate to reshape the party in line with his own far right ideological views, as happened in the Republican Party after Trump became their presidential nominee. The world saw how that turned out during the January 6th insurrection, so what should Canadians expect given Poilievre’s support for protesters who wanted to overthrow the Canadian government?

The decision made by Conservative voters means Canadians now have a prime minister in waiting who wilfully practices toxic politics, believes in conspiracy theories, is comfortable with extreme right-wing political ideology, and follows a “Trumpist” approach to political campaigning. If we use the US example under Trump of what to expect in Canada, then a Tory party under Poilievre will cause Canadian politics to become even more polarized and toxic, and this will energize extremists to destabilize Canada’s social and political order.

With Poilievre’s Conservative leadership victory Canadians need to be ready to experience the kind of politics we have seen in the US during the Trump era. Poilievre used Trump’s playbook in his campaign and will likely continue to do so in his attempt to become prime minister. We saw how Trumpism in the US has led to more extremism, more hate, and deep societal divisions. If we want to avoid the same in Canada then Canadians need to be prepared to fight to preserve the soul of the nation from Poilievre’s Trumpist agenda.

2022-08-27

Hypocrisy and racism evident in Canadian foreign policy when it comes to defending human rights and international law

By Fareed Khan

August 25th was the fifth anniversary of military operations launched by Myanmar against the Rohingya in their efforts to wipe out the minority community in what constituted genocide. Since that date other nations have egregiously violated the fundamental rights of vulnerable minorities, thereby flouting two foundational documents of the United Nations – the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Canada played a significant role in drafting both these documents. So it is logical that as a nation claiming to be a defender of the international rule of law it would be committed to seeing them enforced. The prime minister and his ministers routinely claim that “Canada is a rule of law nation” and supports the international legal order. But lack of action to defend these documents says otherwise.

As we get beyond this grim anniversary Canadians need to question this nation’s sincerity in claiming to be a defender of the international legal order – a dubious claim laced with hypocrisy and racism given Canada’s repeated failure to act on international human rights issues, including a failure to act to prevent genocide.

The Genocide Convention clearly defines genocidal crimes under Article II. It includes any one of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national racial or religious group:

a) Killing members of the group.

b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.

c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

e) Forcibly transferring children of one group to another group.

In 2017 when the Rohingya crisis was front page news many Canadians pleaded with Justin Trudeau’s government to invoke the Genocide Convention and designate Myanmar’s crimes as genocide. Instead Trudeau waited two months before appointing Bob Rae as a “special envoy” to study the matter. When Rae issued his report five months later the Trudeau government ignored most of its recommendations.

In September 2018 Canada finally became the first nation to officially recognize the Rohingya genocide by two unanimous resolutions in the House of Commons and Senate. The resolutions stripped Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi of her honourary Canadian citizenship, but did nothing more to hold Myanmar accountable. Also, when Canadian human rights groups provided evidence to the government of Canadian companies doing business with Myanmar’s genocidal regime the government did nothing to hold these companies accountable.

Ultimately, the tiny West African nation of Gambia became the Rohingya’s white knight when it filed a complaint under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. Since then, in December 2019, September 2020 and July 2022, Canada has issued statements announcing it would support Gambia’s efforts without but has yet to follow through on the promises.

Canada’s failure to live up to its obligations under international law is not new. This nation has repeatedly failed to act in past similar crises, and examples abound – the Rwandan genocide, the Balkans genocide, the Darfur genocide. More recently, the Canadian government has done nothing in response to the genocide of the Uyghurs by China despite a Parliamentary resolution calling for action, and it has remained silent as ultra-nationalist and fascist Hindu politicians, have called for genocide of Indo-Muslims. In addition, Canada has failed to respond to Israeli politicians calling for genocide of Palestinians, including by a cabinet member.

In failing to live up to its international treaty obligations in these and other instances Canada demonstrates hypocrisy in its claims to being a defender of the international legal order.

Canada’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine also illustrates racism in its foreign policy, and that it has the ability to act forcefully to a crises if it wants. Immense resources and political capital have been (justifiably) committed to supporting Ukrainians (who are white and Christian) in defending their country from the Russian invasion. Compare that to the limited effort put forth to help non-white, non-Christian minorities in Asia and Africa who face horrors similar to what Ukrainians are facing.

