Muslim leaders want governments to create plan to combat systemic racism, Islamophobia. Ihsaan Gardee, the executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, called on lawmakers to address the problem of Islamophobia. A coalition of Canadian Muslim leaders wants the federal government to recognize the day of the Quebec City mosque shooting as a national day of remembrance and action against Islamophobia.

The call for declaring Jan. 29 a symbolic day against Islamophobia came in an open letter signed by Muslim leaders and addressed to the Canadian people and politicians. The letter was read during a news conference on Parliament Hill Wednesday by Ihsaan Gardee, the executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. He thanked Canadians for their demonstrations of solidarity that included symbolic rings of peace, vigils and flowers following the attack at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec that left six worshippers dead and 19 wounded.

But Gardee called on lawmakers to turn that concern into action. The letter outlined concrete steps that all three levels of government can take to curb systemic racism, and more specifically, Islamophobia…

Muslim leaders also condemned the tone at the National Assembly as “a return to religious hatred in Quebec.” On Tuesday, Quebec’s National Assembly had its first sitting since the Christmas break and politicians were quick to continue their negotiations over which religious symbols could be worn in public. Samer Majzoub, the president of the CMF, said a return to the heated, anti-religious rhetoric and debate in the province over identity is one of their main concerns in the aftermath of the mosque shooting. He said the political rhetoric around the province’s identity debate inflames bigotry and hatred.

Source: CBC News