A man carries a sign during a vigil for victims of the mosque shootings in New Zealand, in Toronto in 2019. The National Council of Canadian Muslims has reported a significant increase in hate crimes against Muslims.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters
Sheema Khan is the author of Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.
The grainy video is difficult to watch. The images capture what the police described as a group of young people creating a disturbance at a pizza shop in Oshawa, Ont., when one of them jumped over the counter to take something. A woman emerged from the back and confronted the alleged suspect. There was a struggle, and several other people allegedly swarmed and assaulted the woman. According to Amira Elghawaby, the federal special representative on combatting Islamophobia, the alleged suspects “violently” ripped off the woman’s hijab and kicked her repeatedly.
Elected officials and advocates were swift to address the concerns of a shaken community at a press conference, where the victim’s distraught daughter said that her mother is lucky to be alive, having had clumps of her hair ripped from her scalp, while enduring kicks to her back and neck. Her family had seen an uptick in anti-Muslim behaviour by visitors to the restaurant prior to the attack.
Since then, Durham police arrested two teen girls and charged them with assault causing bodily harm; three other young people (including an 11-year-old) are considered suspects in the swarming. As of July 11, police said there was “no evidence” of hate as an aggravating factor; nonetheless, the investigation is still ongoing.
Muslim woman’s hijab pulled off during swarming attack being investigated as possible hate crime
The National Council of Canadian Muslims reports a significant increase in hate crimes against Muslims, as does the Office of Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. Increasingly, the victims have been women who are visibly Muslim.
On July 13, a Toronto woman was charged with assault after allegedly attacking a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. The police said it was a suspected hate-motivated assault, given the woman made Islamophobic comments during the attack. In March, a woman was charged after she allegedly tried to set a Muslim woman’s hijab on fire at the public library in Ajax, Ont.
In April in Ottawa, a woman was charged in a hate-related assault after she allegedly pulled off a Muslim woman’s hijab on a public bus. At a pro-Palestinian protest in Ottawa in 2024, a visiting Swiss national told protesters that he was “racist and proud,” before punching a 21-year-old hijabi in the face. He has pled guilty and will be sentenced in November. A few weeks before that, a Muslim woman had her hijab pulled off at a protest at Ottawa City Hall; charges were later dropped.
A few disturbing patterns emerge from these acts of violence, which reflect poorly on our civic institutions. In several of these incidents, the alleged assailants were out on probation. In each case, rather than serving jail time, a convicted individual was released into the community as a rehabilitative measure. What ever happened to protecting the public?
Subsequent to the many attacks on Muslim women, elected officials stepped up to condemn the attacks and reassure a frightened community. Not so in Ottawa. While Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has rightfully condemned a hateful protest against the LGBTQ community, and three separate attacks on the local Jewish community over the past 22 months, he has never issued a single statement in specific response to any of the three attacks on Muslim women.
In response to an e-mail, the Mayor’s office did not address these omissions, but rather gave links to previous statements on the general issue of Islamophobia, and provided the following statement by Mr. Sutcliffe: “I condemn, in the strongest terms, the violent and unacceptable attacks against Muslim women in our city. Islamophobia has no place in Ottawa – or anywhere in Canada. Every resident deserves to feel safe and respected, no matter their faith, background, or how they choose to dress.”
While the mayor is now saying the right thing, he needs to do better. He shouldn’t wait for months to condemn attacks in response to an e-mail inquiry, but instead, should respond immediately in public to a community looking for assurance. And he should be consistent across all groups with his messaging; the double-standard speaks volumes.
The scourge of hate is corrosive. It cannot be effectively addressed in a siloed fashion, where each affected group stands alone. Here’s an idea: next time when there’s a hateful incident against one group, let’s have a few representatives of all affected groups stand together to condemn the hate. There are fundamental disagreements between affected groups, but all agree that no member of our Canadian family should be subject to intimidation, threats or violence.