 Print
Hate crimes towards Canadian Muslims on the rise
5-03-2016
A wake up call for Canadian Muslims close to home. On Thursday April 28th, an arson attempt was made on Al-Jamia Masjid Vancouver. The attempt occurred in the evening during Maghrib Salah and was thwarted by a member of the congregation catching the person in the act of lighting a series of boxes on fire. A small fire erupted and was put out by the Vancouver Fire Department.
The Vancouver Police Department had been informed and are working with Pakistan-Canada Association to apprehend the suspect. No motive has been determined nor a solid description of the suspect other than being Caucasian.
This incident raises a serious question about the vulnerability of our community’s institution as well as individual community members from coast to coast o coast. One thing is certain, hate crimes against Canadian Muslims has been on the rise for past few years and each incident should remind us that unless we as a community do something to address this serious issue, It will get worse, with each passing incident.
However, the question is, what we could do collectively to address this issue. Address it in a manner to reverse this concerted negative public opinion formulated against Canadian Muslims. Certainly, Facts and stats showing an upward trend. However, this is not the whole story. The facts and stats are based on “reported” incidents. There are large number of incidents which often go unreported and unless we start to tally, record and report each incident neither the community not the law enforcement authorities would be able to gauge the issue.
National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) has been involved in engaging the Muslim community across the nation, encouraging them to report incidents which are tracked on their website under Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Map. Many of the incidents tracked on the websites are the ones which make the news. The incidents which do not make it to the news remain undetected and untracked.
NCCM has divided various types of hate crimes, under six categories: Physical, Verbal, Hate Propaganda, Vandalism, Threats, and Online. So far in 2016, there has already been nineteen incidents across the nation. Nineteen incidents in about sixteen weeks amounts to an average of one incident a week. If this is not serious, then we do not know what would be.
One of the main outstanding issue contributing to towards hate crimes against Muslims in Canada is most certainly the negative portrayal of Islam and Muslims in Canada by the media. For example, the respected Environics Institute, stated when releasing its 2016 survey results about the relationship between Canadian Muslims and Canadian Society at large that this was the first year where results seemed to have been somewhat positive, a shift in how Canadians views on Muslims. The survey has been conducted each year since 2006.
Despite the above, “CBC’s original headline acknowledged some of the good news — but somehow still managed to frame the results in a negative light: “Muslim Canadians love Canada, but faith more important to their identity: survey” states NCCM spokesperson, Amira Elghawaby. She adds, “That “but” seemed to suggest that one couldn’t both love Canada and strongly identify as Muslim — that somehow, for Muslims, patriotism and faith are mutually exclusive.”
We can sit, observe, and pass commentaries, or judgements on various factors working together in a concerted effort to undermine presence of Muslims in Canada, orchestrating or fanning the flames of hatred and contempt towards Islam and Muslims until the cows come home. It would do absolutely nothing to improve our situation or conditions.
Several things, if done correctly, would certainly improve the current conditions and situation that is, each member of the community doing their part in engaging the wider Canadian society and highlighting the positive aspects of Islam and Muslims in general. We need to be more vigilant by participating in online discussions where such hatred is often spewed and providing the correct information. We need to be more engaging with the mainstream media and correct them whenever they portray Islam and Muslims in negative light. Lastly, if you have been a victim of hate crime, doesn’t matter how small it may be, it must be reported to appropriate authorities, and advocacy groups, such as NCCM, so an appropriate actions can be taken, allowing the authorities to correctly gauge the problem and find ways to resolve it.
If each person does their part we will see a sharp reduction in an Anti-Muslim Hate Crime in Canada, if remained unchecked will lead to disastrous consequences.
Footnotes:
|