'I’m extremely sorry,' says Amira Elghawaby to the people of Quebec in meeting with Bloc leader

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OTTAWA — Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s first special representative on combating Islamophobia, is apologizing to the people of Quebec for past comments that prompted the majority of the National Assembly of the province to call for her resignation.

Elghawaby apologized during a photo-op at the start of a meeting with the Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet in his office on Wednesday, and even Blanchet himself seemed surprised by her opening remarks to the media.

“I would like to say that I’m extremely sorry for the way that my words have carried, how they have hurt the people of Quebec, and this is what I’m going to express to Mr. Blanchet,” she said. “But I’m very glad to have the chance to express and to have a chance to listen, and this is what it’s all about. This is dialogue.”

Elghawaby continued by saying that as a member of Canada’s Muslim community, she knows what it is like to be stereotyped and for other people to have biases about a specific group, and she recognizes that some past comments have been hurtful for many Quebecers.

“I have been listening very carefully, I have heard you and I know what you’re feeling. And I’m sorry,” she added. “And I can’t wait to have a chance to meet with you across Canada, the people of Quebec, learn more, and really work together to build a country, to work for a province that is stronger for everyone, safe for everyone.”

After her meeting with Blanchet, Elghawaby told reporters that both of them exchanged their opinions on the Quebec law on religious symbols and they “agree to disagree.”

But her apology might ease the political predicament for Liberal MPs from Quebec, some of whom, like Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez, have said in recent days they have been deeply offended by some of Elghawaby’s past comments about their home province.

Elghawaby was first criticized over an opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen she co-wrote in 2019, which said that a “majority of Quebecers appear to be swayed not by the rule of law, but by anti-Muslim sentiment” in response to a poll that indicated 88 per cent of Quebecers who held negative views of Islam supported Bill 21. The legislation has been heavily criticized — including by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — for discriminating against members of religious minorities by banning them from wearing religious symbols at their public-service workplaces.

But other comments have also resurfaced since, including an opinion piece from 2013 in the Toronto Star in which she references the book A Fair Country by philosopher John Ralston Saul where he described the western world as gradually slipping towards the “paranoid fears of the twentieth century” including fears around the purity of the race.

“He might as well be writing about today’s Quebec,” she wrote, referencing this time the charter of values from the Parti Quebecois government.

But the final straw came from a tweet since deleted from May 2021 in which she wrote she was “going to puke” in reaction to an opinion piece that mentioned that “the largest group of people in this country who were victimized by British colonialism, subjugated and incorporated into Confederation by force, are French Canadians.”

Trudeau appointed Elghawaby, a journalist and human rights advocate, to the post on Jan. 26, calling it an “important step” in the country’s fight against anti-Muslim hatred.

The prime minister, who said Tuesday that he still supported her nomination, distanced himself from some of her past comments as an activist and attempted to explain why Quebecers hold a different view of religion in the public sphere.

“Quebecers are not racists. Quebecers are among the people who are the strongest defenders of individual rights and freedoms, along with a lot of other Canadians,” he said, adding that Quebecers have historically suffered from an “oppressive” Catholic Church before the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s.

Liberal MPs questioned on Wednesday alluded to the fact that there had been some uncomfortable conversations in caucus, presumably between Quebec MPs who did not agree with Elghawaby’s past comments and MPs from other provinces who staunchly support her nomination.

“Unfortunately, the reaction to this appointment and the rush to judgment by some is indicative of the deep-seated issues of racism and prejudice that still exist in our society — even among our elected representatives,” wrote Liberal MP George Chahal in a written statement.

Marc Miller, minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, said that he would not share what was said in caucus, but that there always are “frank” discussions especially surrounding issues of identity. He added that Canadians need to give Elghawaby her chance in her new role.

“And as she moves into a more public official role, I think there will be an opportunity for her to be a little bit more measured in her public statements,” he said.

After Elghawaby issued her apology, Trudeau said it demonstrates how sensitive she is to different preoccupations and reiterated that she is the right person for the job.

Elghawaby did not, however, manage to immediately sway Quebec’s minister of secularism, Jean-François Roberge, who accepted the apology but still thinks she should resign.

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