The oppression and suffering of the Rohingya, Uyghurs, Indo-Muslims, Palestinians and others all require Canada to live up to the international treaties it signed, and support its claims to being a defender of the international legal order by putting actions behind its words. It is the only way these minority communities will have justice. Otherwise Canada’s claims are a fraud, and a stain on this nation’s reputation on the world stage, unless Canadian leaders choose to defend the human rights of all minority peoples with equal effort.

2022-06-10

Calls to fight hate and white supremacy going largely unheeded by politicians on first anniversary of Muslim family murder

By Fareed Khan

On June 6th Muslims across Canada marked the first anniversary of the day a white supremacist drove a truck into five members of a Muslim family while they were out for an afternoon walk in London, Ontario. The hate-motivated crime resulted in the death of Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their daughter Yumna Afzaal, 15, and Salman Afzaal's mother, Talat Afzaal, 74. The couple's son, Fayez, 9, was seriously injured in the attack and hospitalized. He was left orphaned as a result of the attack.

In the year since this Islamophobic attack there have been additional hate crimes committed against individual Muslims and the Muslim community. But it seems as if federal and provincial governments are not listening to anti-racism groups and anti-hate activists, who have called for an aggressive and coordinated effort to fight the increasing hate and white supremacy that Canadians are seeing.

Since the attack in London last June there have been numerous incidents of anti-Muslim hate. In March of this year a man with a hatchet entered a Mississauga mosque and managed to attack worshippers with bear spray before he was subdued. In the same month the mosque in St. John’s, Newfoundland was vandalized while someone was inside praying. During Ramadan Muslim worshippers leaving a Scarborough mosque were victims of a drive by shooting. In Surrey, British Columbia a man driving a car tried to run down a group of worshippers after they had left late evening prayers at the end of April. And in Alberta there have been a series of attacks targeting hijab-wearing Muslim women over the past year.

Despite this act of white supremacist terrorism last year, despite rising Islamophobia and hate targeting racialized communities over the past five years since the Quebec City mosque attack, and despite multiple incidents of violent hate directed at Muslims, and other racialized minorities, Canada’s political leaders seem to be playing political games rather than acting on calls to tackle hate in this country in a meaningful way.

Following the London attack politicians were quick to get in front of media to condemn this act of hate. All federal party leaders attended the London vigil in the days following the murder of the Afzaal Family to condemn racism and anti-Muslim hate. But little was done in the following months to turn those words into actions. It was only in the recent federal budget that there were measures and spending dedicated to fighting hate. But the amount budgeted was inadequate according to a number of anti-hate groups.

There was also hypocrisy on display at the London vigil for the Afzaals when Bloc Quebecois leader Yves Francois Blanchet spoke and expressed sympathy for the Muslim community. Meanwhile his party continued to support Quebec’s Bill 21 "secularism" law which deliberately targets Muslims and other racialized communities, and results in those communities being stigmatized.

Over the last five years there have been three anti-Muslim hate incidents which have resulted in the death of 11 members of the Muslim community, all committed by people who believed in white supremacist ideology. Since the Quebec City mosque attack in 2017 a Muslim volunteer was murdered by a neo-Nazi outside a west-end Toronto mosque in September 2020, and then the attack in London last year. It is only by sheer luck that the attacks this year in Mississauga, Scarborough, and Surrey did not turn deadly. Anti-hate activists wonder whether it take the death of more Muslims before governments take decisive action to fight rising hate and white supremacy in Canada.

Muslim organizations and anti-racism groups have repeatedly called on the federal government over the last several years to take an aggressive national leadership role in fighting Islamophobia and other forms of hate. But the government’s actions have generally been underwhelming according to groups like Canadians United Against Hate. When there has been occasional progress, like the budget funding announcement for anti-racism programs, the responsibility to lead the effort at a national level has been left up to small community-based and non-profit organizations without the experience or resources to do the job.

While the government can be justifiably criticized in its snail's pace effort to implement anti-hate programs, the official opposition does not have much to crow about in their commitment to fighting hate. Former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole failed to even mention racism once in the Conservative Party’s 2021 election document, and currently there is one candidate for the leadership of that party – MP Pierre Poilievre – who through his actions and words during the Ottawa occupation in February and since, has shown that he is happy to ally himself with racists, white supremacists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites.

