Are muslims discriminated against in Canada since September 2001?

Helly, Denise

ABSTRACT/RESUME

Following the terrorist acts in the United States in September 2001, hostility toward Muslims increased in North America and Europe. This article describes the different forms of discrimination experienced by Muslims in Canada inasmuch as the data gathered during and before the last two years allow it. (1) It also attempts to describe the main factors underlying the hostility toward Muslims and how these factors could be peculiar to Canadian society, where the government proclaims itself the only multicultural state in the West and one that is very respectful of immigrants' and cultural minorities' rights.

A la suite des attentats terroristes aux Etats-Unis en septembre 2001, les actes hostiles se sont multiplies a l'egard des personnes de confession musulmane dans les societes occidentales. Cet article retrace les diverses formes de discrimination subies par les musulmans au Canada autant que le permettent les donnees compilees avant et apres les evenements de septembre 2001. Il tente aussi de reperer les fondements de cette discrimination qui s'avereraient propres au Canada, un pays dont l'Etat se proclame le seul Etat multiculturel au monde et parmi les plus respectueux des droits des immigres et de leurs descendants.

INTRODUCTION

According to the Multiculturalism Act (1988), "The Government of Canada recognizes the diversity of Canadians as regards race, national or ethnic origin, colour and religion as a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society and is committed to a policy of multiculturalism." Discrimination against Muslims is, therefore, a subject of national interest, particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Islam is a new phenomenon in Canada. It first became part of the public debates during the 1990s. In 1994, students wearing the hijab (a traditional headscarf) were expelled from some schools in Quebec. Since 1996, data have been published showing the growth of the Muslim population. According to 2001 census data, the Muslim population numbered 579,000 persons, growing from 253,000 in 1991. The majority are of Pakistani origin and live in the Toronto area, and Montreal is home to the second largest concentration of Muslims, with a population of 120,000 of mostly Arab origin.

This article has three objectives: to describe the discrimination suffered by Muslims in Canada, to assess any increase in the level of discrimination since September 2001, and to determine the forms it takes and the reasons for this discrimination in Canada. The fulfillment of these objectives requires that definitions of discrimination, including those provided by the Canadian government, be specified.

DISCRIMINATION AND THE RIGHT TO EQUALITY

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), along with other provincial Charters of Rights and Freedoms, protect fundamental freedoms (of conscience, religion, thought, opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and defense) and basic human rights (to life, security, privacy, dignity, non-harassment, and presumption of innocence). They prohibit discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age, or mental/physical disability. The right to equality protected by these documents is fourfold: equality before the law, equality in the application of the law, equality of protection afforded by the law, and equal benefit of the law.

The concept of equal benefit of the law counters a formal conception of equality as identical treatment that can, paradoxically, cause serious inequality. It is a Canadian principle that, in order to treat all equally, distinctions may occasionally have to be made (Crepeau 1994). In an unprecedented 1989 judgment, (2) the Supreme Court defined discrimination as a "distinction, whether intentional or not, based on motives related to the personal characteristics of an individual or a group of individuals, which impose on this individual or group burdens, obligations or disadvantages not imposed on others, or prevent or restrict access to the possibilities, benefits and advantages offered to other members of society." Discrimination is thus defined as the denial of equality based on an unlawful criterion of distinction, and it can be either direct or indirect.

Direct discrimination occurs when one or more personal characteristics based on unlawful criterion are explicitly applied to deny a right or a freedom. Indirect discrimination occurs when an action produces an uneven effect on a group or a person identified by a similar unlawful criterion (i.e., physical characteristics, cultural origin, age, gender, religion, handicap), without the discriminationary action having to be the aim (Bosset 1989; Ledoyen 1992). The example that is cited most often is the weight or size requirement to become a police officer or a fireman. In practice, these requirements exclude members of groups generally lacking the required characteristics.

One can also speak of systemic discrimination when inequalities between groups of people are not ascribable to an identifiable factor but seem to be linked to a number of present and/or past factors. An important example is the under-representation of minority groups in certain occupations compared to the number of members of charter groups (Canadians of British or French ancestry). This inequity requires us to question whether the basis is attributable to discriminatory practices (whether voluntary or involuntary) or to characteristics recognized as sources of economic differentiation (level of schooling, work experience, knowledge of the official languages). In Canada, the under-representation of members of "visible minorities" in public office was recognized as part of past and present discriminatory practices. As a result, the Employment Equity Act was passed in 1986.

Discrimination can also be distinguished according to its source. Institutionalized discrimination occurs when public laws and measures intentionally exclude some people from enjoying rights available to others. A denial of these rights existed, for example, from 1908 until the 1960s when quotas for immigrants from Middle-Eastern and "Asian" countries were applied.

In addition to systemic and institutionalized discrimination, we can also speak of veiled (Kunz, Milan, and Schetagne 2001), usual (Ledoyen 1992), or voluntary discrimination (Mc Andrew and Potvin 1996) to refer to attitudes or actions which, based on an unlawful criterion, lead to the exclusion of people from spheres of daily social life. This form of discrimination is difficult to prove, difficult to quantify, poorly documented, and seldom results in formal complaints. Nevertheless, the effects are manifested in different ways, such as the under representation of members of some ethno-cultural groups in particular neighborhoods, associations, clubs, and social networks (i.e., of colleagues, neighbors, friends; intermarriages). In the case of people of Muslim heritage, these various forms of discrimination can be demonstrated in some fields but are difficult to prove in others.

DIRECT DISCRIMINATION: DENIAL OF BASIC RGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Perpetrated by Individuals

Hate Crimes

Hostile acts against an individual or a group based on a personal attribute (such as public insults, incitement of hatred, physical violence, and/or attacks against property) are infringements of the right to dignity, safety, integrity, and the peaceful enjoyment of property. (3) This form of discrimination was rarely documented during the 1991 Gulf War and thereafter (Abu-Laban and Abu-Laban 1991:124-126). Post-September 11, however, ethnic and human rights organizations started to monitor discrimination more systematically as hate crimes multiplied. Fear and dejection led to a number of emergency calls to these organizations from people anxious to learn how to ensure their personal security. Muslims feared attack owing to religious and cultural practices (clothing, beard, head coverings), attending Muslim places of worship or schools, and taking leaves of absence during religious holidays.

Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) figures indicate a 1,600 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslim individuals or places between September 2001 and September 2002 (Media release, March 10 2003). The Congress received 11 complaints related to such crimes the year preceding the September 2001 attacks, but this figure increased to 173 the following year. In the United States, a 2001 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report indicates the same 1,600 percent increase in hate crimes against people perceived as Muslims: 28 in 2000, and 481 in 2001, including 3 murders and 35 cases of arson (Abdelkarim 2003:51). The Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit (2001:8,11,13,22) noted a 66 percent increase in hostile acts in 2001. Ninety percent of that increase was related to the terrorist attacks against the United States, as they occured between September and October 2001 (i.e., 121 of the total 338 hate crimes committed during the year). Of these 121 acts, 57 specifically targeted Muslims. (4) In comparison, in 2001, 58 hate crimes were counted against people of Jewish origin, 53 against "Blacks," and 24 against homosexuals. Only one hate crime toward a person identified as Muslim was recorded in 2000. The police departments of three other Canadian cities also reported an outbreak of hate crimes from September through the end of December 2001, all connected to the terrorist attacks: 44 in Ottawa, 40 in Montreal, and 24 in Calgary (Hussain 2002:23). Similar complaints were also made to nongovernmental organizations. Between September 11 and November 15 2001, the Canadian chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) was advised of 110 incidents, including 10 death threats, 10 hate messages, 33 verbal aggressions, and 13 assault and battery incidents (CAIR-CAN press release, November 20 2001). Unfortunately, statistics related to verbal harassment, death threats, physical attacks, and other hate crimes remain vague for several reasons.

First, victims of hate crimes seldom make an official complaint, and witnesses rarely come forward, as was recently documented by a French study carried out in 2002. In that study, only 48 percent of the French who were polled declared themselves willing to report racist incidents to police (Zappi 2003). This reluctance to report has also been documented in the United States. The FBI recorded only 481 hate crimes against Muslims in 2001, though 1,700 were reported to the CAIR-U.S. chapter from September 2001 through February 2002 (Abdelkarim 2003). Forty instances of threatening or insulting phone calls, insults on the street, vandalism, and assault and battery were reported by 181 women involved in discussion groups organized by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women; of these forty cases, participants only reported two to police (Hussain 2002:23). In Montreal, police recorded a dozen complaints of verbal harassment and 83 "hate events" between September 11 and 20 2001 (Taillefer 2002), whereas, according to testimonies gathered by community organizations, Muslims and Middle-Eastern immigrants suffered many more insults in public venues (e.g., the street, the work place, or when using public transit).

This reluctance to report incidents to police is one important factor undermining the collection of statistical information. Another is that the consolidation of the Muslim community is still weak, despite a multitude of religious and secular associations. The two pan-Canadian organizations documenting the infringement of Muslims' rights and freedoms, CAIR-CAN and the Canadian Islamic Congress, have few resources.

A third factor explaining the inadequacy of these statistics is that some Canadian police services either do not record hate crimes at all (e.g., Halifax), the ethno-cultural origin of the victims (e.g., Windsor), or their religion (e.g., Hamilton, Calgary, Waterloo, Edmonton). In addition to this lack of uniformity in reporting, the categories used to identify the victims or to classify the hate crimes also vary. For example, the Toronto Police Hate Crime Unit, formed in 1993, groups together the following categories: Muslim, Pakistani, Middle Easterner, Somali, Arab, and East Indian. This makes it difficult to know if religion, national or cultural origin, or physical characteristics are the bases of the hate crimes. The same unit does not include insults in the street as hate crimes, whereas Muslim organizations and the Jewish B'nai Brith do (The Gazette 2003).

Attacks against Muslim places of worship increased sharply after September 11. According to CAIR-CAN, twelve such attacks occurred across Canada between September 11 and November 15 2001 (Hussain 2002:14). According to the testimonies of 181 women living in various Canadian cities, at least one attack took place against a place of worship in each Canadian city between September 2001 and June 2002 (Hussain 2002:15); sixteen of these were bomb threats. Police presence at Muslim places of worship during Friday prayers and at Muslim schools throughout Canada was offered for only a few days or weeks after the attacks.

In Canada, as in Western European countries, hate crimes toward people of Muslim heritage appear to have decreased in 2002 and thereafter (Diene 2003:3). The Toronto Police Hate Crime Unit (2002:10, 13) recorded only ten such crimes in 2002 against "Muslims," though fifteen crimes against "Pakistani," "Afghan," "Palestinian," "Middle-Easterners," and "Arabs" could be added. However, attacks against Muslim places of worship continued.

According to Canadian social workers in the field of immigration, the decrease in hostile acts in 2002 and after is explained by the way these conflicts were handled. Examples of how networks between Canadian municipalities, schools, police authorities, public organizations, and NGOs were used to defuse these potentially harmful situations are often cited. In major Canadian cities, police authorities have well-established crisis management units composed of representatives from different ethnic backgrounds. These community bonds proved useful when violent incidents occurred. For example, when a Muslim adolescent was physically assaulted by youth in September of 2001 in Ottawa, municipal bodies and community organizations worked together to condemn the attack, rally public support, and stop any possible replication. In a similar situation, when a Sikh temple in Hamilton, Ontario was apparently mistaken for a mosque and totally burned, relations between ethnic groups and the authorities deteriorated, not only because of the lack of experience in inter-ethnic conflicts in the community, but also of a lack of contact between the police and ethnic communities. A hate crimes unit was established after that incident.

In Canada, hostile acts targeting Muslims are more likely to take the form of insults, threats, and attacks against places of worship than acts of assault and battery or physical aggression, though violent acts of aggression do sometimes occur. A Pakistani immigrant family was beaten in a Montreal park in the spring of 2002, and a teenager was severely wounded in Ottawa in September 2001. In both cases, youths of European origin were accused.

According to a United Nations special report (Diene 2003:2, 4), hostility against Arabs and Muslims has taken different forms in different countries. That report demonstrated that in the United Kingdom and Germany, Arab and Muslim women wearing a hijab were more likely to be attacked; in the Netherlands and in Australia, the most likely form was attacks against places of worship (ninety such acts were recorded from September 11 until October 2, 2001 according to the Australian Association of Anti-discrimination Centers); France experienced an increase in malevolent acts (169 were declared in 2002, of which a third were in the north and in Ile-de-France [Zappi, 2003]); in the United States, verbal harassment and physical attacks against Muslim individuals were the incidents most recorded.

Labor Market and Workplaces

Since September 2001, no extensive Canadian studies have been done regarding any rise in discrimination suffered in the workplace by people of Muslim heritage. The available data do not distinguish between Middle Eastern and South Asian groups (notably the Pakistani group). According to the Ethnic Diversity Survey, 64 percent of the members of visible minorities report discrimination or unfair treatment at work, but data sorted according to ethnic origin or religious classification are not yet available.

