Senate report on Islamophobia finds 1 in 4 Canadians say they don’t trust Muslims

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Islamophobia remains a consistent problem in this country, as one in four Canadians say they don’t trust Muslims, according to the findings of a new Senate report released Thursday. 

Human rights committee report took a year, involved 21 public meetings and 138 witnessesPeter Zimonjic · CBC News · Posted: Nov 02, 2023 9:41 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes agoHundreds of people marched in the streets of London, Ont., on June 5, 2022, to commemorate the murder of the Afzaal family, who were killed in an Islamophobic attack. (Talia Ricci/CBC)

Islamophobia remains a consistent problem in this country, as one in four Canadians say they don’t trust Muslims, according to the findings of a new Senate report released Thursday.

“The evidence is clear: Islamophobia is an acute threat to Canadian Muslims and urgent action is needed,” Sen. Salma Ataullahjan, chair of the Senate human rights committee, told reporters Thursday. 

“We must commit to building a more inclusive country and to better promoting our Muslim relatives and friends, neighbours and colleagues.”

The report, the first of its kind to look into Islamophobia in Canada, the reasons behind it and to provide recommendations on changing course, took a year and involved 21 public meetings and heard from 138 witnesses. 

The report said the committee “was disturbed to hear that incidents of Islamophobia are a daily reality for many Muslims, that one in four Canadians do not trust Muslims and that Canada leads the G7 in terms of targeted killings of Muslims motivated by Islamophobia.”

More to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Zimonjic is a senior writer for CBC News. He has worked as a reporter and columnist in London, England, for the Daily Mail, Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph and in Canada for Sun Media and the Ottawa Citizen. He is the author of Into The Darkness: An Account of 7/7, published by Random House.