In a first-of-its-kind case in Canada, critics have sued the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)—a Canadian Islamist group—for defamation on behalf of Collin May, the former director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission and Tribunal (AHRC). The suit comes after May was ousted from his job in September 2022 after he was targeted with accusations of “Islamophobia” and anti-Muslim racism.
The lawsuit, filed by the Lawfare Project and law firm Zacharias Vickers McCann LLP, alleges that the NCCM’s campaign against May was “defamatory.” It aims to rehabilitate May’s reputation and obtain compensation for the harm May suffered.
A career lawyer, May has a stellar professional background that included stints with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. After serving as a part-time commissioner of the AHRC for three years, he was appointed as its director in May 2022, making him the first openly gay person to hold the position.
May also has an accomplished academic record, with degrees in political philosophy, religion and law. A dedicated human rights activist focused on the rights of LGBTQ, Indigenous and other vulnerable communities, he once helped secure asylum for a gay, HIV-positive Jordanian Muslim in Canada.
Smear Campaign
Despite being a member of a marginalized group, May’s conservative philosophy quickly made him a target for progressives. The opposition left-wing New Democratic Party accused the Alberta government, then led by Premier Jason Kenney, of the United Conservative Party (UCP), of giving May a patronage appointment to further its conservative agenda.
The campaign to unseat May began soon into his tenure. The first major salvo came in July 2022, when Duncan Kinney, an NDP-affiliated blogger (Kinney is also one of the defendants in the lawsuit), uncovered a 2009 book review written by May. The review was of Islamic Imperialism: A History, a book authored by Efraim Karsh, a professor at King’s College London.
Summing up Karsh’s argument that Islam is an “imperial political religion,” May wrote that “it is one of the most militaristic religions known to man.” However, in his blog post, Kinney criticized May’s review, attributing this characterization of Islam directly to May even though May himself had not authored it, the suit alleges.
“This case is crucial in defending the integrity of public discourse...”
Kinney’s post was followed by criticism from Canadian Muslim leaders. One of them, Prof. Faisal Bhabha, a law professor at York University in Toronto, questioned May’s commitment to “combating Islamophobia” as AHRC chief. Another Muslim leader, Imam Sadique Pathan of Edmonton’s Al Rashid Mosque, accused May of engaging in “Islamophobia or outright racist views towards Muslims” because of his “binary thinking.”
The NCCM seized on the controversy, claiming that May’s review was “stereotyping” and “hurtful.” The organization demanded that the Alberta government rescind his appointment. Premier Kenney instructed May to meet with NCCM officials to address their concerns. While May agreed to the meeting, he refused to issue an apology for his review. In September 2022, Kenney dismissed May from his position.
Neither NCCM nor the Progress Report, where Kinney published his blog entry about May, responded to an email inquiry by Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) regarding the lawsuit.
Unprecedented Lawsuit
The suit alleges that the NCCM’s campaign against May was part of a broader effort to silence individuals who criticize Islam in a scholarly context.
Benjamin Ryberg, Chief Operating Officer of the Lawfare Project, emphasized that the suit is not just about restoring May’s reputation.
“This case is crucial in defending the integrity of public discourse and ensuring that scholarly and intellectual freedom are not undermined by defamatory accusations of Islamophobia designed to intimidate and silence,” Ryberg said in a press release.
If the lawsuit proceeds to trial, it will likely bring the controversial term “Islamophobia” into sharper focus. Critics assert the term has been weaponized widely by Islamist groups like the NCCM to dissuade any scrutiny of their questionable core agenda or financial practices.
May told FWI via email, “Personally, this public attack on my academic work and my character has had a lot of negative consequences. I gave up my legal practice to become chief of the Human Rights Commission and am now left without full-time work and struggling financially. My partner and I lost our home that we could no longer afford, and both of us have experienced physical illness. Politically, I’ve gone from being friendly with numerous members of both Alberta’s political parties to having been personally maligned by the Alberta NDP and shunned by the governing UCP who still refuse to settle my wrongful dismissal lawsuit after more than two and a half years.”
Strong Support
Despite the personal and professional toll caused by the controversy, May said he has received overwhelming support from various quarters, including Jews, Muslims, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community, which has given him renewed courage to fight back.
In a press release, Raheel Raza, president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, a Muslim organization dedicated to fighting Islamism, condemned the NCCM’s actions and called for May to be reinstated as AHRC chief.
“We strongly reject efforts to demonize Mr. May, and we condemn the anti-intellectual attacks directed against him and his academic work. As members of the Muslim community, we deplore Mr. May’s removal as chief of the AHRC and stand with the Lawfare Project in its support of Mr. May’s defamation lawsuit. In addition, given the current vacancy in the Chief’s role, we strenuously call on the Alberta Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mickey Amery, to reinstate Mr. May as chief of the AHRC immediately.”