Federal party leaders have also demonstrated a lack of conviction by failing to demonstrably and decisively oppose government sanctioned racism and Islamophobia in Quebec. During the 2019 and 2021 election when they were asked if they would take action to oppose Quebec’s Bill 21 "secularism" law if they formed government – a law deemed to be racist and unconstitutional by lawyers and human rights experts. Justin Trudeau, Erin O’Toole and Jagmeet Singh equivocated, with O'Toole saying it was Quebec's business, while BQ leader Blanchet said Quebec had the right to implement it even if it violated fundamental rights.

There have been ample opportunities for federal leaders to go beyond political spin about hate and racism in favour of meaningful and decisive actions over the past several years as we have seen increasing incidents of violent hate in Canada. Despite considerable mainstream and social media coverage of hate motivated violence against Muslims, Black people, Indigenous Canadians, Asian Canadians and others, Canadian leaders seem to be oblivious to the need for immediate and decisive action to respond to it.

For Muslims and Canada’s other racialized and minority communities words are no longer enough, action speaks louder, and action to fight the growing hate in this country is essential, and is needed now!

2022-05-30

It’s up to ordinary people to fight the hate and white supremacy poisoning society, and prevent the diversity, inclusion and acceptance we value from disappearing

By Fareed Khan (Founder, Canadians UnitedAgainst Hate)

The following is based on remarks delivered to the 2nd Annual George Floyd Memorial Lecture organized by the Canadian Congress on Diversity on May 25, 2022.

Two years ago the world witnessed the murder of a Black man (George Floyd) at the hands of a white police officer in the US when his death was recorded by an eyewitness on their cell phone. The perpetrator was ultimately convicted for the crime he committed. But this did little to wipe away the pain, anger and sense of injustice that was unleashed in 2020 as anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests erupted in cities in the US, Canada, Europe and other countries around the world. It is deeply troubling that it was only after George Floyd’s murder was captured on video that some politicians finally acknowledged that systemic and institutional racism within police forces was a serious problem that must be addressed, even though this was not the first time that an unarmed Black man had been killed by police under suspicious circumstances

Today’s memorial lecture takes place in the shadow of another violent and deadly act of hate targeting Black people. A little less than two weeks ago on May 14th an 18-year-old white supremacist opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York in a Black neighbourhood, killing 10 people and wounding three others in a racially motivated act of hate.

This was not a sporadic act of violence. It was a hate crime that was meticulously planned and carried out after the perpetrator posted a 180-page racist manifesto in which he embraced the myth of “the great replacement theory” – a white supremacist conspiracy theory which claims that white people are in danger of being wiped out as society becomes more racially diverse, and as increasing numbers of non-white immigrants are accepted by western countries.

This conspiracy theory is part of the white supremacist narrative that is supported and propagated by some Republican politicians in the US, by racist sympathizers in the media like Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, and by racist far right voices in Canada, like the people who organized the occupation of downtown Ottawa for three weeks in February.

There are many Canadians, including many among the nation’s political elites, who say that things are much better in Canada, that the type of racism that exists in the US doesn’t happen here. But this is an absolutely false assertion in a nation which was founded on Indigenous genocide, slavery and white supremacy.

Here is an example of the white blindness that exists among certain Canadian elites. This was the Tweet former federal cabinet minister Catherine McKenna posted following the Buffalo shooting: “Reading the news today, I’m feeling very fortunate to live in Canada — a diverse and tolerant country that values freedom while respecting human rights. We aren’t perfect, and building our country is an ongoing project, but I wouldn’t choose anywhere else.”

This is a statement that reeks of privilege by someone who was a Liberal cabinet minister when six Muslims were murdered by a white supremacist in a Quebec City mosque, when a Muslim man was murdered outside a Toronto mosque by a neo-Nazi, when a Muslim family was murdered by a white supremacist in London, Ontario, when Indigenous people were shot by the RCMP in New Brunswick during wellness checks, when a Black man with mental health issues was shot by Ottawa police, and when racism and white supremacy were on the rise across the country.

This is a prime example of the problem that racialized Canadians face. We are led by politicians who have lived white privileged lives who don’t seem to truly understand the problem. We are led by political leaders who are quick to get in front of a camera or microphone, or post on social media, to express “thoughts and prayers” every time there is violent racist incident but are not as quick to take action to fight hate when called to do so. And we have some Conservative and right wing politicians like Ottawa MP Pierre Poilievre, a man who is running to be leader of the Conservative Party, and People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, who are both happy to rub shoulders with and quietly seek the support of people who promote racist and white supremacist narratives, like the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, even while publicly saying they don’t want their support.

