Elham Asaad Buaras
Following an alarming surge in anti-Muslim incidents, one of Canada’s largest Muslim advocacy groups has called for Islamophobia to be addressed in education.
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel and the Israeli government’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in response, Canadian authorities have recorded an alarming increase in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, and antisemitic occurrences.
The British Columbia human rights commissioner has decried an uptick in prejudice and violence against Muslim and Jewish people on Canada’s West Coast. These developments come on the heels of a major Senate report identifying Islamophobia as a persistent problem in Canada.
According to Aasiyah Khan, Director of Education at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), Canada is “in a moment where we acknowledge that equity and inclusion are important,” but it is critical to “move beyond talk into action.
Khan, who was also a co-author of the Peel District School Board’s anti-Islamophobia strategy, which was the first of its kind in Canada and was copied by school boards in Toronto and London, Ontario, also called for educators to “actually take this [subject] and translate it into a classroom,” she said.
“What does that look like in terms of your lesson plans? How do we adopt an anti-Islamophobia lens or an anti-racist lens in our classroom policies or practices?”
Islamophobia is “not a one-off problem. It’s a systemic issue that requires all kinds of interventions,” Khan said. “It is in times of war that you witness a hardening of identities. Everybody becomes aware of ethnic origins and where they’re coming from, and you see a natural rise of stereotyping and othering,” said Rahat Zaidi, a professor at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.
“Islamophobia is a classic example of othering, and it’s really important to be aware of it first of all—to recognise that it exists in society and then combat it in very proactive ways.”
Some schools postponed or reduced their Islamic Heritage Month celebrations this autumn, according to Khan. She also mentioned reports of over-policing of Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab students that the committee had received.
“When we look at our equity and inclusion policies … we are asking students to bring their whole selves into this [school] space: to celebrate who they are, to acknowledge and honour their histories. But for some reason, what we’re finding right now is when it comes to Palestine, all of that is being silenced,” she said.
“This conflict has actually exacerbated what we’ve been seeing before,” she said, adding that some are comparing the atmosphere today to the suspicion, stereotyping, and intense Islamophobia of the period following the 9/11 attacks on the US.
