NCCM 2025 Federal Election Guide – Recommendations Summary
4-10-2025
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The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) has released its 2025 Federal Election Guide to empower Muslim voters and allies in advocating for policies that combat Islamophobia, promote equity, and uphold human rights.
The guide presents a wide range of policy recommendations, rooted in the lived experiences of Canadian Muslims and other marginalized communities, and calls on political candidates and parties to commit to tangible action.
For more information and to access the full guide, visit NCCM's Elections 2025 Hub:
NCCM Elections 2025 Hub
https://www.nccm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Federal-Election-Guide.pdf
Recommendation #1: Every political party must make a public commitment to protect fundamental Charter rights and freedoms and condemn Bill 21 and its potential expansions through Bill 94.
Recommendation #2: All political leaders must categorically reject any attempt by any level of government to police the worship practices of any religious group and intervene by overruling the Quebec prayer ban.
Recommendation #3: All parties should consider dismantling the Review and Analysis Division of the Canada Revenue Agency and to replace it with an auditing department that includes real oversight to ensure fairness and a zero-tolerance policy for racism.
Recommendation #4: All federal parties must publicly commit to ensuring the protection of Canadians at the US border.
Recommendation #5: Parties should consider a balanced Online Harms bill with a focus on community consultation and civil liberty organization oversight.
Recommendation #6: We encourage parties to consider banning the JDL, just as it has taken action to list Kahanist groups as terrorist entities, to ensure that hate and incitement to violence have no place in this country. Canada must remain committed to protecting all its citizens from hate and violence.
Recommendation #7: While we have seen an increase in the Security Infrastructure Program's funding, changes are needed to make it easier for mosques to apply and to receive it as a proactive rather than reactive measure. One way of doing this is by making the SIP rebate-based, whereby mosques and community organizations that have faced threats can make the relevant security upgrades needed and then retroactively receive a rebate. Secondly, there is a need for stronger hate crime laws. Canada must introduce a standalone hate crime provision to the Criminal Code that includes clear definitions and consequences for individuals convicted of targeting others based on religion or other protected grounds.
Recommendation #8: Ensure that the Office of the Special Representative on Islamophobia is maintained and allowed to operate effectively, thus ensuring its role in addressing and combating Islamophobia.
Recommendation #9: All parties must support its claims of supporting a lasting peace by immediately recognizing Palestinian statehood without delay, thus joining over 75% of the United Nations in acknowledging the right of Palestinian selfdetermination.
Recommendation #10: Considering the ICJ advisory opinion that Canada has ostensibly supported, we encourage parties to promise imposing Magnitsky sanctions on the Netanyahu war cabinet for their leading role in policies and actions that result in gross violations of international law and basic human rights. This includes figures like Itamar Ben Gvir, who has ties to the extremist Kahanist movement and a history of racial hatred, along with Bezalel Smotrich, who has called for the erasure of Palestinians, and Yoav Gallant, who has overseen and defended military actions that have resulted in human massacre on a genocidal scale.
Recommendation #11: With the community consultation complete, we encourage all parties to work with Palestinian partners to develop a definition for anti-Palestinian racism that authentically represents the voices of Canadian Palestinian experience and history.
Recommendation #12: To ensure the reunification program operates at its maximum potential, the program must be restructured. This includes ensuring that those in Egypt are not subject to unreasonable security checks and are given the necessary clearance to travel to Canada, and that Canada applies serious pressure on the Israeli Defence Ministry to allow those registered under the TRV program to leave.
Recommendation #13: All federal parties must reaffirm their support for the International Criminal Court and its decisions.
Recommendation #14: We urge all parties to immediately ban the RSS network and list it as a terrorist entity. Canada must also ensure that its trade with India prioritizes human rights rather than disregarding the systemic persecution of minority communities.
Recommendation #15: We encourage all parties to consider committing to imposing further sanctions on Chinese officials who are tied to human rights violations. Canada must also commit to bring home Huseyin Celil, a Canadian journalist and Uyghur activist detained in China.
NCCM: QUESTIONS TO ASK POLITICIANS
What will you do about Bill 21 and efforts to crack down on civil liberties?
Will you make sure that you stand up for human rights by expanding Canada’s one-way weapons permit ban to a two-way weapons embargo?
Will you challenge the rise of Islamophobia and hate in Canada through banning the JDL, RSS, and protect Canadian Muslims under threat?
Will you stand up today to condemn the treatment of Canadian Muslims at the U.S. border, and publicly oppose Trump’s Muslim Ban?
Will you stand up today to make sure that the families of Palestinians from Gaza safely have their family members brought to Canada?
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