Sada Al-Mashrek - Montreal
Canada’s Muslim community in general and Quebec’s in particular are facing challenges that keep surfacing from time to another. This necessitates that the concerned community institutions continuously discuss and exercise join efforts to address. Thereupon, the Quebec Muslim Consultative Table (QMCT ) is reviving its course of action.
To shed more light, we’ve met President of the Canadian Muslim Forum ( FMC-CMF), Samer Majzoub, to highlight the QMCT goals and scope of action.
Majzoub confirms that QMCT “has resumed its activities” after a halt forced by the COVID-19 pandemic” and that QMCT “has no intentions to create a new community institution.” Majzoub says that “the more we work together, hand on hand, the better the results will be, and vice versa.”
Morever, Majzoub notes that the “statement issued by the QMCT lately has made a positive impact – by God’s grace, especially in regards unifying our stance on sister Amira Elghawaby’s case before federal officials and others from different sides; the Statement has rectified matters and toned down the barrage launched against Mrs ElGhawaby mainly by certain politicians.”
* Mr Samer Majzoub, attacks that targeted Ms Amira Elghawaby prompted the Quebec Muslim community take action by convening the QMCT . Could you tell us more about that and the Panel’s goals?
We are currently as QMCT being back into action. The consultative body was formed around three years ago and have actually convened multiple times. Our initial plan had been to convene regularly, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to stop.
Of course, we have no intentions to create a new community institution; we’re simply going to hold regular meetings to tackle community affairs, and we call on anyone who’d like to join the Table to do so. Our aim is to hold these regular meetings to exchange ideas and suggestions and launch joint endeavours, and that’s crucial because we get the best results when we join efforts, as our undertakings at the CMF have proved in the past 34 years.
* Does this mean all participating institutions are going to be dissolved into one?
Not at all. Every participating association independently runs its own activity, but the associations are meant to come together and work jointly to overcome challenges that our community is facing. Eventually, the standpoints of the Table will be made by a range of community bodies, centres, institutions and mosques from all over Quebec.
* Can other organisations in Quebec and outside the province join in?
Those who wish to join are welcome to contact us directly. We’re hoping that the QMCT efforts grow fruitful and that our thoughts are shared in the other provinces. We hope to be more empowered and to grow to include institutions from all across Canada.
* Our community groups hold a range of opinions and views concerning many issues… QMCT bring all together?
We’ve generally seen harmony amongst participants, which means that the Consultative Table’s goals are realisable and that they empower our community’s defence for rights, especially when we’re facing a group of challenges that might escalate. We, as a community, do need to intensify our joint efforts; the more we work together, the more beneficial the results will be, and vice versa.
The QMCT will convene prominent community institutions and leaders, and this will reflect how inclusive and influential the Table is.
The participants’ views might vary. This doesn’t affect the QMCT; diversity is rather helpful. What we want is to bring the participants together so that they concert initiatives. Different participants won’t be expected to make particular opinions; they will rather be given the freedom to make the stances they deem appropriate. This is what makes such meetings successful.
* The Consultative Table has acted to address the federal officials’ stance on Ms Elghawaby’s appointment. How did the action go? Have the joint stance by the QMCT achieved any results?
What Ms Amira Elghawaby has experienced and the reactions made in Quebec and elsewhere after she was appointed as Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia show how important this Community Consultative Table is . Responding the FMC-CMF initiative, 18 participating associations eventually issued a joint statement to different media outlets, political parties and officials.
It can be said that the statement clearly presented our stance concerning Ms Elghawaby’s case. We confirmed that as Quebeckers, we refused any hint made to label Quebec as a racist or Islamophobic province. Of course, there are forms of racism and Islamophobia in Quebec, just like in other provinces, and some politicians are inclined to deliver Islamophobic rhetoric. However, this doesn’t mean at all that Quebec is racist or Islamophobic. It’s rather a very accepting province, just like all other provinces across the country.
In the Statement, we confirmed that we opposed the calls demanding that sister Amira Elghawaby resign from her post. We had different reasons for that, including that an earlier comment she had made was misinterpreted. Her thoughts as a woman in hijab were overlooked in the interpretation, and she was the first Canadian woman to be attacked as such. That sounds abhorrent, especially when we, in Quebec, claim to pioneer the defence of women’s rights. The whole issue might eventually be the result of rivalry between Quebec’s political affiliations and the federal government. Another reason urging us to act was that the very position of the special representative was targeted after long years of community struggle to get it created. The “statement issued by the QMCT has made a positive impact – by God’s grace, especially as regards unifying our stance on sister Amira Elghawaby’s case before officials on all sides. That has rectified matters and toned down the barrage launched mainly by politicians…
* One last question: Are we as a community being targeted and have to fight our battle?
I’d like to say we’re not at war, but in “civil struggle”, facing the pressures we’re being subjected to. As a community, we have the necessary means to work effectively and open-mindedly. Furthermore, I would like to underline that the consecutive federal governments have not ever treated our community as an intruder, but rather as a main component of the diverse Canadian fabric.
Photo Credit: Amira Elghawabi's Twitter account