The McGill community welcomed Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s first Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, on January 31 to lead a bilingual French and English discussion on “Unpacking the Dynamics of Islamophobia in Canada, Challenges and Opportunities.” The award-winning journalist and human rights advocate discussed  her initiatives and efforts to counter hate, tackle Islamophobia, and promote inclusion. 

Organized by the Muslim Student Affairs Liaison in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Institute of Islamic Studies, the talk was part of a series of events on campus marking Muslim Awareness Week, a yearly week of solidarity and exchanges. This event was started as a response to the Quebec City mosque shooting on January 29 2017, in which six men were killed and several seriously injured. Its sixth edition ran from January 25 to February 1 with the aim of promoting greater inclusion and equity while facing the challenges of Quebec’s pluralistic society. 

Rise of Islamophobia in Canada

The event began with a short introduction of Elghawaby’s role as one of the founding board members of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network; as a member of Canada’s National Security Transparency Advisory Group; and her appointment in January 2023 as Canada’s first Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia. She then reflected upon the commemoration of the shooting, which was the “first-ever attack on a place of refuge in Canada.” She repeated the declarations of the widows, who urged her to “tell everyone to not forget,” emphasizing that “if we forget, we risk seeing those types of hatred coming forward again.” Elghawaby then expressed her “deep concern about Canada’s social fabric and democracy” in the wake of rising Islamophobia. A recent Senate report revealed Canada as the leading G7 country in the number of killings motivated by Islamophobia, with Muslim women being primary targets for violence. Following the events of October 7, there was an increase in hate crimes, and a regression to post 9/11 anti-Muslim rhetoric was witnessed as demonstrated by the numerous reports from students denouncing a hostile climate and censoring their voices. Elghawaby contrasted the current situation with the absence of Islamophobia in her upbringing in which “our differences were something to celebrate, something to share, something to welcome.” Despite multiculturalism being a central part of Canada’s identity, it did not prevent Islamophobia from becoming a core component of Canadian society and an integral part of her experience and that of Muslims after 9/11. 

Elghawaby defined Islamophobia as “racism, stereotypes, prejudice, fear, and acts of hostility directed towards Muslims in general as well as the viewing and treating of Muslims as a greater threat at an institutional level.” Arguing that the simple act of acknowledging the issue became politically contentious and was only enabled by the mosque shooting in 2017. This prompted her to challenge the audience, asking if more people need to die for serious action to be taken. She explored the various forms, both deadly and daily, in which Islamophobia manifests. Drawing particular attention to Islamophobia in policing, notably through racial profiling, she also dwelled on discrimination in employment, with the severe underemployment of Muslim women. In addition, a 2023 report by Islamic Relief Canada found that a high 67 per cent of Canadian workers have reported having experienced a form of formal discrimination and an even higher 83 per cent have experienced a form of informal discrimination due to being Muslim. Elghawaby also raised the issue of intersectional Islamophobia, where Islamophobia is heightened for Black Muslim women who face a combination of sources of discrimination, resentment, and hate. She urged for greater consideration of those experiences with the crucial need for an increased focus on these multifaceted forms of discrimination. 

Islamophobia’s Root Causes

Elghawaby explored the narratives fueling anti-Muslim sentiment, such as the notion of Muslims as the “other”, which spurred fear, radicalization, and white-supremacist ideas. She drew upon various research and statistics, such as the Angus Reed survey which found that Canadians, especially in Quebec, were more likely to have an unfavorable opinion of Islam than of the four other major religions: Christianity, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Judaism.

Later Elghawaby stressed the role of online spaces in allowing Islamophobia to exist, spread, and facilitate the emergence of anti-Muslim groups with baseless rhetoric; the proliferation of fake news; and the harboring of theories like the “Great Replacement” theory. She denounced a system benefiting from users’ anger and algorithms consequently promoting polarizing divisive content. Despite a surge of solidarity after the 2017 mosque shooting, Islamophobic agitators and groups continued emerging, reaching out to other social issues to stay relevant and upholding an anti-government narrative. Islamophobia is also severely exacerbated by global events, notably the October 7 attacks by Hamas. Elghawaby urged communities to come together, to work with an anti-racist mindset, and to ensure that the rights and freedoms of all citizens are upheld. Ending on a hopeful note, she declared that “respect and compassion are values that drive my office to work even harder to find ways to build and rebuild divisions.”

A Q&A Session Focused on Bill 21

Various students and professors were able to ask questions, prompting her to discuss the advent of Bill 21 in Québec which she described as having “a discriminatory impact” on minorities, especially Muslim women who wear the hijab, and impacting their sense of belonging. Elghawaby reminded the audience that the law was said to be in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which she described as the “North Star of our country, a promise to every citizen that they will be treated equally.” She also explored community-informed solutions and pilot projects aimed at improving Canada’s social fabric, such as one in Northern Ontario aimed at fostering religious literacy for municipal workers. Finally, she encouraged resilience in the face of challenges, especially those tied to being Muslim and being a woman, highlighting that it is essential to educate ourselves and advocate for rights that should be guaranteed. 