Nevertheless, investigations in Quebec described the obstacles and disadvantages suffered by people of Muslim heritage in that province. In the spring of 2001, questionnaires asking about hiring practices with regard to visible minorities were sent to 197 employers in Quebec City. Only 19 responded, (5) of which a third (35 percent) declared that they refused to employ an "Arab" or a person from the Maghreb (Lubuto Mutoo 2001). After September 2001, some Quebec NGOs, committed to the integration of minorities in the labor market, received calls from employers asking them not to refer "Arabs" (Bouchard et al. 2002:10), and, significantly perhaps, the Directeur de l'Etat civil in Quebec mentioned a "phenomenal" increase in "requests by Muslims" to change their names since September 2001 (idem). According to another recent study, three categories of people experience particular difficulties finding jobs: "Blacks, people of Arabic origins and 'visible' Muslims" (Tadlaoui 2002:20). In such cases, discrimination often takes the form of refusing to consider the resumes of people from Arab origin or of the Islamic faith under the pretext that, if hired, they will not take part in "the life of the company," and that their habits are too distant from those considered Quebecois ones. It was also found that some job applicants were excluded because of their French accent, "bad attitudes" during the interview, a "poorly written" curriculum vitae or, in the case of sales departments, a concern that customers would perceive these cultural/racial groups negatively.

Another obstacle to gaining employment for Muslims and members of other visible minorities is more difficult to grasp. Simply put, Muslims often do not belong to employment networks, a significant factor given that approximately 80 percent of available jobs are not publicized. This recruiting practice is described as "cloning" (Luboto Mutoo 2001), and the process, believed to save time and money, is accentuated by ethnocentrism, racism, and/or xenophobia. In addition, discrimination in the workplace is often manifested in the form of threats and offensive comments against signs related to Islam (hijab, clothing, beard); dismissals for expressing a political opinion (generally on a question relating to the Middle-East); refusing to remove an item of clothing (hijab), and/or of unfounded allegations on the part of colleagues (Lubuto Mutoo 2001). These forms of discrimination are substantiated by the testimonies of Muslim immigrants in other Canadian cities (Bel Hassen 2002:12; City of Ottawa 2002). (6)

Although the data presented illustrate discrimination in the workplace, they do not allow conclusions to be drawn about a rise in direct discrimination against Canadian Muslims in the labor market. Little documentation exists regarding similar cases of discrimination, for complaints are rare, and the reasons given for the refusal to hire or for dismissing members of cultural or facial minority groups are generally covered with pretexts so that one can only guess the true reasons.

Another denial of an economic right has been noted since September 2001. People named Osama had their bank accounts unjustly frozen. Others experienced attempts by colleagues to have them dismissed. A documentary entitled "Being Osama" details these experiences. It was financed in part by a Quebec public organization (SODEC), and the main Canadian television networks (CBC, CTV, Global) and Al Jazeera plan to broadcast it (Montgomery 2003).

School

Prior to September 2001, numerous incidents concerning the status of Islam within public schools occurred in Quebec. In 1988, a Montreal parents' committee rejected an Arabic language class, despite its recognition by the Quebec Ministry of Education (not to mention the fifty-two hundred pupils already enrolled in such classes provincially). The arguments used by opponents revealed the prevalence of an Arabic stereotype, which was fast becoming a Muslim one: "The teaching of Arabic is only the first step of a broader strategy, then it will be the Koran"; "The boys are already macho as it is, what will one teach in this course?"; "Arabs should remain in their homeland, we must defend our quality of life and our values." The fact that the Arabic-speaking mothers who requested the course were generally well-educated and Christian was either ignored by the parents' committee or seen as a strategy used to hide "real" intentions: "They hide behind Christians and women, but one should not be misled" (Mc Andrew 2002:137). Despite the protests, the school administration decided to offer the course.

A similar incident occurred in another Montreal school in March of 1991, when Muslim parents requested that Muslim morals be taught in school, as allowed by Article 5 of the 1988 Law on Public Education and article 41 of the Quebec Charter of Rights. In this instance, the opposition of parents from other faiths was strong enough to deter the initiative (Proulx 1994).

In 1994-95, twelve pupils wearing the hijab made newspaper headlines. Once again, "slippages and stereotyped presentations of the Muslim community abounded, in particular in the discourse originating from the civil society (letters and phone-in programs, teachers' groups, and grass-roots feminists or nationalists)" (Mc Andrew 2002:134). Islam as well as the Quebec Muslim community were presented as a threat to democracy and to the equality of men and women. As a result, Islam was implicitly, if not openly, compared to fundamentalism and terrorism (Mc Andrew 2002:139). After six months of public controversy by feminist, (7) nationalist (Lenk 2000), and pro-laicite (Ciceri 1999) movements, in 1995 the Commission des droits et libertes de la personne ruled that wearing the hijab must be allowed for fear of infringing on the rights of the girls. The public dispute ended.

Contrary to expectations, reported racist incidents between pupils or between pupils and school personnel were rare following the September 2001 attacks and were quickly controlled. Measures were taken the week of the attacks and during the following weeks to minimize racist acts locally. In Montreal, the police established contacts with representatives of Muslim organizations, and presentations about the "Arab community" were made to the municipal police, to social workers at schools, and to school directors in the Montreal-area primary and secondary schools. Post-traumatic stress management teams were also made available to student victims of racism. Such measures and their impact remain to be documented in other Canadian schools.

Government Organizations and Their Agents as Perpetrators

Ethnic Profiling and Attacks on Freedoms

An anti-terrorism law (8) (C-36) was adopted on December 7 2001 by the Canadian Parliament. It is interesting to note that since then, Canadians have expressed little concern about terrorism. According to a survey conducted by the Environics Research Group between September 26 and October 1 2002, 18 percent of respondents identified war as their major concern; 16 percent, the environment; 11 percent, famine in the world; and 9 percent, terrorism.

The law led to the modification of twenty-two existing Canadian laws (Jezequel 2002) including the criminal code, the protection of personal information, access to information, and the request for evidence (which no longer obliges the Crown to provide all of the elements). It also created criminal offenses: facilitating and inciting terrorist acts, (9) affiliation with organizations suspected of involvment in similar acts, and financial support of a terrorist entity leading to the seizure of property and goods suspected of being used for terrorist activities. The term "facilitating" is criticized by the Canadian Bar Association because the facilitation of terrorist activities is considered criminal even in the absence of any knowledge of these activities by the defendant. Bill C-16 (Charities Registration Act) also allows the cancellation of the charitable status of any organization or group that finances, or is suspected of financing, terrorist activities. (10)

Bill C36 erodes the protection of freedoms by increasing the powers of the police. After September 11, the police force was given the right to conduct secret searches, to expand the six-month period of electronic eaves-dropping, and to listen to a person's overseas communications based solely on the decision of the Minister of National Defence, without any judicial oversight. The lave also gave police the right to hold people for seventy-two hours without charging them, to conduct inquiries without warrants, and to oblige detainees to undergo interrogation in front of a judge under the penalty of a year's imprisonment for refusal. It also allowed Canadians' air travel to be tracked and the records kept for six years. Those measures pertaining to evidence and custody are to be reviewed after five years: the others are permanent.

