Episode six of the Bridge Initiative’s Unpacking Islamophobia features Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s first Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia.
The statistic that frames the conversation is this: over the past few years Canada has experienced more mass killings motivated by Islamophobia than any other G7 country. Alongside that, hate crimes against Muslims have risen sharply — and there is the slower, structural version too: discriminatory legislation, and politicians who decline to acknowledge what Canadian Muslims actually face.
Why the Post Exists at All
Elghawaby gives the history. The role was created after sustained advocacy by Canadian Muslims following the London, Ontario attack of June 2021, when a man motivated by anti-Muslim hatred targeted the Afzaal family and killed four of them.
She also discusses Edmonton, where over the past year Black Muslim women have been targeted on public transit — incidents that have left real fear in that community.
It is worth noting what that sequence looks like from here: a community organised, named the problem precisely, and secured a permanent office of state answerable for it. That is a long way from where South Africa stands, and it did not begin with a government decision.
About Amira Elghawaby
A journalist and human rights advocate, appointed to the role by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in January 2023. She was previously a contributing columnist at the Toronto Star and a frequent commentator on equity and inclusion, and led strategic communications and campaigns at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. From 2012 to 2017 she worked on the civil liberties of Canadian Muslims at the National Council of Canadian Muslims, and before that in Canada’s labour movement on communications and human rights.
Unpacking Islamophobia is produced by the Bridge Initiative → — Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University.
Shared by the South African Muslim Network in the interest of greater awareness of combating Islamophobia. info@samnet.co.za