Editor's Note: Christine Douglass-Williams describes her experience of being punished by the Liberal government for criticizing Islam. If Motion M-103 becomes a bill, it will make any criticism of Islam even more subject to censorship by being designated as hate speech.
"I... make a distinction between those who choose to practice Islam in peace and harmony with others, and those with an agenda to subvert democratic constitutions, demand special privileges over other creeds, and attack innocent people as a supremacist entitlement. It is odd to be removed from a race relations foundation for my private work in criticizing Islam, which is not a race." — Christine Douglass-Williams, Jihad Watch, December 21, 2017.
Canada's Motion M-103 puts Islam above all other religions in that any other religion can be discussed openly, criticized openly and even be mocked openly without punishment or state penalty.
"The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." — Muslim Brotherhood Plan for North America.
Political Islam espouses the opposite of all I stand for as an activist for human rights for all. I oppose its treatment of women, female genital mutilation (FGM), child brides, killing of gays, goals to obliterate Israel, raping of infidel women, blasphemy laws etc., as any proponent of human rights and those who battle intolerance should.
For writing and warning about political Islam, I was terminated as a director at the federal government's Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), an agency usually at arms-length from the federal government. As I wrote at Jihad Watch:
I have been terminated from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, four months after a threatening letter by Heritage Minister Melanie Joly about my writings on Islam at Jihad Watch, Joly made good on her threats. The Privy Council has terminated my appointment, despite my years of dedicated commitment to the Foundation, on which I also served as Chair of the Investment Committee, and as a member of the Human Resource and Executive Committees. Why? Because I dared to criticize political Islam on Jihad Watch, and because of My Personal Warning to Icelanders in which I warned about the deceptive works of Muslim Brotherhood operatives in their infiltration of the West. Their tactics are well documented. I personally make a distinction between those who choose to practice Islam in peace and harmony with others, and those with an agenda to subvert democratic constitutions, demand special privileges over other creeds, and attack innocent people as a supremacist entitlement. It is odd to be removed from a race relations foundation for my private work in criticizing Islam, which is not a race.
Canadian Press (CP) gave my story balanced coverage. It was run by Post Media outlets, Canoe, The National Post and even Huffington Post. The lengthy Toronto Star story -- "Board member of anti-racism agency fired amid accusations of Islamophobic commentary" -- however featured a number of far-left, pro-Islamist sources; among them: The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), CAIR-CAN/NCCM and the Mosaic Institute. In examining these questionable organizations: According to the SPLC, "Antifa" is not a hate group but Jihad Watch is, and its Director, Robert Spencer is "one of America's most prolific and vociferous anti-Muslim propagandists". The Washington Examiner described the SPLC as "a fraud and nobody should treat them as responsible actors". Unfortunately the Toronto Star did. Now, the Christian Broadcasting Network has rightly bemoaned that "Merry Christmas and Jesus are appearing on the SPLC's monitoring hate hashtags list." Even the left-leaning Politico asks the question: "has the Southern Poverty Law Center lost its way?" CAIR-CAN, renamed the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), is an affiliate of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR). Although it changed its name, it admitted to being the same organization. CAIR is designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates, "placing it in the company of Al Qaeda, Islamic State", and was found to be an unindicted co-conspirator in America's largest terrorism funding trial in its support for Hamas, The Holy Land Foundation trial. CAIR-CAN/NCCM has foisted upon Canada its "Islamophobia" agenda, which is heavily pushed by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in order to shut down any criticism of Islam. CAIR-CAN/NCCM has been involved in the establishment of "anti-Islamophobia" charters in six major Canadian cities and an "Islamophobia" snitch line. CAIR-CAN/ NCCM "sent a formal letter to the government in October", where its executive director, Ihsaan Gardee, said my removal from the CRRF is an "appropriate corrective measure taken by government to address (her) disturbing public record." Back in August, CAIR-CAN/NCCM stated that I had no place on the CRRF, and that they were "confident the federal government will take appropriate action with respect to this matter." The Mosaic Institute is a little known promotions partner of CAIR-CAN/NCCM with allied "diversity" and "inclusion" initiatives that heavily endorses the "Islamophobia" narrative. The Mosaic Institute also compares the peaceful black civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter. The Mosaic Institute stated that my removal "reflects that the personal behaviors of a board member do actually matter." Also weighing in was "expert" Amarnath Amarasingam, an ideologue who ignores the worst, unprecedented attacks and assaults by Islamists while asking the question "what about the terrorism of the far right?" He states, "the idea that someone who sits on the Canadian Race Relations Foundation's board would have anything to do with Jihad Watch or Robert Spencer is mind-boggling to me."
Christine Douglass-Williams
The Toronto Star article about my "firing" illustrates a concerning portrait of how far the Muslim Brotherhood has managed to weave its way into Liberal/leftist policy circles: Tom Quiggin, a former military intelligence officer and a court-appointed expert on jihadist terrorism in Canadian courts, documents a troubling trend in Canada, such as the bullying of a Sun Media Journalist, Anthony Furey; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's passion in battling "Islamophobia;" his pro-Islamist sympathies in welcoming back foreign Islamic State fighters; and tabling an anti-islamophobia motion M-103 in parliament. Motion M-103 can be traced to troubling, influential players in Canada with historic links to the Muslim Brotherhood. As Quiggin writes:
"Douglass-Williams' firing is worrying as it emanates from the Canadian Heritage Ministry – the same ministry which is holding hearings into the anti-Islamophobia Motion M103....the firing does not occur in isolation and should be seen in a specific context. Canada has an Islamic supremacist entryist problem in government... anyone who speaks out against this support for the cause of political Islam will be silenced by the Government of Canada as it moves towards a greater acceptance of Islamic extremism and violence."