The anti-terrorism law erodes the freedoms of all Canadians through procedures that undermine the rights of the defendant to remain silent and to know the charges against them. I argue that it directly targets people of Muslim heritage and has two particular consequences for them. The first is their profiling by security forces, especially at the borders (Hurst 2002; Makin 2003). The second is attempts by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the RCMP to collect intelligence from persons active within the Muslim community or from Muslims whose immigration status is precarious (such as foreign students or asylum seekers whose files are being examined by authorities). These attempts, justified by the need for intelligence on the possible existence of Islamist networks in Canada, are extremely detrimental for Muslims. They create suspicion in people's minds about the presence of Muslim extremists in Canada and the Muslim population's failure to report their existence to the authorities. Consequently, it constitutes a serious infringement on the rights of Canadian Muslims and has, as a result, been criticized by Muslim representatives.

INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION

Systemic Discrimination

Systemic discrimination against members of ethno-cultural minority groups feeds on various unjust practices: refusal to hire; requiring additional qualifications; or offering lower wages. On average, immigrants are paid less than natives who have the same level of schooling. (13) According to the 2001 census, in 2000, immigrant men earned an average wage of 63.1 cents compared to one dollar for natives with similar levels of schooling. In 1980, the ratio was 71.6 cents for males who immigrated that year. Moreover, in 2000, male immigrants living in Canada for ten years received an average of 79.8 cents compared to one dollar paid to natives with similar levels of schooling. In 1980, the rate of pay was equal (one dollar for all). For women, the ratio was then, and is now, even more unfavorable. Thus, immigrants who have arrived since the 1980s, a significant number of them Muslims, surfer a structural disadvantage.

A study by Pendakur (2000) also shows that people from non-European origins experience a clear disadvantage in the Canadian job market even after age and education levels are controlled for. On average, their income was eight percent lower compared to people of European origin. Additionally, though census data shows that the percentage of visible minorities with a post-secondary diploma is higher than that of other Canadians, this fact is not reflected in the distribution of occupations. Only the business and engineering sectors show similar rates of employment between natives and immigrants (Kunz, Milan, and Schetagne 2001), and the computer science and advanced technologies sectors are the only true cultural mosaics in terms of the composition of the personnel.

These data do not, (11) however, allow us to know if people of Muslim heritage experience occupational and income disadvantages, then and now. In addition, one cannot speak about systemic discrimination in accessing jobs in the public sector, although recent immigrant groups are under-represented in this sector. According to the 1996 census, 5.9 percent of federal public office jobs were held by members of "visible minorities" (Working Group 2000). The precise situation of people of Muslim heritage is unknown. The same observation holds in the housing market, another field where systemic discrimination exists.

Reasonable Accommodation

In a 1985 judgment (Ontario Human Rights Commission vs. Simpsons Sears Ltd., 1985, 2R.C.S. 536), the Supreme Court defined indirect discrimination as "discrimination through prejudicial effect," and created the "obligation of accommodation" to counter this effect. The case concerned a Seventh-day Adventist demanding the right to observe the Sabbath without giving up her full-time job at Simpsons Sears, which had refused her request. The Supreme Court ruled that a compromise had to reduce the discrimination suffered by the employee because of her faith and specified that the solution had to be reasonable, i.e., no undue hardship should be imposed on the employer, such as an exaggerated financial cost, reduction of safety requirements, denial of other employees' rights or of collective agreements, or other significant disadvantages. In this case, the work schedule could be adjusted to accommodate her request without causing undue hardship.

The spirit of this judgment can be applied to other working regulations as well as to other fields such as the offering of goods and services, be they private or public. Frequently, cases of conflicting cultural norms exist within a society illustrated by the diet of in-patients, prisoners, and children placed in foster homes, the provision of spaces of worship for minorities in the workplace and schools, medical practices, burial modes, or the disciplining of children (which can entail youth protection and parental authority laws).

The notion of reasonable accommodation imposes itself in Canada under the terms of the legislative text which calls for the promotion of a pluralist and equitable society (Multiculturalism Act 1988) and of Article 27 of the Canadian Charter which states that "The Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians." Contrary to other Western countries, this notion represents a legal obligation and implies two principles. The first is paramount: no cultural arrangement can jeopardize a person's rights and freedoms and fundamental laws. Thus, respect for cultural differences can never contravene the basic principle of Canada's legal and political systems, which is respect for individual rights. No collective cultural right is granted to ethnic minorities that would enable them to create closed communities, such as the right to separate judicial courts. Cultural relativism is allowed in as much as this fundamental principle is applied. The second principle requires that the accommodation provided maintain a balance between the rights of the parties. The spirit of any reasonable arrangement is to avoid litigation and reduce cultural inequalities through negotiation.

Many religious accommodations have been adopted during the 1980s and 1990s because, as the Supreme Court stated in its 1985 judgment: "A tiny inconvenience is the price to pay for freedom of religion in a multicultural society." In Quebec, numerous examples could be presented which demonstrate how the spirit of the judgement has been applied. At the Montreal Childrens' Hospital, parents of minority patients are allowed to bring meals to their hospitalized children, and a manually-opened door has been installed to allow Hassidic Jews to visit patients on the Sabbath; in public schools, a flexible pedagogical day is scheduled so that Orthodox, Coptic, and Catholic children can celebrate Easter on their respective dates; and at the Polytechnic school, examinations are held on weekdays to accommodate Judaic students (Conseil des relations interculturelles et de l'immigration 1993).

But other requests gave rise to trials, the most publicized of which were the following: a Hassidim group demanded the right to put erouv wire in one district (granted by the Quebec Superior Court, June 2001), and a student demanded the right to carry a Kirpan at school (disallowed by the same court, 2004).

In the case of the Muslim population, before the 1980s, an agreement was reached between the City of Montreal and two Muslim organizations to open a Muslim space in two cemeteries, and one of these organizations (Al Islam) was given the right to celebrate and record marriages. During the 1980s and 1990s, Muslim girls were awarded the right to wear a more modest uniform during physical education classes, and Muslim pupils were granted a two-hour period to observe Friday congregational prayer. In certain Canadian organizations, the work schedule was adjusted to create three free periods per day to allow Muslim employees time to pray. In municipal swimming pools, a three-hour period, divided between boys and girls, has been reserved for young Muslims, and in two anglophone universities Muslim students were given space for prayers.

However, some requests made by the Muslim community were not granted. Muslim sections were not created in the cemeteries of any cities other than Montreal, a Quebec Provincial Police employee's request not to translate the recording of a conversation collected through eavesdropping (because his religion prohibited denunciation) was denied, as was the request of a Montreal Police Department employee to stop assessing parking tickets for reasons of conscience (he considered assessing parking tickets to be a form of repression). Based on these refusals among others, it appears that Muslims are targeted more in terms of the frequency and extent of the conflict surrounding accommodations, as Mc Andrew recognized (2002:138): "The religious prescriptions of Jehovah's Witnesses are more questionable at the level of pupils' success and psycho-social integration and contrary to the school's function of critical education, but they never get the same publicity as those of Muslims" (my translation).

