Stay out of mosques until you call for a Gaza ceasefire, Muslim groups tell MPs

Thursday, February 22, 2024 - By John Mazerolle

Here’s what you need to know to get the day started:

Stay out of mosques until you call for a Gaza ceasefire, Muslim groups tell MPs

From left, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec Transport Minister Genevieve Guilbault and Quebec Minister Responsible for Infrastructure Jonathan Julien attend a ceremony in early 2023 marking the sixth anniversary of the deadly mosque shooting in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

MPs are not welcome in mosques until they call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, say a national Muslim organization and hundreds of other groups. They are also demanding restoration of funding for the UN's aid agency and condemnation of what they call Israel's "war crimes."

An open letter signed by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and a number of prominent mosques, released today, says MPs who refuse to make these pledges publicly will not be allowed to address their congregations. "Ramadan is about humanity. This Ramadan, more than ever, only those MPs who share in our commitment to humanity will be welcome to address us in our sacred spaces," the letter says

The letter also says MPs must oppose "the flow of arms and military equipment" to Israel and stand up for "the right of Canadians to express solidarity with the Palestinian people without fear of reprisal."

The Canadian Council of Imams director Abd Alfatah Twakkal said the letter is about sending a message to politicians. "It's imperative that those who are in positions of power and responsibility ... advocate in order to stop the killing," he said. "We expect ... government officials that are elected and put in these positions to represent the population. We are saying that this is what we expect in terms of representing the Muslim community and others."

Late last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim emergency ruling on South Africa's claim that the war in Gaza amounts to an act of genocide. The court ordered Israel to take measures to prevent and punish direct incitement of genocide in its war in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. That ruling split the Liberal government caucus, with some MPs calling for an immediate ceasefire and others pushing back against the genocide claim.

Mosques and Muslim community organizations are popular stops for campaigning politicians. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has visited mosques across the country for pre-Ramadan events where, in the past, he's been greeted by mobs of supporters. Since October, however, Trudeau has found himself targeted by protesters infuriated by his government's approach to the war in Gaza.

Statements by Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly were widely misreported in mainstream media and on social media as dismissing the South African ICJ case and taking the side of Israel. In fact, their statements carefully avoided either rejecting or endorsing South Africa's case against Israel.

Twakkal said Canadian Muslims aren't willing to settle for "tokenism" or "empty words and false promises." "We're beyond that at this point because people are dying and it needs to change," he said. "It needs to stop."

More on this issue

Read the full story here.

Key Liberal MP rips his government's policy on Gaza war in private call with constituent.

PM won't say whether MP who attacked government's Gaza policy will stay in current role.

Fatal B.C. crane accident

(Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services workers climb to retrieve loose building materials after a load from a crane fell from the top of the building, smashing multiple floors of the Oakridge Centre construction site in Vancouver yesterday. One person died on the ground. Read more about the incident here.

In brief

A judge will rule today whether convicted killer Nathaniel Veltman committed terrorism when he killed a London, Ont., Muslim family. In November, a jury found Veltman, 23, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder after a 10-week trial in Windsor. He attacked the Afzaal family with his pickup truck on June 6, 2021, while they were out for a walk in London, and later told police he wanted to send a message to Muslims. Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance must consider all the facts and evidence presented during the trial and the dozens of victim impact statements in ruling on the terrorism possibility. Adding the terrorism designation wouldn't increase the length of Veltman's life sentence, but could be a factor in his future parole board applications. It would also be the first time in Canadian history that someone who holds white supremacist views would meet the threshold for terrorism, said Amira Elghawaby, Canada's Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. Read more about the ruling here.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith used a speech yesterday to set the tables for a budget that restrains spending in uncertain economic times, just like United Conservative Party predecessor Kenney before her. Smith is offering the long view in her justification — a true classic of the Alberta political genre, CBC's Jason Markusoff writes in an analysis. "Any shortcomings public agencies or others might see in next week's provincial budget will be in service of the future, the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and the need to get off the — stop us if you've heard this before, Albertans — oil revenue roller coaster," Markusoff writes. Smith said Finance Minister Nate Horner will increase spending by less than the rate of inflation and population growth — the sort of restraint the Alberta NDP says will translate into "cost cuts in an already cracking health and education system." Read Markusoff's full analysis here.

While media and pop culture might often portray young women as baby-seeking, family-craving, biological clock-ticking time bombs, the reality is a little different. New research has yet again suggested that it's childless men, not women, who say they're more likely to want to be parents some day. Just over 21 per cent of childless women aged 18-34 recently polled by Pew Research Centre said they don't ever want to be parents, compared to 15 per cent of men. Conversely, 57 per cent of men said they want to have children someday, versus 45 per cent of women. Marina Adshade, an assistant professor of teaching at the University of British Columbia who specializes in economics and gender, says this data is nothing new. "I'm fascinated personally by this kind of societal myth that we have that women throughout all time immemorial have just been desperate to become mothers, and that men are resistant to parenthood," said Adshade. "This is a very, very strange perspective because children have always been an enormous amount of work for women." Read more about the poll here.

What goes with Paprika? Greater Vancouver Zoo staff hope they have the recipe. A red panda named Paprika was introduced to her potential mate at the zoo recently, as part of a conservation program for the endangered species. After being in quarantine since she arrived from the Toronto Zoo in December, the six-year-old red panda finally met her match, Arun, on Saturday. "I won't say that they are in love, but they are definitely enjoying being together," said Menita Prasad, director of animal care at the zoo. If the pair are successful in breeding, they wouldn't be Arun's first cubs — the zoo brought in a red panda named Sakura in 2021. She gave birth to two cubs, Maple and Mei Mei, in June 2022. The three have been relocated to different zoos across Canada. See the red pandas and read more, including objections to the program from local animal activists, here.

Now here's some good news to start your Thursday (dun dun): The expansive crime procedural franchise Law & Order has its latest star: Canada. Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent debuts today. The series has Canadian directors, pulls its stories from Canadian headlines and was shot in the Greater Toronto Area. "Our first episode, we were shooting in Little India. We were shooting in Chinatown. We were shooting at the Yacht Club," said Hamilton's Kathleen Munroe, who plays Det.-Sgt. Frankie Bateman. Read more about the show, and how a Canadian sensibility is reflected in the scripts, here.

FIRST PERSON

Being a journalist in rural Alberta was the last thing I wanted. Then the town became my home

Pearl Lorentzen reluctantly took a job at a community newspaper in Slave Lake, Alta. To her surprise, the job has connected her to the town in more ways than she ever imagined. Read her First Person piece here.

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Today in history: Feb. 22

1976: Joe Clark is elected the federal Conservative leader by defeating, among others, Brian Mulroney.

1980: One of the greatest upsets in hockey history takes place at the Lake Placid Olympics. Known as The "Miracle on Ice," the United States shocked the heavily favoured Soviet Union 4-3 in a medal-round game. The seventh-seeded Americans went on to beat Finland 4-2 two days later to claim only their second Olympic hockey title.

2007: Justin Trudeau announces plans to run for the federal Liberals in the Montreal riding of Papineau in the next election.

2021: The United States records half a million deaths from COVID-19, nearly matching the number of Americans killed in the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam combined.

(With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters)