The Canadian newspaper Ottawa Citizen published a groundbreaking study by Ontario’s largest student group on March 22. The study accuses universities and colleges of downplaying the growing incidents of hostility and hate-motivated violence toward Muslim students in the five years after 9/11.
There is a great deal of racism and religious discrimination that sometimes manifests itself in physical attacks against Muslim women in particular. Women wearing the hijab are subjected to different types of humiliation and are accused of being ignorant. There are many similar incidents that take place inside classrooms when students or teachers direct negative criticism at Islam and Muslims.
It is known that Canada has a diverse population that includes people from across the world. It also relies on immigration to increase its population. Its citizens are no more than 31 million. Therefore, Canada welcomes immigrants, an ethos that stems from the country’s constitution and has become a solid tradition in Canadian life.
Immigrants are given all the privileges given to born Canadians the minute they arrive in the country. This includes everything except voting rights, which are only given after nationality is awarded.
That is why Canada considers the issue of equality, justice and equal opportunities among its citizens a political issue and a basic foundation of its policies. All Canadian political streams do not hesitate to defend Canadian citizens, regardless of what their background, origin, or religion is.
The fact that this study addresses the issue of hate-motivated violence toward Muslim students is an indication that Canada is a transparent country that does not shy away from defending all of its citizens regardless.
The case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian origin, is the best example to illustrate this Canadian approach. Arar was detained by the US immigration authorities based on wrong information provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Despite carrying a Canadian passport, he was forcibly sent to Syria where he was imprisoned for a year and tortured until his release on Oct. 5, 2003.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to Arar and his family for the erroneous detention. The government even compensated him with $8.9 million.
This type of behavior is the modern way of doing things, it is responsible and respectful to the rights of humans and worthy of appreciation.
