The Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government released a special 60-page guide [pdf] on 4th March this year on ways to combat ‘Islamophobia’ in the country.
For the unversed, Muslims constitute roughly 5% of the population of Canada, thereby making Islam the second-largest religion in the country. Justin Trudeau created the role of a Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia in 2023 to appease Muslims.
“The Guide does not constitute a binding directive on any government department or agency and is not legally binding,” noted the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.
🚀 Just launched: The Canadian Guide to Understanding and Combatting Islamophobia: For a more inclusive Canada. 🍁
— Amira Elghawaby (@AmiraElghawaby) March 3, 2025
This resource is now available for anyone looking to better understand Islamophobia and its detrimental impacts on Canadian Muslims. It contains information to… pic.twitter.com/wOr0a5OUF8
As per the guide, 18.9% of immigrants who came to Canada between 2011 and 2021 were Muslims. It highlighted definitions for Islamophobia, its 3 levels (system-level, community-level and individual) and behaviours that constitute ‘Islamophobia’
The guide, drafted using taxpayer funds, attempted to negate the Muslim community’s lack of assimilation in Western societies, involvement in acts of terrorism, or presence of any ulterior political ideology.
It also decried the concept of ‘Islamic Trojan Horse’ (which implies that Muslim immigrants or refugees are secretly infiltrating Western societies with the goal of undermining national values)
The guide listed several ‘drivers of Islamophobia’. According to the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, these drivers included economic reasons, political reasons, ‘rage-baiting’ by media, misinformation and ‘religious intolerance.’
It also claimed that an ‘intricate web of networks’ exists which influence and fund ‘Islamophobia.’ The guide, funded by Canadian taxpayers’ money, listed 8 impacts of Islamophobia.
There was also a dedicated chapter on ‘diverse identities’ within Canada’s Muslim communities and ways to fight ‘Islamophobia’ including amplification of Muslim voices.
Islamophobia guide dubs it ‘racist’ to criticise anti-Israel protests
On Page 31 of the guide, the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia attempted to brand it ‘racist’ to criticise rampant anti-Israel protests and pro-Hamas activism in Canada.
It, therefore came up with a broad term called ‘Anti-Palestinian racism (APR)’ to silence public discourse on brazen anti-Semitism in the country.
“Public discourse often unfairly associates Palestinian and Muslim identities with terrorism, leading to harassment, hate crimes, and other negative consequences in schools, workplaces, and communities. Advocacy for Palestinian human rights is sometimes viewed through the lens of suspicion, hostility, and incompatibility with national values,” the guide stated.
Downplays the meaning of ‘Jihad’ and ‘Sharia’
The Canadian Guide to ‘Understanding and Combatting Islamophobia’ also misguided the taxpayers about the real meaning of ‘Jihad’ and ‘Sharia.’
On Page 52 of the document, the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia downplayed terrorism perpetrated in the form of ‘jihad’ as ‘struggle, effort and striving.’
“Jihad: The widely used English translation of “holy war” has greatly misrepresented this term, since jihad literally means struggle, effort and striving. The term holy war has no root in Islamic terminology. The most important struggle is to purify one’s heart to follow God’s commands and to do good works. Islam makes provision for war only under strict conditions,” the guide alleged.
At the same time, it deliberately misconstrued the meaning of ‘Sharia’ as a means to ‘establish justice and peace in society.’
The guide misled, “Shar’iah is a comprehensive body or collection of opinions and jurisprudence that covers all spheres of life: social, political, economic and spiritual. Muslims follow Shar’iah in their daily lives on a personal level, such as abstaining from alcohol or gambling. Shar’iah is derived from the Qu’ran (the first and believed to be the divinely revealed source of faith), and Hadith (the second source of faith), the Prophet’s sayings. The objective of Shar’iah is to establish justice and peace in society.“
