Anti-Palestinian racism report calls for Canada to recognize May 15 as Nakba Day

Well, this will provoke some interesting discussions within the government.

Reading through the report, there appears little recognition that some of the actions, symbols and language in various pro-Palestinian protests have contributed to the rise in anti-Palestinian incidents. The description of the Hamas attack of October 7 is antiseptic and is silent on the rapes and other atrocities, also suggesting an element of denial at play “Hamas launched an attack on Israel on this date, actions which included taking 250 people hostage, some of whom remain in captivity in July 2025:”

There also appears little recognition that public and private bodies can make decisions based on public activity and statements, if these create controversy and impact communities. After all, “actions have consequences.”

Perhaps my experience in government where the line between being publicly silent despite any misgivings informs this view (post-government, of course, many public servants share their personal views fairly widely with considerable diversity of opinions.)

The existing definitions of ethnicity (Arab) and religion (Muslim and Christian) are the preferred way to assess discrimination and hate crimes against Palestinians as they bring the issues into the broader context that affect all groups. In other words, focus more on the universal rather than a plethora of individual definitions based upon individual groups (e.g. anti-Tibet, anti-Khalistan, anti-Tamil etc).

Hate crimes against Muslims increased by 8.5 percent compared to last year, against West Asian/Arab by 18.3 percent, higher than most other groups:

A new report from the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University calls on governments across Canada to increase oversight on how universities, schools, police forces and Parliament deal with the recent spike in instances of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism.

The report also calls on all levels of government in Canada to officially recognize May 15 as Nakba Day. Palestinians mark the day after Israel declared independence in 1948 as the beginning of the destruction of their homeland.

“Provincial governments should develop curriculum, train staff and educate students on Palestinian culture, identity and history, including the history of the Nakba,” the report published Wednesday said.

It also wants all levels of government to “recognize and adopt” a definition of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) “as a distinct and detrimental form of racism that operates at multiple levels of state and society.”

The director of the research hub, Nadia Hasan, an assistant professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at York University, said recognizing both Nakba Day and an official definition for APR would set Canada apart from other countries.

“These are important things for Canada to take very seriously,” Hasan said. “I think it would be a first and an important step for Canada to lead on.”

The report examines the increase in Islamophobic verbal and physical attacks directed at Arab and Palestinian Canadians since the beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities and military bases near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, including more than 700 civilians, and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military response has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, killing more than 61,000 people — mostly civilians — according to Palestinian health authorities.

The report says its findings are based on interviews conducted virtually with 16 Canadian community-based organizations that focus on addressing Islamophobia, APR and anti-Arab racism. Media reports were also used. The report does not include any first-hand accounts from victims or injured parties.

Recommendations and calling out the CBC

The report calls for greater oversight of post-secondary institutions by striking “advisory tables” made up of students and faculty to develop strategies for colleges and universities to use in combatting discrimination on campus.

The authors of the report also call for those institutions to undergo third-party reviews of how they responded to incidents of Islamophobia and campus protests against the war in Gaza.

They say school boards across Canada should also face province-wide reviews to determine how schools have dealt with incidents of anti-Palestinian racism and examine “cases that were insufficiently or never investigated.”

Aside from the increased scrutiny on universities, colleges and school boards across the county, the report wants to establish provincial and territorial “hate crime accountability units.”

The units would allow people alleging they have been the victims of discrimination to “report directly about law enforcement agencies’ mishandling of hate-motivated crime cases.”

The report also calls for Canada’s public broadcaster to be “reviewed to ensure fair and balanced coverage of Palestinian perspectives.”

This external review, the report says, should probe the possibility that CBC is disproportionately “rejecting Palestinian guest commentators” leading to biased media coverage.

The report provides two reasons for its focus on CBC.

The first is a report by a former employee who alleged she faced backlash for pitching “stories that would bring a balanced perspective” to the war in Gaza.

The second reason is a letter sent to CBC signed by more than 500 members of the Racial Equity Media Collective asking the public broadcaster to “address an apparent pattern of anti-Palestinian bias, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism within the corporation’s news and documentary culture.”

CBC’s head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said an external review is not necessary because CBC is already accountable to the independent CBC Ombudsman, Maxime Bertrand, who regularly reviews complaints about the corporation’s journalism.

“CBC News has amplified countless Palestinian voices in our ongoing coverage of the conflict in Gaza,” he said. “There are now thousands of stories we’ve published and broadcast about Israel and Gaza since 2023, all archived here … we think the work speaks for itself.”

The York University report references CBC News journalism covering dozens of instances of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism.

A policy for MPs

The report is also calling on Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein, who administers the Conflict of Interest Act and the code of conduct for MPs, to be given increased responsibilities.

The commissioner, the report says, “should develop a clear and enforceable policy on how parliamentarians are to be held accountable when they disseminate disinformation, especially … when such acts target marginalized communities.”

It provides only one example of an MP allegedly spreading disinformation, a post on X by Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman.

The post includes the line: “Stickers with ❤️s glorifying terror on campus popped up today at UBC.”

The report notes the stickers were falsely associated with the UBC Social Justice Centre.

CBC News has reached out to the Official Opposition for reaction to the allegation but has yet to receive a response.

The 15 recommendations contained in the report also call on the federal government to address issues with the temporary resident visa program for refugees fleeing Gaza and probe alleged Israeli foreign interference in Canada.

A Senate report released November 2023 found Islamophobia remains a persistent problem in Canada and concrete action is required to reverse the growing tide of hate across the country.

The report, the first of its kind in Canada, took a year and involved 21 public meetings and 138 witnesses. It said incidents of Islamophobia are a daily reality for many Muslims and that one in four Canadians do not trust Muslims.

Police and advocacy organizations have also reported increases in antisemitic incidents. In the spring, B’nai Brith Canada reported that in 2024 the total number of reported cases of acts of hatred targeting Jews had reached a record high of 6,219 incidents.