Thursday, May 20, 2010

Islamophobia in Canada

Canadian Muslim Forum

At the core of the Canadian charter of human rights and freedoms is the right to life, liberty and security.

Canadian law dictates that individuals have the right to adopt their religion of choice without any fear or threat to one's life or property. When such threats arise, appropriate measures are taken to grant individuals their due rights and to punish the perpetrators accordingly.

However, when parts of the charter of human rights and freedoms are violated and unjustifiably defended by government policies, and when some politicians, themselves, get involved in hatred campaigns, the civic society must speak out and voice its concerns in every way possible to maintain peace and harmony in the land they cherish the most.

Islam is the second largest religion in Canada with over 800,000 Muslims and making upto 10% of the population of some Canadian cities. Islam is an Arabic word that means submission to God.

Being Muslim is a comprehensive call to Peace. The main greeting of Muslims is 'Peace upon you'. Islam carries a deeply rooted understanding of respect, understanding and love for others regardless of their faith or ideology. However, neither Islam nor Muslims are respected by some Canadian officials and many citizens. In fact, there is an increasing trend of hatred, discrimination and injustice that has been practised against Muslims in Canada.

Since 9/11, numerous incidents of Islamophobia were documented by the media and Islamic organizations. Islamophobic incidents range from verbal and physical abuse to vandalism of personal property, community centres and places of worship. Moreover, much legislation has been passed that targets Muslim individuals without evidence or conviction such as Bill C-36.

The effects of such legislation are clearly seen in the case of Omar Khadr, the child and the only western detainee, who remains in Guantanamo Bay.Neither evidence nor conviction is in place against Khadr.

The Canadian Supreme Court requested from the Canadian government to bring Khadr home, but the court order was simply objected. Furthermore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lawrence Cannon, was quoted not saying the truth when he claimed that Khadr built bombs to kill Canadian soldiers.

Indeed, the Canadian government is setting a poor model for Canadian citizens to follow and is further propagating Islamophobia in Canada. Islamophobia is a growing concern in Canada and the consequences of its infiltration can be harmful to all Canadians irrespective of their faith and belief.

Furthermore, increasing Islamophobia will damage Canada?s image on both the local front and on the international stage. The causes of Islamophobia must be addressed on a fundamental level and a clear guideline must be formulated to identify Islamophobic actions and put an end to the perpetrators of such actions.

Special programs, endorsed by the Canadian government, must be established to educate the general public about Islam and Muslims in order to stop and reverse the effects of Islamophobia. Canadian agencies and policies must defend people's rights, regardless of their faith, race or ethnicity. Only when such measures have taken place, all Canadian will enjoy equality and freedom and our children will enjoy the bright future we dreamed for them.

13 comments:

  1. "Cure" them? The point about hatred and islamophobia is well made by "Anon".

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  2. Anon....Read your bible before uttering such statements. You could start with Leviticus but no need to end there.

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  3. So why is the Left supporting religions that discriminate against my sex in such overt ways as the "Islam" practiced in most of the world? I don't get it. Does freedom of religion trump my right to individual liberties? Frankly, I am deeply afraid of Islam's intentions on my personal rights and freedoms as a woman. Till that is addressed, I will continue to distrust this religion.

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  4. Christianists are from the devil, the killed 6 million Jews, and now 2 million muslims, these people are of the devil.

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  5. Islam is a good religious but i dont wanna compare with another religioun bcz that will make problem for everybody.

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  6. My father will retire soon as a teacher, I am a muslim living in Canada and love this country and my faith equally. My mother works hard doing labour and complains about muscle aches. I want her to rest and be happy. With so much islamophobia in my Country, will I be able to get a good job based on my credentials? I have a masters in Engineering from University of Toronto.

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  7. Dear Fisher,

    You are quoting out of context. Just as if you are copying and pasting some part of stories and sentences just to make your point. Can you list the whole paragraphs or pages from where you got this sentences with Tafseer? Tafseer Ibn Katheer is a good explanation of quran. The only time Islam mentions about fighting is if THEY FIGHT YOU AND DRIVE YOU OUT OF YOUR LANDS AND DO INJUSTICE AGAINST ALL RACES REGARDLESS. YOU DONT JUST FIGHT AND KILL orelse there would have never been anybody left in INDIA, SPAIN and other places where muslims ruled

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  8. Anders Behring Breivik

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik

    Nuff said.

    No more anti-Islamic posts on this site will be allowed.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. God Forbid anyone should have a different (dissident) opinion!

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  12. Good for you to remove these hateful posts. It is still illegal in Canada to insight violence with hate speech. We are in a sorry time and it saddens me immensely to see Canada fall prey to religious hate speech against Muslims or anyone else. Your site is very informative and necessary to combat propaganda and ignorance.

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  13. ALLAH requires of all muslims that Sharia law be imposed on all "infidels" or non believers by point of sword. Convert to the medieval sharia or perish. The Sharia laws are insane and medieval and would bring humanity back to the stone age. They "the laws" treat women as chattel and negate any rights women might have had. Cut off the hand of a bread thief or stone to death a rape victim. Sounds like a good deal to me. Muslims are brainwashed from infancy to adhere to this evil rubbish and apostasy is punishable by death. Did the messenger not consumate a marriage to a 9 year old girl? The question is not why islamaphobia the question is why any body would not be islamophobic? Why would anyone adopt these beliefs? Sharia law in Europe by stealth and demographics. Taqiyya will no longer be effective as the PC are starting to wake up. Islam is submission to a myth with violent repercussions for anyone that values freedom and creativity. I am open minded about every religion on earth and am not worried about Buddhists or Amish blowing up my airplane. Countless terrorist acts and violent beheadings by muslims since 9/11 .Muslims, Ask yourselves why you would want to be apart of this?

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