When repeated calls to incorporate the term "anti-Muslim bigotry" in Canada's plan to "eliminate all forms of racism" was presented as an alternative to "Islamophobia", it was flatly rejected. Canada's influential Jewish advocacy group, CIJA stated:
"We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community against anti-Muslim bigotry...Words matter. We believe the wording of M-103 is flawed. Specifically, we are concerned with the word 'Islamophobia' because it is misleading, ambiguous, and politically charged."
Words indeed matter, "Islamophobia", unlike "anti-Muslim bigotry" is a word that is intended to beat down critics of Islam, is heavily pushed by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in its efforts to 'criminalize criticism of Islam'. This wished-for criminalization -- complete with jail terms, fines or even death sentences -- includes prosecuting those who sound the alarm against the spread of Islamism and jihad terror. This is the essence of M-103, which is a "slap in the face to democracy." Such resolutions pose a grave danger to the freedoms of Canadian citizens and destabilizes the future of the country, not to mention its relations to the United States. According to the 'Muslim Brotherhood plan for North America':
"The process of settlement is a 'Civilization-Jihadist Process' with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."
Canada's Motion M-103 puts Islam above all other religions in that any other religion can be discussed openly, criticized openly and even be mocked openly without punishment or state penalty. The infiltration detailed in the Muslim Brotherhood plan requires the participation of Western partners, and the racism industry has been the seat of its efforts. Pro-Islamist groups have managed to brand "Islamophobia" (including criticism of political Islam) as a form of "racism" and hate. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Trudeau declares that "we have a problem with Islamophobia in Canada", although Canada has a much bigger problem with anti-Semitism, followed by anti-black and anti-gay hate crimes. Motion M-103 has become a wall of divide, mostly along partisan lines. Many who support M-103 claim that it is just a harmless "anti-racism" motion and cast opponents to it as racist and "Islamophobic". Critics, however, consider that M-103 usurps democratic rights and freedoms and imposes sharia values in which Islam will not, and must not, be criticized. The Toronto Sun also points out how M-103 Heritage Department committee hearings turned to "prosecution" and "censorship" of those who criticize Islam. Rebel Media, for instance, was cited as a possible target. A "bombshell" revelation recently exposed an alliance between far leftist radicals and ISIS/al-Qaeda jihadists. Former editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine and best-selling author, Edward Klein, uncovered in his book, All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump, "an FBI field report about the collusion between American anti-Trump radicals and foreign ISIS/al-Qaeda operatives." While this uncovers an extreme alliance between the "left" and Islamists, there are varying degrees to this troubling partnership. There seems to be a strong tendency for leftists to sympathize with and facilitate Islamists. In Canada, for example: The Conservative Party sought to defund terrorist-linked groups, strip citizenship from terrorists, implement a zero tolerance policy on "barbaric cultural practices", overwhelmingly voted against the passing of "anti-Islamophobia" Motion M103 and shut down Iran's embassy in Ottawa. The Liberal Party, conversely, has repealed the Conservative provision to strip the citizenship of terrorists, erased use of the phrase "barbaric cultural practices" and introduced the anti-Islamophobia motion M-103 that referenced the Conservatives as "Islamophobic". Trudeau has defended returning ISIS fighters with a stunning personal passion, while under tough questioning by Conservative opposition leader Andrew Scheer in Parliament. It is also worthwhile to highlight that an article by the Toronto Star entitled, "Canadians need to do a better job of calling out racist language and actions", outed a "working relationship" between the Toronto Star, the Mosaic Institute and the NCCM/CAIR-CAN. In a panel, these three organizations assembled together and criticized Donald Trump, the late conservative Toronto mayor Rob Ford, Conservative Party politician Kelley Leitch, Steve Bannon and "white supremacy". In a registered letter dated July 27, 2017, which eventually led to my termination of duties on the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly wrote to me:
"I have become aware of language used in your online articles and blogs that appear to be inappropriate and inconsistent with the CRRF mandate vision of promoting diversity and inclusion, and respect for democracy".
Joly cited three specific articles:
My personal Warning to Icelanders, where I highlight the smooth strategies of the Muslim Brotherhood in their practice of deception and dissimulation (aka: taqiyya)
Canada Moving Toward Criminalizing Islamophobia, providing background information as M-103 headed for a Parliamentary vote
I Was Challenged: Why Write About Jihadists and Muslim Migrant Crimes?.
In each of these articles, I overtly explain and highlight the actions of Islamic supremacists and supremacism, and the dangers they pose to democracy. I found it particularly troubling and peculiar that Joly would accuse me of violating the CRRF mandate of promoting diversity, inclusion and respect for democracy when this is precisely what I did in my dedicated duties at CRRF. Outside of the CRRF, I do the same routinely in my writings. Political Islam espouses the opposite of all I stand for as an activist for human rights for all. I oppose its treatment of women, female genital mutilation (FGM), child brides, killing of gays, goals to obliterate Israel, raping of infidel women, blasphemy laws etc., as any proponent of human rights and those who battle intolerance should. Christine Douglass-Williams is author of the book The Challenge of Modernizing Islam. She is also an international award-winning broadcast journalist, regular writer for Jihad Watch and past external advisor to the former Office of Religious Freedom in Canada.
This article was originally published on the Gatestone Institute website on January 8, 2017, and can be viewed on their site by clicking here.