Tom Mulcair: Amira Elghawaby is the wrong person for the job

I’ve always had a revulsion for politicians who use language, race or religion to divide.

With my own French and Irish background, I’ve had pretty good training, in the schoolyard and in public life, to hear the whispered slight, the coded shot against the other. My wife Catherine’s parents both survived the Holocaust. She has taught me more than anyone the importance of always speaking out against religious intolerance.

When Bernard Drainville presented the Parti Québécois government’s grotesque “Charter of Values” in 2013, the NDP was in a caucus meeting in Saskatchewan. I consulted with my friend and colleague Julius Grey and announced to the media that the NDP, with Grey, would defend pro bono anyone ever caught by any of its provisions.

During the TVA debate in the 2015 campaign, Stephen Harper echoed a historically loaded phrase, saying “one case is one case too many” to attack a Muslim woman’s right to take her citizenship oath wearing her niqab. He also went after me for defending that right. That it had been guaranteed by the courts evidently mattered little to Harper. This came on the heels of the notorious “barbaric practices” snitch line that the Conservatives put in place prior the launch of the campaign.

As academic research has proven, the NDP paid a singularly steep price for that principled stand. I’ve had years to reflect and believe now, more than ever, that it was right not to compromise.

In 2015, I was honoured to receive the annual Community Relations Prize from the Canadian Muslim Forum in recognition of my relationship with the Canadian and Quebec Muslim communities. I’ve always been an ally and still am.

In 2016, I presented a House of Commons motion condemning Islamophobia, but a handful of Conservatives blocked unanimous consent. We worked hard for all-party agreement and presented the motion again. It passed unanimously.

As for Bill 21, I’ll dare affirm that I’ve written more articles in English and French media dissecting and denouncing it than anyone.

Why do I feel the need to justify the opinion that I’m about to express? Because I hope that my background will show that in these matters, I’ve always known what side I was on, and that hasn’t changed.

I also sincerely believe it was wrong of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to name Amira Elghawaby as Canada’s first special representative on combating Islamophobia.

Among the more disturbing statements she has made is this one from a column she co-wrote in the Ottawa Citizen: “Unfortunately, the majority of Quebecers appear to be swayed not by the rule of law, but by anti-Muslim sentiment.”

Federal Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez spoke for many when he said he was profoundly hurt and insulted by her words and asked her to withdraw them. She hasn’t.

Trudeau says she’s there to fight prejudice and build bridges. She is not in a position to do that and it’s not because of haters, it’s because of what she said. When your job is fighting prejudice and you’ve made statements in the past that sound like a reflection of your own prejudice, you withdraw them and, ideally, apologize. You don’t dig in, or try to explain them away.

People who know her have spoken to me of Elghawaby’s many qualities and the difficulty of going from outspoken activist to government spokesman. I get it. By her own refusal to withdraw those remarks, Elghawaby has confirmed that she is just the wrong nomination for a very important job.

When a senior minister in Quebec asked her to resign, Trudeau was in full rhetorical flight defending her. I have to believe he knew exactly what he was doing.

Political games on identity and religion are once again being played for partisan purposes, it’s just the player that’s changed.

Tom Mulcair, a former leader of the federal NDP, served as minister of the environment in the Quebec Liberal government of Jean Charest. 

CAQ government wants federal anti-Islamophobia adviser removed over Bill 21 comments Opinion: Muslim and immigrant, a double predicament? Coverage of Bill 21