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Liberal Hypocrisy, and Incompetent Muslim Leadership
4-17-2019
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government’s hypocrisy thrives under incompetent and ineffective Muslim leadership in Canada.
What Muslim Canadians can conclude from Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale’s press conference last Friday, April 12 – just hours before PM Justin Trudeau was to visit the largest Sikh temple in Canada – on removing the term “Sikh Extremism” from the 2018 public report on the “Terrorist Threats in Canada” that it is not acceptable to malign or impugn a particular community or religion with inappropriate and improper descriptors. One exception of course – Canadian Muslims.
Now let’s examine what Mr. Goodale had to say on April 12. He stated “Words matter and being precise matters” therefore he had invited government officials “to examine the descriptors that are used in relation to terrorism, extremism, and violence, to make sure that those descriptors are appropriate and proper, and that we are not in any way, leaving any implications, that a particular community or a particular religion is being impugned. We need to be careful about the language.”
It seems as it is perfectly acceptable by Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal government to impugn and malign the entire Muslim community in Canada with inappropriate descriptors such as “Terrorism,” “Extremism,” and “Violence.”
The Muslim Canadians need honest answers from a government that is bent on impugning and maligning the most marginalized minority group in the country as terrorists – fanning the fire of Islamophobia.
Why the Minister did not address the issue of removing the references of “Sunni” and “Shia” extremism, just as he had done so for the “Sikh Extremism?”
If he states “Words matter and being precise matters. “We take it that the Liberal government views Canadian Muslims as “Terrorists,” “Extremists,” and violent?”
Why “WORDS” DON’T “MATTER” when protecting the most marginalized minority group in Canada. In fact, the only group which has been subjugated to one of the worst terrorist attacks in Canadian history, on January 29, 2017 when a gunman, Alexander Bissonette, walked into a mosque and killed six people, and injured scores of others.
For the current Liberal government, Why “WORDS” DON’T “MATTER” when it comes to Muslim Canadians, and inciting hatred towards them. We would like to remind the PM that 2 year on The NCCM still continues to call upon the federal government to designate January 29 as a National Day of Action Against Hate and Intolerance as a way to remember the victims and show solidarity with other communities affected by hatred, bigotry and racism, including Islamophobia.
Lets us walk our readers through background on this historical injustice against Canadian Muslims by the current Liberal government.
On December 1, 2018 the Public Safety Minister Mr. Goodale released the Public Report on the Terrorist Threat in Canada. His statement read, “The terms “Sikh”, “Shia”, and “Sunni”, among others, were used to describe types of extremism in the 2018 Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada.” It further stated, “Words matter. We must never equate any one community or entire religions with extremism.” A very noble thought indeed. However, it can only achieve nobility when the government decides to treat all its citizens equally in a fair and equitable manner. Otherwise it is no more than a hypocritical rhetoric.
The Sikh community protested over the negative descriptors of their community and religion, but the government refused to address its own hypocritical stance.
“On April 7, Mr. Goodale issued a statement saying the 2018 report would be left as it was but future reports would have to speak to the ideologies or intentions of extremists, not their religions” according to the Canadian Press.
Kudos to the Sikh community and their leadership for taking the just and moral stand against a party and a government which takes their financial support and their vote bank for granted. Certainly, Muslim communities and leadership across the nation has much to learn from the Sikh community on how to develop a back bone against a party who takes them for granted.
The Sikh community united together and gave the Liberal government its first shock on April 4, when a Liberal linked, North America’s Largest Sikh Temple, Ontario Khalsa Darbar, chose its board of directors. The National Post reported that a Liberal backed slate, all eleven candidates of the “Panthak Alliance” promoted and backed by the fathers of Navdeep Bains, a star in Prime Minister Justine Trudeau’s cabinet, and MP Ruby Sahota was roundly defeated by huge margins.
Jaspal Bal, campaign manger for the victorious side told National Post “People put aside their bickering and differences and said this is one of the issues that is uniting us to support these 11,” said Bal. “Because they have said they will not sit idle and wait with a garland to welcome the leaders who have declared us a terrorist threat.”
On April 13th, the largest member based Sikh Temple in North America, Ross Street Temple in Vancouver held its annual Vaisakhi Parade. It is the largest such parade outside India and a magnate for politicians of all stripes and levels. The Liberal MP’s were barred from it. The organizer of the Vaisakhi Parade Moninder Singh states: "Unless certain demands are met, Liberal MPs will be barred from speaking from its stages on April 20" which will be held in Surrey.
Surely, on April 12, Mr. Goodale agreed to correct the erroneous descriptors implicating an entire community, and religion with terrorism, extremism, and violence. This removing the term “Sikh Extremism” with “extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India.”
However, the government has done absolutely nothing to address the negative descriptors such as “Sunni” and “Shia” Extremism. Thus, linking Canadian Muslims with terrorism, extremism, and violence. The precise ingredient the anti-Muslim and white supremacist groups need to fan the fire of Islamophobia against Canadian Muslims.
Despite the fact the Trudeau government on the eleventh hour decided to correct and erroneous descriptor or be casted out from attending the Vaisakhi Parades. Mr. Trudeau and his MP received the third-degree treatment at the parade. The moment local MP and Minister of Defence Mr. Harjit Sajjan took the microphone to introduce the PM, the volume was subsided, and by the time PM spoke, the microphone volume was all but shut. Except those nearby, those further away from the tents was not able to hear what the PM had to say, and people started to walk away from the podium while PM was still speaking.
At the end, we can protest all we want on an individual basis. It will have no impact. We cannot blame anyone, other than our own selves, our lack of unity, and most importantly, our incompetent and infective leadership, most of whom are oblivious to all the issues that confounds Muslim Canadians.
Alameen Post has initiated a petition and we hope Muslim organizations and Muslims can become partners and activists to ask the Govt. to immediately revise the “2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada”
The petition is as follows,
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled
We the undersigned residents of Canada draw the attention of the House of Commons to the following:
THAT all cultures have some extremists yet not all cultures are attached to the names of the extremist acts when they are reported;
THAT to articulate a report which paints individuals that are followers of Islam with a blanket generalization is wrong and not very Canadian;
THAT the recent decision to remove references to Sikh extremism was the right decision;
THAT the Muslim community needs protection instead of being further victimized by being labelled as terrorists in the eyes of fellow Canadians;
THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to immediately revise the “2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada”
so that blanket references to the Muslim community are removed in the same manner that references to Sikh extremism were rightly removed.
If you would like to join our campaign and collect signatures at local mosques and be the agents of change.
Call or email any of the Brs. below to get a copy of the petition, if not atleast email to your local MP.
To help in organizing the campaign to collect signatures call the brs below and Visit our website to be connected with our advocacy. www.CanadianMuslimAdvocacy.org
Jafar Bhamji – 604-715-7187
Shazad Mansoory – 778-858-4085
Furquan Gehlen – 604-603-8741
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