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Somali Muslim Hate Crime Summit

September 11, 2001. It was midday in Mississauga, GTA, and the tragic news of the events in New York City that would change the course of history had not yet reached the students in the ISNA Islamic School. Students and teachers were in class and preparing to go to the adjoining mosque for prayer, when they heard a loud shattering of glass. Someone had smashed the large front window of the mosque. It was the start of a new reality for these students and their families, many Somali-Canadian. Over six years since that fateful day, hate incidents and hate crimes against Muslims have increased significantly. Many groups have noticed, including the Ontario Human Rights Commission: “The Commission is particularly concerned by the rise of Islamophobia being experienced by Arab and Muslim communities” (Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Annual Report, 2006). While the general public is aware that Ontario’s Arab Muslim communities have been targeted in recent years, the Somali Muslim victims of hate in the post-911 Canadian climate of fear have widely gone unacknowledged, as evidenced by a lack of literature on this victim group.

Attorney General Chris Bentley announces anti-hate grant

 

CCBR is partnering with the Somali Canadian Association of Etobicoke (www.somalicanadian.com) to organize and facilitate a Somali Muslim Hate Crime Summit that will raise the level of public awareness about hate crimes and their victims. The Summit will be held on Saturday July 12, 2008 - 3pm to 7pm at the Thistletown Multi-Services Center, 925 Albion Road, Etobicoke. Our aim is to engage multiple stakeholders to work together in tangible, sustainable ways in order to effectively respond to victims of hate and to prevent hate crimes and incidents. This project is funded by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General as part of the Community Hate-crime Response Grants Program (CHARG).

Project Team: Sarah Marsh, Yasir Dildar, and Rich Janzen

The Project in Four Phases

1. Pre-Summit Community Engagement: (March – July 2008). All stakeholder groups (including victims’ groups, community members, educators, civil servants, community leaders, justice system personnel, business leaders) will be included in Community Task Groups in order to share in an in-depth look at best practices, challenges and next steps in hate crime prevention, response, and public awareness-raising.

The recommendations that result from these discussions will be represented in a discussion paper to be widely disseminated and to report on at the Summit.


2. Summit: (July 12, 2008). The Summit will be arranged and organized as a forum that will bring together a cross section of over 200 community members including: politicians, police officers, business leaders, civil servants, educational institutions, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, youth groups and Somali and Muslim groups.

To open the proceedings, an energetic, thought-provoking theatre performance by MT Space Theatre Company will showcase the reality of Somali Canadian victims of hate crimes.

3. Post-Summit: (July – August, 2008). Capturing the Learning and Sharing Information

Conference proceedings, evaluations, and discussion papers will be made available online and widely disseminated.

For more information about this project, please contact Sarah Marsh at sarah@communitybasedresearch.ca 519-741-1318 ext 227.