Statements calling for the firing of Canada’s representative on combating Islamophobia were answered with anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and racism.
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Yves-Francois Blanchet. Source: TVA Nouvelles/YouTube
On September 13th, Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, reiterated his demand for the federal government to fire Canada’s first special representative on combating Islamophobia, and eliminate the role entirely.
Several political leaders in Quebec followed suit, a backlash in response to Amira Elghawaby’s recommendation that academic institutions prioritize the hiring of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian scholars. Elghawaby made the recommendation after hearing from some students that Muslims were absent or underrepresented in senior positions in their faculties.
While the elected officials framed Elghawaby’s suggestions as an attack on Quebec’s “secularism,” the replies in the comments sections and on social media frequently made sweeping and hateful generalizations about Islam and Muslims, many of which revolved around fear-mongering about Muslims “taking over.”
Elghawaby’s advocacy over the past several months has drawn attention to rising anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian racism on post-secondary campuses, culminating in a letter with recommendations sent to colleges and universities.
Quebec’s Minister for higher education, Pascale Dery, replied by telling Elghawaby to “mind her own business,” and also called for her resignation. “Finally, we must call things into question,” Dery continues, “anti-Semitism is on the rise on campuses. I will spare no effort to ensure that our institutions do everything they can to restore a healthy and safe environment for all students and to counter bullying and hatred.”
A zero-sum calculation of bigotry on college and university campuses was reflected in several of the replies on social media and on articles about the situation. These comments suggested that Elghawaby’s proposal of more Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian professors would threaten Jewish students and contribute to antisemitism.
In the Montreal Gazette, a reader commented, “She wants more islamist teachers on campus at a time when the violence and intimidation toward jewish is very high already. Totally irresponsable (sic).”
The conflation of “Muslims” with “Islamists” (a nebulous term that is generally but often problematically used to describe the practice of Islam within the political sphere), and terrorists was found frequently in both social and news media replies.
A reply to Minister Dery’s post claimed that Elghawaby is “part of and promotes a religion that actively practices and encourages femicide” and exhorted, “Let's wake up before they dig their tunnels and make us an October 7th. Already they are shouting in our streets that they are invading.”
Replying to a Canadian Press article published by the National Post, one commenter wrote “...We are truly on a very slippery slope to the caliphate if we have to rely on Quebec to prevent even more capture of the centres of absolutely no learning by the "religion of peace" and its (sic) already pervasive hamasite (sic) supporters.”
On X, Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s French language minister, also called for not just Elghawaby’s firing, but the termination of her position. Replies to his comment, in turn, called for Elghawaby’s deportation, and also “Out with Islam and as soon as possible please.”
Another reply to Minister Roberge’s post was even more explicitly hateful: “They are sick!!! This religion is the worst in the world. All religions are useless in my opinion but this one phew put this woman on a plane to North Korea!”
Several replies echoed the so-called “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which alleges that there is a sinister plot behind demographic changes to take over and “replace” the preexisting culture.
Another person replied to Minister Roberge’s post with: “When will we understand that these people are not here to coexist, but to impose their rules? They are not trying to live with us, they are creating enclaves, exploiting the migratory flows orchestrated by the globalists to demand respect for THEIR customs. How do I know this? Because it is repeated everywhere. In France, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Austria.”
The great replacement conspiracy theory has been linked to the killings of over 100 people—including Muslims, Jews, Black people, and Latino people—all over the world.
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