However, since September 2001, the situation in Quebec and throughout Canada is characterized not by a higher number of requests, refusals, or acceptances of religious accommodations related to Muslim demands, but rather, by one new trend--the coverage of these cases by the media.

"USUAL" DISCRIMINATION

"Usual" discrimination remains difficult to prove because of the lack of proof of the denial of freedoms or basic rights, but certain facts lead us to assume it plays a definitive role.

Attitudes

A survey conducted across Canada (Angus Reid 1991) demonstrated that persons of Muslim heritage were victims of unfavorable perceptions before September 2001. Almost all respondents said they felt more comfortable with Natives than with immigrants, and even less comfortable with the Indo-Pakistani, Sikh, Black, West-Indian, Arab, and Muslim groups. In the fall of 2001, 82 percent of Canadians feared that Arabs and Muslims would become the target of discrimination (IPSOS-Reid), but almost one year later, in July 2002, according to a CROP survey on the religious beliefs of persons 16 to 35 years of age, 76 percent of Quebec respondents and 55 percent of other Canadian respondents thought that religion causes conflict between people, and 17 percent of the former and 13 percent of the latter thought that Islam promotes confrontational relations (Le Devoir, July 22 2002). In August 2002, according to another IPSOS-Reid survey, 45 percent of Quebecers, 37 percent of Albertans, 33 percent of Ontarians, and 22 percent of British Columbia residents agreed with the statement: "The September 11 attacks made me more mistrustful of Arabs or Muslims coming from the Middle-East" (as noted in the introduction, the majority of Canadians of Middle Eastern origin are established in Quebec and Ontario). In fact, according to a survey conducted by Leger Marketing in September 2002, 33 percent of Canadian respondents declared they had heard racist comments against Muslims and Arabs.

The terrorist acts of September 11 and the measures adopted by the Canadian government to control the borders also had a notable effect on the attitudes of Canadians toward immigration. According to an August 2002 survey conducted by the Association for Canadian Studies, 43 percent of respondents indicated that Canada accepted too many immigrants from Arab countries, 40 percent from Asian countries, 24 percent from Africa, 21 percent from Latin America, and 16 percent from Europe. When respondents feared a future terrorist attack in North America, the percentages increased: 49 percent wanted a reduction of Arab immigration and 47 percent of Asian immigration. In November 2002, another survey by Maclean's magazine, Global TV, and The Citizen indicated the same trend: 44 percent of Canadians wanted a reduction of immigration from Muslim countries. The highest percentage was in Quebec: 48 percent agreed versus 45 percent in Ontario, 42 percent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, 43 percent in the Maritimes, 39 percent in British Columbia, and 35 percent in Alberta. A year earlier, the average percentage favoring a reduction of immigration from Arab countries was 49 percent.

By mid-March of 2003, the week the English-American war on Iraq began (a war not endorsed by the Canadian government), 70 percent of the 2,002 Canadians polled by the Association for Canadian Studies and the Environics Research Group "see intolerance towards immigrants and ethnic groups as a serious problem in Canada, and 68 percent harbor concerns over anti-Arab sentiment, 54 percent worry about anti-Semitism, and 55 percent about an anti-Black sentiment. But still 30 percent felt Arabs project a negative image, while 38 percent felt the same about Aboriginals, 13 percent about Blacks, and 11 percent about Jews" (Jayoush 2003).

According to these polls, negative stereotypes of Muslims appear to be held by at least a third of the Canadian public, with no significant change since the 1990s or between September 2001 and March 2003. Since 2001, however, some Canadian media outlets have fed that negative perception.

Media Coverage

Over the past twenty years, an increase in violent events in Muslim countries and violent activities involving individuals of the Muslim faith gave rise to abundant media coverage intended for a Western general audience. This is particularly true for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; the wars in Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Persian Gulf, the Caucasus, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the September 2001 attacks. Coverage of these events, like that of other current events, tends to omit past and present socio-political analysis of the conflicts (Helly 2002). Moreover, the coverage frequently reproduces the Orientalist archetype (Said) of an insurmountable gap between Islam and other monotheist religions, in addition to ignoring the evolution of Western and Islamic cultures and countries.

Canadian media coverage of events concerning countries or people of Muslim heritage since September 2001 constitutes one of the most significant criticisms leveled by Canadian Muslim organizations. The main critique is the constant usage of Islam to qualify positions and political actions. We often hear about "Muslim extremists" or "Islamic militants," whereas religious qualifications are generally omitted when similar positions or actions by people of other religions are discussed. In one interview (Weld 2003), Wahida Valiante, vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, explained: "We never refer to those involved in the Northern Ireland conflict as Catholic terrorists. In dealing with Bosnia and Kosovo, there were Christian and Orthodox terrorists, but they were never called that, though there was much discussion of Muslim Bosnian terrorists."

According to a CAIR-CAN investigation involving 296 Canadian Muslims in 2001, 56 percent said that Canadian media coverage had become more biased with regard to Islam and Muslims after September 2001, while 13 percent declared it had improved. In the view of the first group, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), The Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail were the most objective media, while The National Post, Global Television, and The Ottawa Citizen were the most hostile to Islam (Press release, May 9 2002; Alternative Perspective, September 2002). Also, the 181 participants in the discussion groups on the condition of "Canadian-Muslim women" (Hussain 2002:28) agreed that the CBC had presented balanced information regarding the events of September 11, 2001, especially with two of its programs, "The National" and "The Passionate Eye."

Since 1998, the Canadian Islamic Congress has published Anti-Islam in the Media, an annual study of the coverage of eight Canadian newspapers (The Globe and Mail, La Presse, The National Post, The Ottawa Citizen. The Gazette. The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, and The Winnipeg Free Press). Each study counts the articles containing biased or offensive terms with regard to Muslims and allots a rating of these terms according to two criteria: their appearance in front page titles and their repetition in the same article, and the newspaper's circulation (CIC 2002:10). On Match 23 2003, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation awarded the Canadian Islamic Congress the prize for excellence for its Anti-Islam in the Media 2002 report.

While The National Post was classified as the least-biased newspaper and The Globe and Mail as the most biased in 1999, (12) since 2000, The National Post has been rated the most hostile. A renewal of anti-Muslim stereotypes was notable from September 12 through November 28 2001 in a number of other publications: "Negative or biased information on Islam" was found to appear ten times more often than over the previous months in The Toronto Star, 18 times more in The Globe and Mail, and 22 times more in The National Post (CIC 2001). A similar conclusion was drawn from a study of The Vancouver Sun (Enns 2002). In the 2002 CIC report, The Globe and Mail, which appeared to eliminate biased terms over those months, found itself, together with The Winnipeg Free Press, among the publications least condemned by the organization.

