Canada is inching toward a broadly-based law that would codify “Islamophobia” as a hate crime without even defining Islamophobia or demonstrating that it is a phenomenon requiring legal action.
After first passing a motion that condemns Islamophobia, last month, Iqra Khalid, a Member of Parliament (MP) from the governing Liberals, tabled Motion M-103 in the House of Commons. The motion demands that Islamophobia be treated as a crime without even bothering to define the offense.
Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the leftist New Democrat Party, read the first motion in the House of Commons:
“Mr. Speaker, in a moment I will be seeking unanimous consent for an important motion based on the e-petition sponsored by the Hon. Member for Pierrefonds–Dollard that asks that we, the House of Commons, condemn all forms of Islamophobia,” Mulcair said.
Though he did not receive the unanimous consent that he craved because some official opposition Conservative MPs shouted, “Nay,” Mulcair’s motion passed. No mainstream media outlet reported this parliamentary activity; some social media blogs and private news websites discussed the motion.
Then last month, Liberal MP Khalid introduced another more comprehensive motion that “the government should recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear… condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and take note of House of Commons’ petition e-411 and the issues raised by it…and request that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage undertake a study.”
Khalid recommends that Islamophobia — whatever that is — be treated as a hate crime by the federal government and that it “collect data to contextualize hate crime reports and to conduct needs assessments for impacted communities.”
This motion was tabled for debate. Khalid’s communications assistant, Anas Marwah, told The Daily Caller that they expect the motion to come up for discussion in a couple of weeks. “The motion has technically not been introduced, but just tabled; it may be up for first reading in early February,” he said.
The motion has received virtually no mention in the mainstream media. The Rebel Media, a conservative news service based in Toronto, Ontario, has flagged the motion and its potential implications.
If the motion is sent to the Heritage Committee, it is virtually guaranteed the full attention of the group’s chairwoman. Liberal MP Hedy Fry is firmly entrenched on the left-wing of the party and is notorious for comments she made following the 9-11 terrorist attacks that seemed to blame the U.S. for the atrocity.
