“We no longer believe that speaking with this prime minister is productive,” the CEO declares.
A meeting between the National Council of Canadian Muslims and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was unexpectedly canceled on Monday. The group accused Trudeau’s administration of not doing enough to defend Palestinians and of not taking “tangible action” against hate crimes.
“We no longer believe that speaking with this prime minister is productive,” CEO Stephen Brown stated at a press conference.
Nothing new that we could discuss. Everything we’ve said thus far.”
Prior to the question period on Monday, Trudeau avoided discussing the cancellation specifically and instead focused his remarks on the national day of action against Islamophobia. He then responded that his office had “nothing to add.”
Brown claimed he withdrew from the meeting with Trudeau, which was planned to discuss combating anti-Muslim sentiment, since the prime minister had not yet fulfilled commitments he made to the Muslim community during the 2015 election campaign that propelled him to office.
Among these obligations were stepping up the prosecution of hate crimes and providing sufficient financing for services and initiatives designed to deter them, such installing security cameras at places of worship.
“It has become clear that we seem to only get a sliver of policy reform when our lives, or our safety, is destroyed,” Brown stated. “Our government has failed to move on substantive hate-crime legislation.”
Muslim group demands that Ottawa eliminate the restrictions on the program that lets Palestinians escape.
He stated that he does not perceive any indications from Ottawa that Israel will relent from its bombardment of the Gaza Strip and Hamas, whose vicious attack on Israel in October of last year sparked a tremendous military reaction.
“We’re interested in the government taking real, tangible action to reduce Islamophobia in this country (and) taking real tangible action to stop the hostilities in the Middle East,” Brown stated.
He pointed out that last week, Canada severed ties with numerous allies by declining to urge Israel to abide by the directives issued by the International Court of Justice, which were intended to stop the extermination of Palestinians.
Thus far, Ottawa has stated that it backs the court but not the case’s fundamental arguments in South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel.
Trudeau has remained silent on whether Ottawa will accept the court’s decision or whether it indicates he has rejected the case. According to Brown, this demonstrates how federal liberals only care about justice for particular social groupings.
“They’ve compromised the integrity of the international rules-based order and the ICJ by challenging the premise of the case,” he stated.
