The President of the Islamic Social Services Association is disappointed with an interim Senate committee report that she says further alienates Muslims.
Shahina Siddiqui testified before the committee in February. She said the interim report ignores recommendations from the Muslim community and lists off 25 of its own.
Some of the recommendations include calling for a crackdown on mosques and a probe of all imams.
“There is a separation of church and state in Canada. So now the state is going to tell me what is and what is not acceptable within my faith, and then also a crackdown on who is allowed to come into Canada and what they can talk about,” said Siddiqui.
“To me, again, it is the freedom of expression. Every democratic right that we as Canadians cherish is being denied to Muslims and literally creating a second class, a second tier of citizens.”
Siddiqui believes the report is being used to score cheap political points.
“The Liberal senators have a good sense of not signing on to this. You still have that faint hope that when they sit down to ponder they will be able to separate facts from propaganda and not use this as a political ploy. A wedge issue to drum up fear and make political scoring.”
Siddiqui believes trying to police people’s thoughts could backfire. She referred to a recent case in Winnipeg of a man who is being monitored and has strict conditions on him for comments he has made. He does not face any criminal charges.
“The minute you start policing people’s thoughts and ideas you push those underground and take away our civil liberties, and that to me is not productive. It is counterproductive. People will react that way because they have been fed this fear.”
Painted as the enemy
Siddiqui said instead of making the community a partner, Muslims are being painted as the enemy.
Siddiqui hopes the interim report goes nowhere. She said Muslim leaders are already doing what needs to be done.
“People who think the Muslim community is sitting on its hands, we are not. We are working with RCMP. We are working with police. We are training people to know how to address those with extreme views. We are already doing what we can do. But stigmatizing and marginalizing us does not help at all — and this is what this report does.”