High school students hold signs outside the London Muslim Mosque before a vigil for the victims of the deadly vehicle attack on five Muslim family members in London, Ont., in June 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Will recent acts of violence against Muslims in Canada lead us to see what we should have seen earlier — that anti-Muslim works are hate speech that encourage violence against Muslims?
Islamophobia in the media fed the support for the proposed Muslim travel ban. Here, a protestor holds an “End Islamophobia” sign at a rally opposing the ban at the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2018.
(Shutterstock)
Commentators across the political spectrum spread anti-Islamic rhetoric, insisting that Islam is intrinsically violent and that Muslims are terrorists. But studies show these claims are unfounded.
Faith Goldy, an alt-right champion who appeared in an interview on a white nationalist site, speaks outside Wilfrid Laurier Univesity in March 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Hannah Yoon
Free speech may protect offensive speech, but we degrade this central right when we see it as simply the right to offend, regardless of the impact on others.