The city of Toronto officially launches new ‘Toronto For All’ Anti-Islamophobia Campaign to celebrate Muslim acceptance without exceptions.
And here we thought it was only Canadians in Quebec who consider Islam, its followers, and their never-ending demands for special religious accommodations by non-Muslims as being out of place in a secular society. (See links at bottom)
Muslim LinkThe City of Toronto, with guidance from a Community Advisory Council and the National Council of Canadian Muslims (formerly designated terrorist group CAIR-Canada), launched a new ‘Toronto For All’ public education campaign to raise awareness about the realities of so-called “Islamophobia “present in our community and to help to remind Torontonians that acceptance comes without exceptions.
“Experiences of Islamophobia are not a rare occurrence for Muslims in Toronto and across Canada, we are thrilled to stand with the City of Toronto as we launch a campaign, that we hope will encourage reflection and inspire people to work together to push back against Islamophobia and all forms of hate and racism.”
– Aasiyah Khan, Director of Education Programs, National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)
National Post – Chris Selley (h/t Marvin W) “Torontonians welcome everyone,” one poster reads, over a photo of a Black woman wearing a headscarf. Then there’s an asterisk that adds “But don’t welcome her hijab.”
Another poster, featuring a racially ambiguous woman wearing a necklace reading “Fatima,“ claims that “Torontonians respect culture … but don’t respect her (presumably Fatima’s) Muslim faith.”
It strikes me as pointlessly accusatory toward a population that really doesn’t deserve it. And it’s a fascinating data point in an increasingly incoherent discussion about religious freedom — freedom in general, perhaps — in this country.
The necessary caveats follow. Toronto is no utopia. Islamophobia and anti-Muslim discrimination certainly exists here, along with all the other prejudices — not least at City Hall and in other municipal institutions. But one thing this rapidly declining, terribly run and punishingly expensive city unambiguously has going for it, by any reasonable measure, is one of the world’s more diverse, tolerant and conflict-free urban populations.
That’s true of Canada writ large as well, certainly outside of Quebec. An Angus Reid Institute poll conducted in March found that in English Canada, a remarkable 64 per cent held positive views of Islam — not just of Muslims, note, but of the faith itself. (Among Quebecers, 56 per cent reported negative views of Islam.)
Luckily, Torontonians are far too tolerant, far too used to having City Hall’s thumb in their eye, and generally just far too busy to take any offence — just as they did not take offence to previous campaigns against anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism. Maybe the campaigns even helped a little. They almost certainly didn’t hurt.
More intriguing to me is some of the language that’s accompanying this particular ad campaign — especially the exhortation to respect articles of faith in addition to the people who hold them. The City of Toronto’s press release went well beyond that, even, identifying a “need for Torontonians to accept without exceptions, celebrating and respecting the faith and cultural practices of Muslims in Toronto.”
Not just acceptance, then; not just tolerance; but celebration — not just of the Muslim faith but of Muslim cultural practices, and presumably every other faith and its related cultural practices as well. I’m an atheist who’s happy to go to bat for religious freedom … but I also support the freedom to deplore a religion, or all religions, and their cultural practices, so long as you’re doing it within the confines of civilized, legal behaviour.
Indeed, it strikes me as particularly absurd to point fingers at everyday Canadians in this regard considering it was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who just last week authored one of the least respectful moments toward a Muslim Canadian that I can recall.
Speaking with a parent in Calgary last week who was concerned about gender identity in the public-school curriculum, Trudeau was caught on cameraessentially accusing her of falling dupe to foreign far-right forces — and of failing to understand all that he and his Liberal chums were doing for her and her fellow parishioners.
“People on social media, particularly fuelled by the American right-wing, are spreading a lot of untruths about what’s actually in the provincial curriculums,” Trudeau admonishes the woman. Those beastly conservatives are trying “to drive a wedge between a government that will always stand up for all your rights,” he said, contrasting the Liberal benevolence with “the Islamophobia pushed by the previous Conservative government in a whole bunch of different ways.”
An Edmonton teacher very much wound up in the news recently for admonishing a Muslim student that if he didn’t show up for Pride events, if he didn’t believe in same-sex marriage, then he “can’t be Canadian.” “You don’t belong here, and I mean it,” the teacher added for good measure.
In 2023, that’s a perfectly uncontroversial argument at a godless midtown Toronto dinner party — never mind on social media. But at some point, surely, the increasing acceptance of sometimes flamboyantly anti-religious views by outwardly respectable Canadians has to come into conflict with those same Canadians’ belief in limitless tolerance.
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Daniel Erbstoesser says
They are doing this allover the world….WHY?????????
Robert Laity says
The mission of Islam/Sharia Law is TOTAL CONQUEST of the World. Islam/Sharia Law is inestricably linked. It is ANATHEMA. Resist it at ALL costs.
Reader says
Also, you see the City of Toronto says that signs are also sponsored by the National Councils of Muslim Canadians, formerly known as CAIR-Canada, a Muslim Brotherhood front group.
I wonder how much money the city is giving the group at the expense of Toronto tax payers?
Reader says
Funny, these huge posters are in most of the bus shelters in Toronto, but they don’t have any for disabled people, the elderly, or for people of other religions.
And if you go to the Toronto Police Services Most Wanted page,
https://www.tps.ca/organizational-chart/specialized-operations-command/detective-operations/investigative-services/homicide/most-wanted/
are we supposed to be embracing those people too?
Reader says
Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau’s new Justice Minister, Arif Virani in a radio interview was implying any claims of increased crime in Canada is due to “misinformation” from the right wing and White Supremacists.
Canada’s new justice minister to tackle perceived lack of safety from crime
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-s-new-justice-minister-to-tackle-perceived-lack-of-safety-from-crime-1.6501641
The Tasmanian Devil says
I will accept Muslims when the sun freezes.
Ramez Fekry says
🍁 Canada 🍁 will fall to islam and Moslems before the U.S. of A. and Australia, if Islamocritical White ☧ Christian 🍁 Canadians 🍁 don’t follow in the footsteps of Alexandre Bissonnette, en masse and ASAP!