Since December 2020 there have been six attacks against Black Muslim Women in Edmonton, Alberta where they were threatened, and verbally and physically assaulted. While Edmonton Police have now made an arrest in connection with these cases, the way these incidents were handled by law enforcement and politicians raises questions about how well Canada is doing in tackling Islamophobic attacks and whether more can be done. To discuss these issues, Stephanie sits down with Sarah Mushtaq who recently co-authored an editorial with Hanan Mohamud on the attacks and what steps leaders at all levels of government can take. They also discuss recent steps taken by the government to list far-right groups as terrorist entities, and whether legislation such as Quebec’s Bill C-21 undermine efforts to combat violence against Muslims in Canada.

References:

Sarah Mushtaq and Hanan Mohamud, “Meaningful action required on hate crimes in Alberta”, Edmonton Journal 2, March 2021.  https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-meaningful-action-required-on-hate-crimes-in-alberta

Michael Nesbitt, “An Empirical Study of Terrorism Charges and Terrorism Trials in Canada between September 2001 and September 2018” 2019.  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3325956

Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens, “Resisting the Right: Countering Right-Wing Extremism in Canada”, in Right Wing Extremism in Canada, Palgrave 2019. Pp. 121-141.