The position of The National Post results from its control by a media conglomerate (Can West Global) whose owners use their editorial authority to promote anti-Muslim positions and support for the Sharon government. Their newspapers, The Ottawa Citizen, The Gazette, and The National Post, have, since 2000, held their position as the top three newspapers most unfavorable to Muslims. They focus more on the rise of anti-Semitism than on discrimination against Muslims (CIC 2002:13), but The Gazette covered these two subjects in a series of articles in September 2002. As examples of bias and/or malevolent inconsistency in The National Post articles, one published on August 15 2002 read: "Attacking infidels. Terrorists target the West for only one reason: its religious values," and supported its thesis by describing the assassination of 400 people in Algeria during the period of fasting in 2001. After September 11, the paper published comments (the first in September 2001, the second in March 2002; both written by George Jonas) such as: "From the beginning, Western attempts to draw a distinction between Islamist terrorists and Islam resulted in a lop-sided effort" and "The terrorist enemy has no armies to send against us; it has to penetrate our perimeter through fifth columnists" (Elmasry 2002).

In 2002, the CIC and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) carried out a pilot study on the evening news of three television networks, CTV, Global, and CBC, over a period of 60 days. CBC was rated as the network having presented the most negative references to Islam. Coverage by radio stations has not yet been studied, though some appear to have developed anti-Islam stereotypes. On July 8 2002, Mr. Green declared on CFRA 580 AM, an Ottawa-based station, "North America--democracy--the Christian faith--is under attack, not just in North America, but elsewhere around the world"; the threat "comes almost exclusively from Muslim men." A complaint was later filed with the CRTC by CAIR-CAN.

Researchers sought to learn whether the attacks of September 2001 led Quebec French-speaking journalists to delineate a link between terrorism and immigration. Piche and Djerrahian (2002) analyzed 78 articles published in La Presse and Le Devoir between September 11 and October 31 2001 and concluded, if "the consensus on immigration has been broken after September 11, (13) the majority of publications remain on the side of moderation." They did not deem it obligatory that the fight against terrorism lead to a re-examination of immigration law (p. 82, my translation) because a counter-argument was often presented, that is, the pressure exerted by the United States to conduct such a review. According to Pietrantonio's 2002 analysis of articles published on September 12, 13, and 15 2001 in La Presse and Le Devoir (and Liberation as an "echo newspaper"), the attacks were described as a quasi inevitable consequence of unequal power relationships. In addition, Radio-Canada and RDI networks offered balanced coverage of events in Muslim countries. Francophone media coverage seems less offensive and ambiguous when compared to some Anglophone media coverage.

Education

School is a place where ideas and representations are transmitted to younger generations. The only research regarding discrimination against Muslims is Mc Andrew's 1985 analysis of textbooks written during the second half of the 1970s in Quebec. These Quebec textbooks were produced by private publishers and used by public school boards. Mc Andrew pointed out that they encapsulated the "last legitimate racism." Although the textbooks spoke about solidarity within the Third World and black Americans' struggles (portraying Malcolm X, Allende, Mao Tse Tung, and Castro very positively), Arab struggles for emancipation were denounced as "radicalism," "anti-Westernism," and even "fanaticism." This North-American discourse was influenced by the 1973 oil crisis and the Western world's confrontations with Kadhafi. Moreover, Quebec's long-established Arab population was not mentioned in the texts. The stereotype of the "TV Arab" prevailed (Shaheen 1984, 2001) through such images as the rich sheik, the dangerous terrorist, the uneducated peasant, and the noble Touareg. This negative image apparently had some effect on the 200 French-speaking CEGEP students who evaluated English or anglophone ethnic groups (Jews, Germans) more positively than Blacks and Arabs, placed at the bottom of their list. Arabs were said to be dishonest, sly, cruel, and complaining (Mc Andrew 2002:135), During the 1980s and thereafter, the textbooks were updated. However, the presentation of Muslims did not change much. This situation remains to be documented, not only in Quebec, but throughout Canada's school systems.

Conflicts Regarding Places of Worship

The request for space for Muslim worship was not the subject of conflict during the 1970-1980s when many places of worship were opened by Muslim immigrants arriving from the Middle East and Asia. In contrast, during the 1990s, conflicts appeared in Toronto and Montreal, some of which remain unresolved. In 1995, a highly publicized conflict took place regarding the opening of a place of worship in East York and shortly after, in 1998-1999, the construction of a dome above a Pakistani mosque provoked debates and disputes (Isin and Siemiatycki 2002). To illustrate these conflicts, particulars of cases in Montreal are presented.

Since 1995, an insiduous conflict has taken place in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a well-to-do, English-speaking former municipality in a residential suburb west of the island. The municipality was, and is, particularly hostile to the opening of a mosque. The Azzahra International Foundation, a multiethnic Shiite organization, wanted to build a mosque and a cultural centre in 1995. Despite the favorable opinion of the city's Planning Service, the City Council changed the zoning in 1997 in order to prevent its construction. The project was finally abandoned in 1998. A year later, the same organization bought a vacant synagogue in the same city and opened a cultural and religious centre. It did not obtain a licence from the municipality even though the site was zoned for religious worship and the municipality was aware of the center's existence and activities (Daher 2002). In 2001, because of financial difficulties resulting mostly from people's fears about donating to Muslim organizations following the September 2001 attacks, the Azzahra International Foundation sold the building to a Sunnite organization, the Canadian Islamic Center. The new centre has still not received legal authorization to operate from the municipality.

The conflict has been much more abrupt in the case of the creation of an Ismaili cultural and religious centre (Jamat Khana). With a capacity to host from 800 to 1,000 worshippers, this space would have been built on a piece of land in the center of the former municipality of Brossard (south of Montreal Island). The project was blocked in August 2002 under pressure from 506 residents who signed a petition opposing a zoning change proposal and asking for the creation of a public park instead. The zoning change meant that taxes on 40 percent of the land in question would be imposed. At the time, the zoning allowing a 100 percent tax exemption had been in effect for 40 years without any modification. The following are some of the arguments presented by opponents of the project (La Presse, Forum, Monday August 12 2002): "I do not like to live with different people. That does not make me a monster, nor cretinous, only a different person"; "I oppose this mosque project: The site does not lend itself to it. In my opinion, its commercial value is too high to be used for religious purposes, whether the religion is Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, etc." But other arguments were made: "According to opponents, the land must have a neutral projection and must not be used for religious purposes. Why? Could it be because of the image such a center would give to Brossard, which is nevertheless a largely multiethnic city? The argument does not make any sense." Due to the misunderstanding between residents and City Council on the technicalities of the zoning change and the harsh public debate that took place, the council issued a three-month moratorium on the question. The Muslim association's purchase option expired before the end of the moratorium, and the seller refused to extend it. The association abandoned the project, and there was no follow-up on the idea of building a public park. We should recall that the Quebec Ismaili association had established religious centers in other municipalities for twenty years without opposition (Mount-Royal, Laval, Sherbrooke, Granby, and Quebec City).

