The terrorist crisis: The view from Canada - World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks, 2001 - War on Terrorism, 2001-

Contemporary Review, March, 2002 by Habeeb Salloum

Arabs and Muslims have rarely been portrayed in a positive way as real people, as men and women who live, love and work as any other human beings. The visual image is a much easier tool for the dissemination of ideas rather than a book. Increasingly people like to watch movies and television. So one cannot blame the general American public for being biased against Arabs and Muslims. They have been fed from this menu for decades. The September 11th events, even before they happened, already had a prepared scapegoat.

In Canada, it was the replay of the same story. Television and radio programmes, especially talk shows, did a great deal to inflame the public. In Montreal, a fire bomb was tossed through a window of a mosque after the September 11th attacks. Pierre Beaudet, who works with Middle Eastern communities, said to a newspaper reporter that Muslims were afraid. He continued, 'People have received threats, comments and dirty looks ... people feel that they are being discriminated against and there is a feeling of injustice about this'.

A few days after the attacks, according to a report in The Globe and Mail, Canadians of Arab and Muslim descent were shunning schools, work, travel, and even the streets to avoid harassment from fellow citizens, angry over the tragic assaults in the US. In the same report, Jehad Aliweiwi, the Toronto based Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Federation, stated, 'We are seen as the enemies within...a lot of people feel its probably time to stay home'.

Unbelievably, even Jehad's name, which has appeared on his auto vanity licence plate for the last seven years, annoyed the powers to be. Jehad in Arabic means 'struggle', but to many Westerners it is associated with Muslim fanaticism. In reality jehad means any struggle for the betterment of one's life. Many Christian Arabs are also called Jehad. The November 29 issue of The Toronto Star reported that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has ordered Mr. Aliweiwi to remove the plate from his car because it 'is too offensive'. Of course, he has appealed against the order saying, 'I wont give up this plate without a fight... this is my name and I feel like I'm being victimized'.

From the first day of the attacks, Arabs and Muslims began to worry about the safety of their children and those wearing so-called Muslim dress, especially women wearing the hijab (head scarves). Islamic institutions began to receive telephone death threats and Muslim children were harassed in some schools. The Islamic Congress advised the some 600,000 Canadian Muslims to stay away from crowded areas.

However, these looming clouds of intolerance were soon quenched in the bud. The Toronto School Board instituted a zero tolerance policy and Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman asked the city residents to fight against vigilantism. Prime Minister Chretien cautioned against targeting anyone asserting: 'I want to emphasize that we are in a struggle against terrorism, not anyone else in the community or faith'.