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As a result, many prospective students are now reconsidering their choice to attend an English-language university in Quebec. Many denounce what they see as a penalty toward English-speaking students and out-of-province French speakers alike. According to preliminary data from Statistics Canada, projected new undergraduate tuition rates in the neighbourhood of $17,000 will be among the highest in the country for domestic students, and the highest overall excluding specialized programs. 

To “protect French”?

According to the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), the plan has two main objectives. First, to stop subsidizing Canadian students who study in anglophone universities and then leave Quebec after graduating; and second, to generate further revenue to better support French-language universities. Despite admitting that the tuition hike would lead to a drop in enrolment in Quebec’s English-speaking universities, Premier Francois Legault stated that these measures are not directed against anglophones but are instead aimed to “protect French.” 

Widespread and immediate backlash

 The plan was immediately criticized by a range of federal, municipal, and local voices that denounced its destructive impact and the lack of consultation conducted prior to the decision. McGill’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Deep Saini, affirmed the administration’s determination to fight this plan and deplored its negative effects on the university and on Quebec society: “We are stronger when our doors are open.” Multiple student groups have also criticized the “improvised and unreasonable” plan on the grounds that it lacks transparency. 

In addition, concerns emerged from the Montreal business community and from le Conseil du patronat around the economic consequences of such measures and their potential to exacerbate the  province’s labour shortage. Mayor Valérie Plante described the plan as a “hard blow to the international reputation of Quebec’s metropolis” and instead encouraged the protection of French language through alternate means, namely positive and proactive measures like lowering tuition fees at francophone universities. Daniel Béland, Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, explained that this decision to raise tuition rested entirely under Quebec’s provincial jurisdiction. He added that Ottawa’s ability to interfere would be very limited due to the threat of federal interference, and it therefore “cannot help [those opposing the bill] directly.”

McGill: impact and student response

McGill’s diverse student community will certainly be affected, seeing as 20 per cent of its 39,500 students come from other Canadian provinces and 30 per cent are international students. According to Professor Béland, the sudden and unprecedented tuition increase will “act as a deterrent for attracting out-of-province students.” Most crucially, McGill risks becoming unattractive for students from less privileged backgrounds, which students like Angelique Gouws have raised concerns about: “As a domestic student that pays for their own tuition, I wouldn’t have come and it’s going to impact McGill in terms of socioeconomic status.” 

Both the Concordia Student Union and the Students’ Society of McGill University have released statements strongly condemning the “undemocratic and discriminatory” tuition hike, arguing that it will “price out the poorest out-of-province students, saddle students with further debts, and require students to work even more during their studies to afford their education,” turning “post- secondary education into a luxury item.” SSMU hosted a Town Hall on Wednesday October 25 to hear directly from students and with the aim of organizing a collective response to the policy. Individual students are also taking further action – the Blue Fall Protest, a student-led march through Montreal organized jointly by members of both McGill and Concordia communities, will take place on October 30 protesting the new tuition plan. McGill student Alex O’Neill organized this protest to fight the plan that will “homogenize Quebec’s public universities on linguistic, class, and academic levels.” 

Josh Kertesz, a student at McGill, said he felt unappreciated: “It makes you feel unwelcome even though you contribute to Quebec while you’re here.” He added that “there’s so much more that [Quebec] can do” that would not involve making education increasingly inaccessible for students who don’t speak French. Gouws also stated that “it would be beneficial to mandate French classes for English universities in Montreal”, highlighting students’ willingness to learn French if given the tools to do so. 

A political move

 Voices arose, including from Liberal Party members, condemning the tuition plan as political rhetoric and as a way for the CAQ to regain popularity after its recent loss to the Parti Québecois (PQ) in a by-election in Jean-Talon. Professor Béland suspects that the CAQ was acting with the strategy of resuscitating its popularity from a recent decline in the polls: “It’s to appeal to their francophone base, especially people outside of Montréal that are tempted to vote for the PQ because it is really aggressive about the protection of French”. He added that “there was a lot of discourse in francophone news media about the perceived decline of French language in Quebec, the CAQ wants to show that they care, but they are doing it through antagonistic and detrimental measures to anglophone institutions and the economy.” 

Professor Béland admits that there continues to be “a lot of uncertainty” as to the potential long-term effects of this decision. He argued “the government might dilute this announcement in response to the backlash that they are facing but they could also double down on this because I heard that they are considering other measures that could again penalize anglophone universities in Quebec.” The precise implementation of the plan and the extent of its repercussions can only remain to be seen.

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