In a similar situation, although an extension project submitted in 1999 was approved by the advisory City Planning Council in Pierrefonds, Makka Al Mukarramah has not yet received a permit from City Council which argues that traffic problems have escalated and will be worsened by the arrival of more worshippers.

These cases, though not directly related to the events of September 11, demonstrate new opposition to the opening of Muslim places of worship since the mid-1990s, a trend that has not yet been examined in other Canadian cities.

THE FOUNDATION OF NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES

Four dynamics explain the presence of anti-Muslim stereotypes within Canada. The first, similar to other countries, is the view of Islam as an intolerant religion that oppresses women and is closely related to conflict and terrorism. This view emerges from negative images spread in the West and reproduced by influential Canadian media. In this respect, according to studies conducted by Abu-Laban and Karim, Canadian media coverage of Islam remains deficient with no perceptible progress made since the 1990s. Karim (2000) described how Canadian media reportage of terrorist actions carried out by Muslims during the years 1980-90 reinforced negative stereotypes, and Abu-Laban and Abu-Laban (1991) reached similar conclusions regarding coverage of the 1991 Gulf War.

A second dynamic is the result of the relatively recent immigration of Muslims to Canada. The fact that the majority of Muslim immigrants arrived in Canada during the 1990s contributes to their quasi-absence among media personnel and from the political arena (and hence, their weak political voice). Recent immigrancy allows for the development of a stereotype of Canadian Muslims as being insular, poor, indifferent to Canadian society, and more concerned with life in their country of origin. Ethnic, national, and religious fragmentation combined with the absence of federal programmes to support Muslim associations during the 1990s also explain their weak community structure and political mobilization. These deficiencies prevent this population from benefiting as a community from favorable dispositions to religions minorities, such as the legal obligation of reasonable accommodations, the permanent invocation of the merits of multiculturalism policy by the political authorities, and recourse to tribunals in cases of discrimination.

Another fact characterizes Canadian Muslims: more than twenty-five percent of the total Canadian Muslim population is concentrated in Montreal. Within this region, there tends to be more public debate on Islam due to several factors that feed friction. A militant secular movement in Quebec adheres to the anti-religious, French interpretation of secularism and considers religiosity as an archaic cultural trait. Thus, the principle of "laicite" (14) was recently invoked to justify the refusal to grant a prayer room for Muslim students at Ecole de Technologie Superieure (MontrealMuslimNews.net, March 11 2003). In addition, ethno-nationalists see in Islam (and in other non-Christian minority differences) a threat to Quebec national identity rooted in the Christian religion, influential feminist movements are hostile to Islam, and there are some Christian lobbies. In 1997, Law 118 proposed courses about the "culture of the religions of the world," beginning at the elementary level. The Catholic movement and evangelical groups strongly mobilized against this proposal under the guise of the need to teach pupils "their religion," that is to say, the Christian religion, before presenting other religions to them. They won their battle to some extent: the courses will be offered only at the high school level beginning in September 2005. In this context, however, we should note that despite the secularization of the school boards in 1997, the Law on Public Education continues to make provisions for teaching Catholic and Protestant religions in public schools.

In addition to these frictions, public opinion in Quebec generally recognizes Palestinians' right to a State, and three populations (Arabs, Pakistanis, and Jews) concerned with this debate are strongly represented. (15) Tensions between activists from these groups are high and have led to confrontations about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict at Concordia University. (16)

As a result of these characteristics, unique to Quebec, the debate on the Middle East situation and Islam is more apparent in the public sphere there than elsewhere in Canada. In English Canada, the debate on Islam has given free reign to proponents who lobby for a reduction in the number of immigrants and refugees. But polemics surrounding Islam bring journalists, media owners, and members of the Jewish community face to face. The latter have, for instance, blamed the Canadian Broadcasting Company for calling Hamas members "extremist militants" rather than "terrorists," and also for ignoring the recrudescence of anti-Semitism in Canada and elsewhere in the West (Schlesinger 2002; The Gazette 2003; Block 2002; Spector 2003).

The majority of the Canadian Jewish community views the Palestinian struggle as a deadly threat to Israel and equates Islam with terrorism. Also, in the view of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Jewish identity and the State of Israel are currently one.

Finally, a fourth crucial dynamic is Canada's geographical proximity to the United States--Canada's primary political, military, and economic ally. (17) On the one hand, the United States is the principal source of news regarding events in the Middle East and the fight against terrorism (Maybee 1980; Karim 2000:14), particularly for the English Canadian media (Karim 1996, 2000). Since September 2001, the United States has pressured Canada to bring its policies regarding immigration control, political asylum and security, as well as international positions, in line with American policies. It particularly insists on border control and the surveillance of asylum seekers, refugees, and the Muslim population generally. In addition, the Canadian government tends to remain silent on any issue related to this population. The importance of not stigmatizing Muslims was publicly declared by politicians at all levels of government shortly after the attacks of September 2001, but since then, there has been little out-reach by the federal government toward associations representing Canadians of Muslim heritage, and the government has paid little attention to disclosures of discrimination against Muslims.

The Prime Minister visited an Ottawa mosque on September 21 2001 "to reaffirm that Islam has nothing to do with the massacre prepared and executed by the terrorists," and on November 15 2001, he declared in Parliament that it was necessary to devote efforts to fighting discrimination as much as, if not more than, terrorism. Since then, like other members of the government, he has remained silent on this question, except for the controversial declaration offered in the fall of 2002 that the policies of humiliating Arab countries could form part of the cause of the terrorist attacks in September 2001.

The 296 respondents in a CAIR-CAN survey during the summer of 2002 expressed their appreciation of the Prime Minister's messages as well as similar ones by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Secretary of State, but they also criticized the Prime Minister for "his lack of clear actions against the wave of Anti-Muslim hate." About three-quarters rated his interaction with the Muslim community as poor or below average (CAIR-CAN Press release, September 5 2002). Examples of indifference by public authorities were described by R. Khouri, president of the Canadian-Arab Federation:

 Why did the Justice Department, after agreeing to work with
 us on 11 specific concerns, then walk away? Why did the
 solicitor-general, after expressing empathy with our plight,
 then refuse to help us monitor abuses of the Anti-Terrorism
 Act by law enforcement agencies? Why did the minister of
 foreign affairs lift the travel advisory to the U.S. when
 Arab and Muslim Canadians traveling there continue to face
 humiliation and are subjected to treatment normally reserved
 for charged criminals? Why did the Ontario public safety
 minister condone the racial profiling taking place at the
 U.S. border against his own citizens? Why is it that the mayor
 of Canada's largest city, whose logo is "Diversity is Our
 Strength," never spoke out against the victimization of Arabs
 and Muslims post-Sept. 11?

