Amid the controversy, leaders of Quebec’s Muslim community reached out to new Canadian special envoy for the fight against Islamophobia, Amira Elghawaby, asking her to apologize for portraying Quebecers as “anti-Muslims”.
Posted at 10:30 p.m
Some of them, who gathered Tuesday at the National Assembly to attend the presentation of a motion by the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) to commemorate the victims of the attack on the Quebec Grand Mosque, contacted her for their opinion to share. revealed the co-founder of the Quebec Islamic Cultural Center Boufeldja Benabdallah in an interview with 98.5 FM.
PHOTO FRANCIS VACHON, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Boufeldja Benabdallah, co-founder of the Quebec Islamic Cultural Center
Reached by La Presse on Wednesday evening, the latter stressed how important it was for these community representatives to take action to calm dissatisfaction with the appointment of Amira Elghawaby to this new position, despite earlier controversial statements.
We didn’t say: “You have to explain yourself”. No, we are no longer in the explanations. It had to be one sentence: “I apologize to the people of Quebec,” period.
Boufeldja Benabdallah
He then insisted that he himself did not consider the people of Quebec to be Islamophobic and that he just wanted to “live quietly as Quebecers”.
“Like everywhere, it’s a tiny minority that clamors against Muslims, but not the entire population [du Québec qui est islamophobe] ” he reiterated, highlighting the outpouring of support and love he received from the population after the tragic attack on January 29, 2017, which left six dead under the bullets.
Give the runner a chance
“It shouldn’t stay in an ambiguous discourse, it should [qu’elle] Make it clear: “I didn’t mean to say that, and what I’m saying is that Quebecers are not Islamophobic,” he explained.
Earlier on Wednesday, Amira Elghawaby had finally apologized to Quebecers after her meeting with block leader Yves-François Blanchet. However, words are not enough in the eyes of the Legault government, which continues to call for his resignation.
Boufeldja Benabdallah, for his part, judges that one should “give the runner a chance” and wants to judge Amira Elghawaby’s record more on whether she manages to “deliver the goods”.
Remember that the latter has been at the center of controversy since her appointment last Thursday, notably because she had already written in a column that the “majority of Quebecers” seemed “influenced by anti-Muslim sentiment”. The executive order confirming her appointment says she will receive a salary of between $162,700 and $191,300 and is scheduled to take office on February 20.