Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has rejected an apology from Ottawa’s point-person on tackling Islamophobia, slamming Amira Elghawaby and demanding her ouster for what he deemed her “ignorance … of the desire for secularism in Quebec.”
Blanchet told reporters on Thursday that he had wanted to speak to Elghawaby before deciding whether her comments warranted her departure from the role of special representative on combating Islamophobia.
The controversy arose from a 2019 Ottawa Citizen column co-written by Elghawaby, which said “the majority of Quebecers appear to be swayed not by the rule of law, but by anti-Muslim sentiment.” That was a reference to a Léger Marketing poll, which found that of those in Quebec who had negative feelings about Islam, 88 per cent supported a ban on public school teachers donning religious symbols.
Blanchet said that while it wasn’t up to him to “measure the sincerity” of the apology, her comments were not enough. Trudeau named Elghawaby to the position last week, making the former journalist, who previously wrote columns for the Star, the first person to ever fill the role. The special representative is meant to “promote awareness of the diverse and intersectional identities of Muslims in Canada and provide advice to the government in the development of inclusive policies, legislative proposals, programs, and regulations that reflect their realities.
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