Quebec calls for anti-Islamophobia adviser’s resignation after she recommends universities hire more Muslim professors

Tone deaf with respect to Quebec sensitivities, whether these sensitivities are warranted or not.

Apart from her questionable premise, Arab and West Asian professors and lecturers form 8.1 percent of the total, greater than their share of the total population (NOC-based). So on the surface, not a case of under-representation:

The Quebec government renewed its call for Canada’s special representative on combatting Islamophobia to resign Friday, after she sent a letter to college and university heads recommending the hiring of more Muslim, Arab and Palestinian professors.

The existence of the letter, dated Aug. 30, was first reported by Le Journal de Québec, and a Canadian Heritage spokesperson said Friday it was sent to institutions across the country.

In her letter, Amira Elghawaby says that since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, a dangerous climate has arisen on campuses. She offered a number of suggestions to ease tensions within educational institutions: supporting freedom of expression and academic freedom; briefing campus leaders on civil liberties and Islamophobia; and hiring more professors of Muslim, Arab and Palestinian origin.

It was the reference to hiring that drew the immediate indignation of Quebec’s higher education minister, who called on Elghawaby to resign, saying she should “mind her own business.” Minister Pascale Déry said hiring professors based on religion goes against the principles of secularism the province adheres to.

“She has no legitimacy to ask our colleges and universities what to do,” Déry said through her X account, adding that Elghawaby had “insulted” Quebeckers on “several occasions.”…

Source: Quebec calls for anti-Islamophobia adviser’s resignation after she recommends universities hire more Muslim professors