 R. Khouri at the conference, "Policing in a
 Multicultural Society," Ottawa 2003

Khouri then concluded:

 By and large, Arab and Muslim Canadians were left on their
 own, having to explain themselves and prove their loyalty;
 defend their religion and demonstrate its goodness; and at
 times bide their ethnicity and deny their heritage in a
 bid to escape scrutiny.

CONCLUSION

During the weeks following September 11 2001, hate crimes against Muslims increased in Canada before subsiding in 2002 and thereafter. Hate crimes usually took the form of insults, and violent attacks against persons were rare in Canada (contrary to events in other Western countries). Ethnic profiling by police and intelligence authorities, negative news coverage by some influential English media, and negative attitudes held by 30-45 percent of the Canadian population all resulted in a high level of harm and fear within the Muslim population. Inequitable access to the labor market only compounded the effects on Muslim newcomers to Canada.

However, positive factors must also be noted. The passing of the Anti-terrorist Act gave way to a public debate, measures aimed at establishing or reactivating bonds between the Muslim communities and municipal authorities were adopted in a number of cities, and the majority of Canadians did not share negative stereotypes of Muslims. Moreover, Canadian political parties did not call for the ostracism of Muslims, nor demand limits to Muslim immigration, contrary to the wishes of one vocal segment of the public. The New Democratic Party (NDP), for example, took issue with discrimination against Muslims, particularly federal MPs Joe Comartin (Windsor) and Svend Robinson (Burnaby-Douglas).

If this all seems reassuring, these positive points were not strong enough to counter the disillusionment which settled upon people of Muslim heritage regarding their status within Canadian society after September 2001. For example, 61 percent of CAIR-CAN 2002 survey respondents said "they experienced kindness or support from friends or colleagues of other faiths," and 60 percent said, "they experienced bias or discrimination since the 9/11 terrorist attacks." Unfortunately, 33 percent said that their lives changed for the worst, felt disliked by fellow Canadians, and were concerned for their own safety and that of their families (CAIR-CAN press release, September 5 2002). In another poll in the spring of 2002, 41 percent of the 253 Arab respondents indicated that Canadians "do not like Muslims," while 84.6 percent believe that Canadians think Muslims are violent (Canadian Arab Federation 2002:11).

The foregoing discussion calls into question the Canadian principle of respect for, and promotion of, cultural pluralism. If an ethno-cultural group becomes the clear target of discriminatory practices and relatively widespread hostile attitudes, and if this principle and its attendant policies prove ineffective in reducing these discriminatory acts, then what is the reality of the message of cultural pluralism and its goal of equity and equality for all, especially in a country said to be a leader regarding multiculturalism issues?

This paper also raises questions about the way discrimination is addressed by the government. If public policy cannot completely erase racism, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia, it can mitigate their effects not only with strong symbolic gestures but also by empowering the victimized groups and persons, helping them to defend themselves, to organize coalitions, to learn about their rights and their access to judicial bodies, and to build relationships with their representative organizations. Unfortunately, this has not been done extensively in the case of the Muslim population since 2001. The government should certainly take note of the lack of information regarding Islam and other minority religions, not to mention the extent of negative stereotypes Canadians hold of Muslims. During the 1980s, through the Multiculturalism Program, numerous initiatives have been launched to educate the Canadian population and media personnel about the new cultural diversity created by immigration from non-European countries. Major research projects addressing the needs of specific cultural communities were also funded, though none were undertaken in the case of Islam, despite the increase of the Muslim population in Canada during the 1990s, and the ongoing dismissal of the Program since the mid-1990s will not help Canadian Muslims defend their rights.

Notes

(1.) This text is part of a report submitted in May 2003 to partners in a study funded by the Sciences and Humanities Research Council (CRSH-IDR-2003-2005): "The Challenges Facing the Integration of Muslims in Canada and Quebec." A French version of this article will be published in Revue Europeenne des migrationales in 2005.

(2.) Andrews vs Law Society of British Columbia [1989] R.C.S. 143.

(3.) Three categories of hate crimes are defined in the section of the Criminal Code on hate propaganda: inciting genocide (art.318), public incitement of hatred (art. 319, par. 1), and the voluntary fomenting of hatred other than in a private conversation. Hate propaganda was criminalized in 1971.

(4.) The other 64 hate crimes targeted people based on their cultural origin (most often attached to the Islamic culture: Pakistani, Somali, Afghan, Middle-Eastern, Arab, etc.).

(5.) This low response rate requires us to interpret the results very carefully.

(6.) In Ottawa, women wearing a hijab were refused jobs.

(7.) Not all feminist movements opposed the wearing of the hijab: the Council for the Status of Women, for instance, shared the view of the Commission.

(8.) In some respects, this law is similar to the American Patriot Act passed in October 2001 and to the British Crime and Security Act passed in December 2001.

(9.) A terrorist activity is defined by Bill C-36 as an act made "in the name of a goal, an objective or a cause of a political, religious or ideological nature" and which "seriously compromises the health or the safety of the whole population or part of it."

(10.) This clause raised fears of having the properties of people of Islamic culture seized without evidence and of a drop in donations to places of worship and other organizations for fear of seeing the funds diverted to activities prohibited by the law.

(11.) Forty percent of immigrants who arrived in the 1990s held a university degree compared to 23 percent of native Canadians the same age (25 to 54 years of age).

(12.) Without taking account of the circulation factor, La Presse was the most biased newspaper in 1999. In 1998, the most biased daily newspapers was The Toronto Star, followed by The Globe and Mail.

(13.) A poll in Montreal during the fall of 2001 indicated that 83 percent of Montrealers wanted immigration laws to be tightened, and 77 percent wanted increased border controls.

(14.) Laicite means the total separation of the state from religion. Canada is not a "laicite" state.

(15.) According to a recent Compas Inc. poll, 26 percent of Quebecers and 10 percent of other Canadians think that Jews have too much power in Canada. Fifteen percent of Canadians (including 26 percent of Francophones and 39 percent of those with relatively little education high school or lower education levels) believe that "the persecution suffered by Jews before and during WWII was in part or mostly their fault," The Gazette, September 25 2002.

(16.) Ten percent of the 30,000 students at Concordia are Muslims.

(17.) Eighty-four percent of Canadian exports go to the United States, and manufacturers and industrial pressure groups that have a stake in this market influence debates about Islam and the control of Canadian borders.

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Denise Helly's research interests include national and ethnic minorities, citizenship, nationalism, policies of cultural pluralism and immigration, and the integration of immigrants. She has published articles and books on Chinese overseas, national minorities in China, Canadian multiculturalism, the social integration of immigrants in Quebec, and Quebec's policy regarding ethnocultural minorities. She is currently collaborating with two European research teams studying the status of Muslims in Canada as well as in Europe. Email: Denise_Helly@inrs-UCS.uquebec.ca