Muslim leaders call on Ontario to tackle Islamophobia

Today, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) together with the London Muslim Mosque called on the Ontario government to implement several measures that they say will help curb Islamophobia.

On June 6, 2021, three generations of one family were killed in an Islamophobic terror attack in London, Ontario.

In the aftermath of this unspeakable loss, Ontario political leaders made bold and unequivocal statements about eradicating Islamophobia and hate from the province. Now, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) are asking them to take action.

NCCM is calling on the government of Ontario to introduce and pass the Our London Family Act.

“In the aftermath of the London terror attack, at the vigil at the London Muslim Mosque… there was a call for change," said Nadia Hasan, COO of NCCM. "All three party leaders in Ontario – from Premier Ford to Leader Andrea Horwath to Leader Steven Del Duca – promised swift and decisive action to confront Islamophobia."

"While we have seen some positive steps – the clear policy commitments we have called for have not been passed," added Hasan. "Today, five months after the attack, and as we head to a spring election in this province, we are calling for immediate action."

To this end, NCCM has prepared a draft piece of model legislation that proposes key and common sense changes to the way that we challenge Islamophobia in Ontario. If introduced and passed, the Our London Family Act would address six key areas:

Changes to our education system based on the calls we heard across the province to make sure young people are growing up with educational resources that help them understand Islamophobia;

Dismantling of white supremacist groups in the province by preventing them from registering as societies, preventing acts of intimidation on provincial property, as well as prevent intimidation tactics targeting worshippers at synagogues, mosques, or gurdwaras;

Enshrine a provincial hate crimes accountability unit that provides best practices, and investigates potential failures in combatting hate incidents;

Bolster the scope and strategy of the Anti-Racism Directorate to include changes from conducting regular polls to understand where the pain points of Islamophobia lie to investing in public service announcements about Islamophobia;

More minorities in the provincial public service;

Increase the limitation period for those seeking to file human rights claims in Ontario

Read the full recommendations here.