The report, released early on Wednesday and titled “Documenting the ‘Palestine Exception'” by author Nadia Hasan of York University’s Islamophobia Research Hub, outlines what it calls a “sharp and dangerous” rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism (APR) and anti-Arab racism (AAR) over the past 21 months.
“In the aftermath of Oct. 2023, Canada saw a rise in anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism that affects many areas of life and work for Canadians”, Hasan said during a news conference in Ottawa.
Based on consultations with 16 Canadian organisations, public data and media reports, the report revealed that Toronto Police Services saw a 1,600 percent year-over-year increase in anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic hate crimes between October 7 and November 20, 2023.
According to Statistics Canada, a 94 percent spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes and a 52 percent rise in hate crimes against Arabs and West Asians were recorded in 2023.
The Muslim Legal Support Centre (MLSC) documented 474 human rights complaints between October 2023 and March 2024, including 345 cases of individuals who lost jobs or were placed on leave due to support for Palestine.
Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, warned that the findings demand urgent action.
“We see it in the censorship and silencing of Canadians who defend Palestinian human rights with real consequences on their livelihoods and on their futures”, she said.
Stressing that such incidents continue to occur daily across Canada and urging that they be confronted, she said: “Old tropes that surged after 9/11 are back, amplified by the far right and others, and used again to dehumanise our communities, especially Palestinian-Muslim and Arab-Canadians”.
