Premier Doug Ford says his government will do whatever it can to stamp out Islamophobia, but he is not committing to passing a new bill tabled by the NDP.
NDP MPP Faisal Hassan tabled the Our London Family Act at Queen’s Park on Wednesday. Hassan co-sponsored the bill with London NDP MPPs Teresa Armstrong, Terence Kernaghan, and Peggy Sattler. The bill was tabled eight and a half months after four members of the Afzaal family were killed when they were intentionally run down by a man in a pickup truck in northwest London.
Speaking in Dorchester on Friday afternoon, Ford was non-committal when asked about whether his party will support and pass the legislation.
“I was here last year when this tragedy happened and I grieved with the families and we can never let this happen again here in Ontario,” he said. “I’m going to tell you what we are doing and what we have done. We recently announced $25-million dollars to protect faith-based and cultural organizations against hate crimes. We also launched the anti-racism and anti-hate grant with $3.2-million to fund awareness projects. And we’re reviewing the legislation.”
If passed, the Our London Family Act would ensure a provincial review of hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents in the province, create a safe zone around religious institutions and places of worship, and prevent white supremacist groups from registering as societies. It would also establish an Ontario anti-racism advisory and advocacy council to advise on government policies and empower the Speaker of the House to ban protests at Queen’s Park that incite racist, homophobic, transphobic or xenophobic hate.
The bill was created to address recommendations made by the National Council of Canadian Muslims at the National Summit on Islamophobia held last year. The summit aimed to establish concrete actions governments could take to combat Islamophobia after the June 6, 2021 attack on the Afzaal family.
Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal and 9-year-old son Fayez Salman, and Salman Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal were out for an evening walk on that date when a pickup truck mounted the curb at Hyde Park and South Carriage roads and hit them before speeding off. Fayez Salman was the lone survivor of the attack. Police alleged the 21-year-old man charged in the attack was motivated by hate. Months prior to that, Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, a volunteer caretaker, was stabbed to death while volunteering at the International Muslims Organization mosque in Toronto.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is urging the provincial politicians to pass the new legislation as soon as possible.
But when asked a second time on Friday, Ford again would not commit to passing it.
“As I mentioned earlier, we’re always open to sitting down, and I don’t care where the legislation comes from, but I was here when that happened…..I feel it. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that never happens again and we’ll have further words to say about that in the very near future.”
*with files from Miranda Chant
