[1] Particularly since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, a variety of surveys and polls as well as reported incidents have consistently given credence to the existence of Islamophobia in Canada.
An upsurge in immigrants from India from around 2014 also contributed to an increased spread of Indian-origin anti-islamic sentiments forwarded via mobile messaging as part of Hindutva disinformation campaigns supported by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to witnesses, the man started out shouting racially motivated obscenities at them, then shattered one of the glass windows in their car, and then physically assaulted them in the parking lot as one of them tried to run away.
[48] Von Neutegem had shared content from a satanic neo-Nazi group in social media posts, according to an organization that tracks online extremism.
[50] On 6th June, 2021, the Afzaal family, Salman (46), his mother Talat (74), his wife Madiha (44), daughter Yumna (15), and son Fayez (9), were out for a walk when they were struck by a pick-up truck.
[59][57] In 2013, the Parti Québécois government of Pauline Marois introduced a much stricter bill known as the Quebec Charter of Values, which would have banned public servants from wearing any "conspicuous" religious symbols including turbans, kippahs, and hijabs.
[61] According to the Associated Press, the law "bans the wearing of face coverings for people giving or receiving a service from the state" and "offers a framework outlining how authorities should grant accommodation requests based on religious beliefs.
She added, "The message they're sending to those women is that you stay home and don't come out of your house because they are choosing to cover their faces and they cannot board a bus or use any public transportation or receive any services.
[63] Fo Niemi of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations said the law could be challenged at the United Nations as "a violation of certain rights protected by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
[62] Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre accused the provincial government of overstepping its jurisdiction and Montreal-based civil rights lawyer Julius Grey called Bill 62 a "terrible law.
[71] An October 27 Angus Reid Institute poll found that 70% Canadians outside of Quebec supported "legislation similar to Bill 62" where they lived in the country, with 30% opposing it.
[72] However, a judge ruled that the face-covering ban cannot enter into force pending judicial review, due to irreparable harm it will cause Muslim women.
In December 2021, a Montreal doctor submitted a letter condemning wearing hijabs as an "instrument of oppression", which later appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
[74][75] A joint study from McMaster University and the Muslim Advisory Council of Canada described "obvious gaps" in research regarding islamophobia in Canadian health-care settings.
[76][77] American research gathered from the study indicated that over half of Muslim patients stated that they were "dismissed, excluded, or ignored in health-care settings," often reporting lower quality care or lack of cultural consideration.
[84] The 2003 Ethnic Diversity Survey conducted by Statistics Canada found that only 0.54% of Muslims reported being a victim of a hate crime based on religion between 1998 and 2003.
She cites examples such as the debate on the skirt length of a female employee at Pearson airport, or the wearing of a headscarf on a soccer team in Edmonton.
In 1998, the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) singled out the newspaper National Post as a leading consistently Islamophobic media outlet in Canada.
[101] BCHRT found that while the article contained "factual inaccuracies" and may use exaggeration to cause the reader to fear Muslims, it did not violate anti-hate laws.
[103] (For further details, see: Human rights complaints against Maclean's magazine) The CIC has praised the Toronto Star and La Press for their sympathetic and relatively sophisticated treatment of Islam.
The interactions of non-Muslim students, teachers and administrators have been described by one antiracist and gender-equity practitioner at a Canadian school board as based on stereotypes that are "reminiscent of the long-gone colonial era.
"[12] Research also suggests that teachers’ low expectations racial and ethnic minoritized youth can lead to negative evaluation and biased assessments, and this is compounded by Islamophobic attitudes.
[107] The creation of the guide was inspired in part by the case of an Ontario high school teacher who was fired in 2015 after it was discovered that he had tweeted racist and Islamophobic messages on Twitter.
[108] In January 2021, to mark the 4th anniversary of the Quebec Mosque Shooting, Inspirit Foundation and Noor Culture Centre launched a video series called 'Islamophobia-is'.
[116] In December 2016, the University of Toronto's St. Michael's College Student Union's vice-president resigned from his position after a video displaying what was deemed to be Islamophobic conduct at an SMCSU event, which he had posted to social media, was widely shared.
[120] "To be clear, there is no place for Islamophobia in Canada," said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a virtual meeting with representatives of the community and male-dominated organizations in the country.
[133] Ultimately, the future of Canada as a whole appears rather murky as it is estimated that 68% of Canadians are in favor of this ban in their own province, thus leaving Muslim women feeling as though they are being restricted from obtaining a higher education.
Addressing the core issue of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms Trudeau stated that "I think I’ve been very clear that I don’t think a government should be legislating what a woman should or shouldn’t be wearing.
[141] Prime Minister Trudeau's comments displayed optimism for Canadian women, as there are currently 12 countries globally besides Canada that have implemented a partial or full face ban.
This comment came at the ire of Canadian citizens, as they felt it was a not-so subtle attempt made by the Quebec government, the "Act to foster adherence to State religious neutrality".