Excerpt:
A celebrated Canadian human rights lawyer urged MPs to be careful in their use of the term Islamophobia, saying "fear of some elements of Islam is mere prudence."
David Matas, an Order of Canada recipient who began his career as a clerk for the Chief Justice of Canada in the 1960s, delivered testimony Wednesday before the M-103 committee hearings in his capacity as senior counsel to B'nai Brith Canada.
"Not every fear of Islam is Islamophobia," Matas said to the House of Commons Heritage Committee, noting that anyone who is not afraid of the various radical Islamic terrorist outfits in the world is "foolhardy".