Talking ‘Islamophobia’ with Liberal MP Jol Lightbound – Macleans.ca

Thousands of Canadians took part in a massive protest against President Trumps travel ban on Muslims during the National Day of Action against Islamophobia and White Supremacy in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on February 04, 2017. (Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Jol Lightbound didnt much want to talk with me last Friday afternoon. But the rookie Liberal MP happened to be on duty in the House, after most MPs have headed home for the weekend, and he agreed to step out of the mostly empty chamber into the almost entirely empty foyer of the Commons. When I told him I wanted to ask him questions about what he had experienced since six Muslim men were shot dead in his riding on Jan. 29, while they were praying in the mosque called the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec, Lightbound replied in a flat, fatigued voice that he was sick of talking about it.

We sat down anyway on a stone bench in an alcove off a nearby hallway. Lightbound is a good talker. Everybody had seen that in his TV interviews outside the mosque after the shooting. And he again stood out in the often bitter debate in the House this past week over whats called Motion 103, introduced by Liberal MP Iqra Khalid to condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination. Many Conservatives opposed the motion on the grounds that the word Islamophobia isnt well defined, and thus the motion might somehow stifle legitimate criticism of Islamic extremism.

RELATED: Liberal MPs, Muslim community face verbal attacks over M-103

Lightbound was first elected MP for the Louis-Hbert riding in 2015. He was born in Toronto, but grew up in Sainte-Foy, where he returned to try his hand at politics following a stint working at the Montral firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, after he graduated from McGill Universitys law school. This is our conversation, edited for length and clarity:

I think its been for me the most challenging weeks of my life. Thats for sure. Not only was our community as a whole in Quebec City, and my riding, affected, I was affected personally. I have friends who go to the mosque; my very good friends mother left 30 minutes before the shooting. So just the shock of it, not just as a politician, but as a human being. It was it was a big shock. And having to deal with all that comes with it. As a politician it was also a challenge for sure.

I think Quebec City, if you look at the statistics, is not as diverse as metropolitan areas like Montreal or Toronto, for instance. But there are neighborhoods, and if you look, youll find that there is great diversity. In my neighborhood where I grew up it was particularly evident. I was raised in an apartment buildingand this is something I said in the Housewith Bosnians, with Muslim friends, Arabs, Asians. So it was very diverse. It was like the UN, my apartment building where I grew up.

Well, I think, on the one hand, I was very pleased by the reaction in my immediate region and in my community. I think weve seen an outpouring of support and solidarity, and people starting to talk to one another and reaching out to one another and focusing on the humanity that unites us, instead of that differences sometimes we get distracted by. Weve seen the vigilsthousands and thousands of people. In my office, weve received countless messages and phone calls of solidarity for the community. So this has been this has been very pleasing to see. Regardless of perhaps the tone of the debate that weve had in the House this week, I still think that some light might shine out of all of this.

RELATED: The Tories approach a point of no return

I was surprised and saddened to some extent that weve had this debate this week in the house about a motion which should have garnered the support of all members, just like it did back in October when the House unanimously condemned Islamophobia. And what sickens me most is there has been such misinformation spread about this motion, which is not a bill and does not restrict free speech. Its more of a symbolic gesture than anything else. I thought for once that we might unite than not have anyone try to use this for political purposes. I think this should rise way above partisan politics.

For sure. In a country where free speech is enshrined in the Charter, we can always have these debates, so long as theyve done in a responsible manner or not so as to spread fear, intolerance, and hatred. The motion isnt in any way, shape or form restricting free speech. So I fail to see why weve had this big argument.

RELATED: In Quebec City, a moment of painful truth

Well, I think for the Muslims in my community and my Muslim friends, theyve told me about this way before Jan. 29, 2017. So this event in Quebec City was a tragedy that occurred, but the problems that theyre facing, they faced for years. What theyve observed is that theyve kind of been taken hostage by a minority who claim to be acting on behalf of Islam but are not. A lot of generalizations have been pushed, sometimes by mainstream media, sometimes on social media, sometimes by politicians. Theyve seen the world change around them for the worse over the years. I think it probably started on 9/11. Weve had all sorts of incidents happen around the world and weve been fed easy answers to complex questions.

When I was thinking about this whole event, and how I think there has been a climate where Muslims face growing ostracization and stigmatization, I reflected on when I was a kid. We didnt see Muslims. We didnt perceive them as such. We saw our friends, our coach, our neighbours. And I think there is a collective reflection to be had on what kind of prejudices weve allowed to take hold within us. The majority of the population is open and tolerant, but we have were not immune to these feelings which weve observed around the western world. Yes, in the U.S., but around the western world.

No. I think for the most part, we won on these values. Prime Minister Trudeau has always been very adamant in his defense of openness and pluralism and tolerance, and we won a majority government. And I think the NDP shares the same values. I can speak for my generation. Im a millennial, and I can see from the support that I get from millennials across Quebec, I think we share an openness to the world.

Continued here:

Talking 'Islamophobia' with Liberal MP Jol Lightbound - Macleans.ca