OP-EDs
Time to draw a line against racism in Edmonton
Published in Edmonton Journal on February 24, 2021
By Mustafa Farooq. NCCM CEO
On Feb. 20, as maskless men and women marched in my Edmonton bearing the torches of Charlottesville, I had a sense of homecoming.
I was born in Edmonton, raised in Edmonton. I’ve worked in the halls of the legislative assembly of Alberta, the grounds at which the rally was held last weekend. My love for this province is irrational and defies explanation.
The love of my neighbours, of my fundamentally good friends growing up, of the incredible spirit of this city, makes it easy to ...
MPs are sending a clear message that Canada must address hate groups, now government needs to act
Published in CBC News on January 29, 2021
By Mustafa Farooq. NCCM CEO
This week, days before the fourth anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting, a motion passed unanimously in the House of Commons calling for the government to "use all available tools to address the proliferation of white supremacist and hate groups," and to list the Proud Boys as a "terrorist entity." A clear signal is being sent that action needs to be taken – but much more needs to be done.The motion, which is now being considered by the government, was a vindication of the many ...
How COVID-19 has changed Ramadan for Muslims
Published in Calgary Herald on April 24, 2020
By Mustafa Farooq. NCCM CEO
In high school, as we studied poetry, I remember reading from the great metaphysical philosopher John Donne. Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island.” I can’t help but think of this line as I think about what it means to celebrate and fast in Ramadan this year in the time of COVID-19.A typical reading of Donne’s line is a sort of manifesto against isolationism. We are to read Donne’s poem as the notion that we are all interdependent — and I suppose that’s true.While Ramadan is ...
Op-ed: The call to prayer is a prayer for the future, a call to those in times of despair
Published in the Toronto Star on May 7, 2020.
By Mustafa Farooq, NCCM CEO
“Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar.”
The delivery room at the Grey Nuns Hospital in Edmonton is dark, but on May 5, 2015, at 6 a.m., I was jumping up and down as my newborn son came into the world.
The Muslim tradition is to whisper the call to prayer — the adhaan — in the ear of the newborn child after birth; but I was so filled with adrenalin in the moment, that I began to loudly chant the call to prayer even as I held him in my arms for the first time.
Five years on, almost to the day, ...
Goodbye, Bernier: Canadians have rejected your politics of fear
By Mustafa Farooq
The Globe and Mail | October 26, 2019
Mustafa Farooq is a lawyer and the executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
At the beginning of the campaign, we at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) saw clearly that Maxime Bernier and the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) planned to use this election cycle to see if Islamophobia and Trump-style politics of fear and division would work in Canada.
Thus we were confronted with “platform paradox”: How do you publicly critique someone engaging in racist conduct without ...
Challenging a law that divides and endangers
By Noa Mendelsohn Aviv and Mustafa Farooq
Montreal Gazette | June 17, 2019
Bill 21, An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State, passed in the Quebec National Assembly this past weekend. Bill 21, of course, is the law that will ban Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others who wear symbols of their faith from pursuing careers in numerous public sector jobs.
As civil liberties advocates, we have had Bill 21 at the front of our minds since its introduction in March. And this has become even more concerning because of what happened in Quebec City merely a few weeks ago.
On ...
Standing on guard against Quebec’s unconstitutional Bill 21
By Mustafa Farooq
Edmonton Journal | June 8, 2019
I’m ready to admit something: I always tear up when I hear the Canadian national anthem.
I think my emotional response to the anthem began at a young age, when, as I stood in Grade 3 assembly to sing the anthem, I saw my mother in the crowd of parents. She stood tall as she always had, in a long jacket and wearing a white hijab, standing out in a crowd of, shall we say, less-than-racially-diverse parents in Sherwood Park. As the anthem welled up, “God keep our land/glorious and free!” I saw my mother wipe the ...
Anti-semitism and Islamophobia are two sides of the same coin
By Mustafa Farooq
Edmonton Journal | May 9, 2019
On April 27, in what feels like only a few days ago, a 19-year-old man walked into the Chabad of Poway synagogue in a San Diego suburb and opened fire on worshippers celebrating Passover. Lori Gilbert-Kaye was tragically murdered, and three others were wounded in the attack.
While the investigation remains ongoing, the perpetrator seems to have been inspired, as per an online manifesto, by white supremacy. The gunman praised Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people and wounded six others in the Pittsburgh Tree of Life ...
The Bissonnette sentencing doesn’t bring closure on Islamophobia
By Ihsaan Gardee
The Globe and Mail | February 11, 2019
Ihsaan Gardee is the executive director, National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).
Entering the Québec City courthouse on the day mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette was sentenced, I was cast back in time to another day: when I arrived at the Centre culturel islamique de Québec, the morning after the heinous attack.
The street was eerily quiet with only the lights from police cars betraying the violent tragedy that had occurred hours before. What I remember most was the fortitude of the survivors and ...
Rise in hate crimes calls for a unified response
By: Ihsaan Gardee, Executive Director, National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)
Montreal Gazette | December 4, 2018
Since the deadly Quebec City mosque attack on Jan. 29, 2017, Canadians have come to recognize that our country is not immune to the growth in hatred and racism spreading across many liberal democracies.
The latest figures from Statistics Canada on police-reported hate crimes only confirm the worst fears of community advocates. Islamophobia is a reality Canadians Muslims face. In 2017, hate crimes against Muslims rose sharply, up 151 per cent ...