Photo credit: CBC
York University’s Islamophobia Research Hub has released a report documenting nearly 100 cases of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia in Canada since October 7.
Global News reports that the report includes incidents ranging from vandalism and doxing to students being disciplined for displaying Palestinian identity. Researchers and community leaders are calling for federal action.
CTV News reports that schools and employers are linking Palestinian culture with terrorism and retaliating against people who are speaking out about the war in Gaza.
While speaking at a news conference on Parliament Hill, York University professor Nadia Hassan said, “Many Canadians have paid an unfair price.”
Hassan led the Hub, and the report cites the case of law students, teachers, and medical professionals facing occupational investigations or reprimands for speaking out about the war in Gaza. \however, the report says many of those people were later cleared of wrongdoing.
The report cites the case of Dr..Yipeng Ge of the University of Ottawa. He was suspended for posts a Jewish colleague said were meant to undermine the existence of Israel. But he was later reinstated by the school.
Hasan said, “The silence of our institutional leaders was really harmful.”
“It set a tone. A lot of people interpreted it as a threshold for what’s tolerable in their workplaces, in their educational spaces.”
Jesse Robichaud, a spokesperson for the University of Ottawa, however, said in an email that no suspension was instituted but that a resident was “temporarily removed” from the clinical and academic settings while professional complaints were considered.
Amira Elghawaby, Ottawa’s special representative on combating Islamophobia, said, governments’ weak pushback against incidents of anti-Muslim hate risks emboldening those bent on violence
