Amira Elghawaby's apologies make people react
Former journalist and human rights activist Amira Elghawaby is now a spokesperson and adviser to the federal government in the fight against Islamophobia and systemic racism.
The apologies that Amira Elghawaby presented to the people of Quebec on Wednesday during her meeting with the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, provoked strong reactions within the political class.
The Minister of Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, had asked, on Monday, the resignation of the representative of the fight against Islamophobia. On Wednesday afternoon, he maintained his position during a press scrum.
“It’s a good thing, I appreciate her apology, but I still don’t believe she has the legitimacy and credibility to hold these positions,” he said.
Camille Goyette-G., the president of OUI Québec, an organization that aims to promote the independence of Quebec, sharply criticized the exit of Amira Elghawaby on Twitter, deploring in particular that the representative of the fight against Islamophobia “does not doesn't even recognize how her words are problematic, she apologizes for how they hurt Quebecers.
En plus de faire ses excuses en anglais seulement (même si les journalistes franco avaient aussi posé la Q), elle ne reconnait même pas en quoi ses propos sont problématiques, elle s'excuse de comment ils ont blessés les Québécois. Autant dire : Je m'excuse si….#polcan #polqc https://t.co/2odETozwQu
— Camille Goyette-G. (@CamilleGoyetteG) February 1, 2023
For her part, the member of the board of directors of the Foundation for black communities and former president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), Marlene Jennings, also reacted on Twitter. “As a proud Quebecer, I am very pleased with the apologies from Ms. Elghawaby & I accept them. Now, I believe that she must acknowledge that she herself has biases/biases to correct, because no one, myself included, is free from bias/bias. That's what I'm working on.”
En tant que fière Québécoise, je suis très contente des excuses de Mme Elghawaby & je les accepte. Maintenant, je crois qu’elle doit reconnaître avoir elle-même des biais/préjugés à corriger car personne, je m’en inclût, est exempt de biais/préjugés. C’est sur ça que je travaille
— MarleneJennings2.0 (@MJennings2_0) February 1, 2023
Andrés Fontecilla, the solidarity deputy for Laurier-Dorion, a riding located in the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, in Montreal, believes for his part that Ms. Elghawaby’s apologies demonstrate “that dialogue is possible” . He adds that he’will continue this dialogue’when he meets with the representative for the fight against Islamophobia over the next few days.
Ms. Elghawaby, a journalist who was appointed as the new anti-Islamophobia representative by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, found herself in hot water for writing in an article that the “majority of Quebecers” seemed “influenced by anti-Muslim sentiment”.
This was a remark in connection with the adoption of Bill 21, which prohibits the wearing of religious symbols by certain workers in the public domain. The Premier of Quebec, François Legault, had gone so far as to demand the resignation of Ms. Elghawaby. “M. Trudeau, by keeping her in post, comes to condone contempt for Quebecers,” he said.
Recall that Amira Elghawaby apologized for the first time in English on Wednesday during of his meeting with the leader of the Bloc Québécois. “I am extremely sorry for the way my words […] have hurt the people of Quebec,” she said. She later reiterated her apologies to reporters after her meeting with Mr. Blanchet, in French this time.