According to a Statistics Canada report released in March police reported hate crimes rose by 80 per cent in 2020 reaching their highest level ever. Hate crimes targeting East or Southeast Asian people rose 301 per cent, those targeting Black people increased by 92 per cent, those against Indigenous people went up by 152 per cent, and South Asians saw hate crimes targeting people from their community rise by 47 per cent. As for faith-based hate crimes, Canada’s Muslim and Jewish communities continue to be the prime targets.

These disturbing numbers are the latest example of the very real and growing problem with racism and white supremacy in Canada. And yet despite calls for action by anti-racism groups for the federal government to take leadership nationally to tackle the growing pandemic of hate and white supremacy their response has either been to move at a snail’s pace or not at all.

Even Black Liberal MPs are critical of their own government. London West MP Arielle Kayabaga is quoted in a story in The Hill Times parliamentary newspaper this past week as saying “When do we draw the line? When is enough, enough? When do we actually go from talking about dealing with it (racism) to actually taking action?” In the same story Hull-Aylmer MP Greg Fergus, who is former chair of the Parliamentary Black Caucus, said he wants to see concrete action from his own government to address racism and hate in Canada.

Canadians United Against Hate heartily agrees with this sentiment. For the past five years we have repeatedly called on the federal government to implement the recommendations contained in our call to action to combat hate in Canada. Here are some of those recommendations:

· That the federal government initiate and lead efforts to implement an aggressive national, government-led anti-hate strategy targeting all forms of hate, bigotry and racism in society, as well as systemic and institutional racism, and hate on all media platforms, with a strong focus on social media, and that this effort be coordinated with provincial and municipal governments.

· That the government take action to eliminate the systemic and institutional racism in the RCMP, CSIS and the Canadian Border Services Agency, that it work with provincial governments to do the same with municipal police forces, that it begin the process of eliminating racism within Canada’s justice system, and implement policies to sanction public sector and federal agency managers and executives that tolerate or condone racist behaviour within their workplace.

· That social media platforms and web hosting services (whether located within or outside Canada) that have audiences and users in Canada be legally compelled to monitor their platforms and services for hate speech; to remove it promptly when made aware of it; to develop strategies to combat hate speech on their platforms and services; and if unwilling to comply with Canadian laws be financially penalized in proportion to their annual revenues, and their their executives be made criminally liable for failing to comply with Canadian anti-hate laws, and be prosecuted for violations of those laws.

· That the federal government lead by example by implementing a policy to diversify the top tiers of the federal civil service at the deputy minister, assistant deputy minister and director general levels, and that the boards of directors of federal agencies, commissions and crown corporations reflect the ethno-racial diversity of Canada, and that this be mandated through federal legislation or regulations.

· That the federal government declare illegal under criminal law the use or display of white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and racist symbols and racist imagery, like swastikas and Confederate flags, that are used to advance hateful, bigoted or racist messaging and activities, and that language and speech that incites hatred against a racial or religious group, that assaults the human dignity of others by maliciously maligning a group or individual because of their belonging to a vulnerable minority group, be criminalized beyond the limits in current Canadian criminal law.

These are just some of the recommendations we have made to the federal government which they have largely ignored. And to those Liberal MPs who would say that funds to fight hate were in the recent federal budget, I say that $85 million over four years is woefully insufficient when compared to resources needed to fight the growing cancer of racism and white supremacy across the country.

What will it take for our political leaders to take decisive action to urgently address the growing pandemic of hate? Do we have to have more racially motivated mass murders before politicians get with the program?

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The greatest sin of our time is not the destruction of the good around us by the few but the apathy of the vast majority who sit idly by as it happens.”

And that is our problem. We have governments, politicians and large segments of the population that are seemingly apathetic when it comes to fighting hate and white supremacy in an urgent and decisive way.

18th Century Irish statesman Edmund Burke said, “All that is needed for evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.”

Well my friends, evil is stalking this land in the form of racism and white supremacy. And it’s time for good men and women to rise up and storm the political barricades to make our leaders heed our calls for action if we don’t want to see the diverse, inclusive and accepting society that we are trying to build come apart at the seams.

History has shown that racism and white supremacy are a poison that will destroy the fabric of society if action isn’t taken. So it’s up to ordinary Canadians to make things happen. Because if we don’t we will be waiting for a long time for governments and politicians to do what is urgently needed to push back the racism, hate and white supremacy that we are seeing across this country.