Quebecois Premier Francois Legault has refused to instate a specific day devoted to fighting Islamophobia in the province, which had been proposed by Deputy Premier Genevieve Guilbault. Legault noted that there is no problem of Islamophobia in Quebec and thus no need for such a day.
The idea was raised by Guilbault on the second year anniversary of the attack on Quebec's Islamic Cultural Centre, which claimed the lives of six people on 29 January 2017.The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) slammed the premier for his statement, calling it "an absolute insult to the families of the victims" killed in the incident.
"Premier Legault is clearly out of touch with the realities of Islamophobia on the ground in Quebec", NCCM chief Ihsan Gardee said.
Gardee suggested that Legault should apologise for his words and acknowledge the alleged existence of an Islamophobia problem in Quebec.
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Over the past 20 years, Canada has suffered at least three terrorist attacks that have led to casualties and around five more foiled attempted attacks, all of which were organised by radicalised Muslims. In addition to this, Quebec's government has faced the problems of so-called "honour-based violence", forced marriages and genital mutilation among the Muslim population in the province.
