Quebecers are ‘not racists,’ Trudeau says amid Amira Elghawaby backlash | 24CA News

Quebecers are “not racist,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says, as backlash continues over his alternative of Amira Elghawaby as Canada’s first-ever particular consultant on combating Islamophobia.

Elghawaby, who was appointed final Thursday, has since confronted a flood of criticism and questions over an opinion piece she co-wrote in 2019.

In the piece, Elghawaby criticized Quebec’s Bill 21, which bans sure public-facing workers, together with academics and law enforcement officials, from sporting spiritual symbols on the job. Pointing to a ballot performed on the time, she advised “the majority of Quebecers appear to be swayed not by the rule of law, but by anti-Muslim sentiment.”

While the Quebec authorities says the legislation is meant to defend secularism — the province’s official coverage of separating faith and state — critics just like the National Council of Canadian Muslims have referred to as it discriminatory and a legislation that “causes second-class citizenship.”

Elghawaby clarified late final week that she doesn’t imagine Quebecers are Islamophobic. However, for officers within the Quebec authorities, her response has fallen brief.

While Trudeau mentioned on Tuesday that he helps Elghawaby “100 per cent,” he acknowledged on Wednesday that he was not conscious of all her previous remarks when he made the appointment.

He additionally spoke in English concerning the cultural variations in Quebec round secularism.

Quebecers, Trudeau defined as he walked right into a caucus assembly, have come to “a place of defence of individual freedoms and rights and liberties” after they “suffered the yoke and the attacks on individual rights and freedoms of an oppressive church.”

“That comes with it a certain perspective around what secularism is and the role of religion in society that informs what modern Quebec is,” the prime minister mentioned.

“Quebecers are not racists.”

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Rather, Trudeau mentioned, “Quebecers are among the people who are the strongest defenders of individual rights and freedoms, along with a lot of other Canadians.”

The Catholic Church had a good grip on the province within the mid-Twentieth century — a actuality that in the end evoked an equally sturdy rejection within the province of faith’s position in public life. The province embraced its personal model of France’s laïcité mannequin, or its coverage of official secularism.

As the Quebec authorities defends Bill 21 as a bid to guard this laïcité precept, the Superior Court of Quebec has raised considerations about its affect on spiritual communities and its “cruel” and “dehumanizing” penalties for sure individuals.

Elghawaby and co-writer Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, mentioned within the 2019 op-ed {that a} “poll conducted by Léger Marketing earlier this year found that 88 per cent of Quebecers who held negative views of Islam supported (Bill 21).”

This, they wrote, advised “the majority of Quebecers appear to be swayed not by the rule of law, but by anti-Muslim sentiment.”

The Léger ballot Elghawaby and Farber referenced was printed within the Montreal Gazette in 2019.

It additionally advised that 28 per cent of these polled had a constructive view of Islam, whereas 60 per cent had constructive views of Catholicism.

Quebec’s minister answerable for state secularism has described Elghawaby’s remarks within the 2019 op-ed as “abhorrent” — and her subsequent clarification, he mentioned, was “unacceptable.”

“She must resign, and if she does not, the government must remove her immediately,” Jean-François Roberge mentioned in an announcement on Monday.

Former NDP chief Tom Mulcair additionally penned a column within the Montreal Gazette on Tuesday arguing that “it was wrong of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to name Amira Elghawaby as Canada’s first special representative on combating Islamophobia.”

“Trudeau says she’s there to fight prejudice and build bridges. She is not in a position to do that and it’s not because of haters, it’s because of what she said,” Mulcair wrote.

“When your job is fighting prejudice and you’ve made statements in the past that sound like a reflection of your own prejudice, you withdraw them and, ideally, apologize. You don’t dig in, or try to explain them away.”

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Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez mentioned on Tuesday he was “deeply hurt” by Elghawaby’s column and mentioned on Tuesday that he had requested for a gathering along with her to debate them.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet introduced a deliberate assembly with Elghawaby for Feb. 1, after telling reporters her remarks have been “more divisive than unifying.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Trudeau mentioned he was “very happy” to listen to concerning the deliberate dialog.

“It’s super easy for people to simplify and try to attack either side,” he mentioned.

“What we need is a conversation about the fact that we all agree that rights and freedoms need to be protected and how, in a pluralistic society, a place of diversity and strength, we’re able to not just coexist, but understand each other, respect each other’s priorities and desires, and build a better future.”

Elghawaby he mentioned, is “open to those conversations and open to that engagement.”

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