TEHRAN - New research has revealed how Canada is racially targeting its Muslim community with “institutional Islamophobia”.

The first of-its-kind study has been published to highlight growing concern about the indiscriminate treatment of Canadian Muslims.

According to its authors, the “war on terror” has been used as a pretext for the Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) to racially profile Muslim communities. It is also being used by Canada to legitimize its racist treatment of Muslims. 

It's perhaps important to note that the so-called war on terror saw a significant rise in terrorism in West Asia and beyond. 

And the facts on the ground show Muslims have suffered by far the most from Takfiri terrorism.

The Takfiri form of terrorism which has been witnessed over the past two decades are extremist elements who terrorized communities (mainly in West Asia), and which governments in West Asia say is a creation of the United States, Israel and some of their allies.

Others accuse the U.S. and Israel of working hand in hand with Takfiri factions to destabilize the region. 

But as Takfiri extremists practice their terror against Muslims under the fake banner of Islam, Muslims find themselves being targeted both by the terrorists and as studies show by Western governments.  

To put that into perspective, the Western public has failed to distinguish between Takfiri terrorists (who were dealt a heavy blow by armed Islamic resistance movements) and Muslims themselves.

This is a direct result of the disinformation campaign waged by Western mainstream media and Western politicians.

The Takfiri radicals, who the West gave them an open stage and a megaphone on the streets of its cities to spread their extremist ideologies and hate speech, were not on the radar of Western spy agencies, as they claim.

More ironically some were admittedly on the radar yet Western spy agencies did nothing to end their practices.

This is another example of the West using extremists (Takfiris) to portray them as Muslims.

It should also be noted that Western media gave the extremist elements all the airspace they wanted to spread their Takfiri ideology.

At the same time, almost all Muslim political activists rarely, if ever, appeared on Western mainstream media.

CSIS is the Canadian counterpart to the United Kingdom’s Security Service (M15) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although Canada has not experienced an overt terrorist attack, CSIS has engaged in widespread surveillance of Canadian Muslim communities, the study notes.

The researchers conducted 95 in-depth interviews with Muslim community leaders in five Canadian cities, to explore how the racial logics embedded in the “War on Terror '' shape CSIS’s tactical and racist operations.

They found that CSIS adopts specific surveillance practices that are enshrined by an Islamophobic theme.

This works on the premise that Islam and any expression of religious devotion to it represents a potential terror suspect.

It finds that the “CSIS engages in mass surveillance with devastating and prolonged effects on Muslim communities. We found that mosques have been transformed into sites of surveillance rather than a safe place for religious worship and community gatherings.”

The Canadian spy agency monitors who enters and exits mosques, and members, especially imams, are subject to interrogation.

Muslim youth in particular are heavily targeted by CSIS. Those who practice their religion are frequently subject to interrogation, “often without their parents’ permission”.

Muslim university students told the researchers that they have found recording devices in their campus prayer spaces, and had their social media scanned.

The study has found that a key CSIS “tactical strategy is the use of coercive techniques to pressure ordinary citizens.”

Critics would argue these coercive techniques in Canada and beyond are attempts to target Muslims to avoid any activism, which differ from the Western narrative on domestic and foreign policy.

Activism or political activism is something peaceful which should be of no concern to spy agencies.

This is alluded to in the latest research which states:

“Those politically active and critical of the Canadian state found themselves at higher risk for interrogation. In our study, we found those who criticize state policies — particularly concerning politics in the Middle East (West Asia) — come under increased surveillance.

We were informed of the deep chilling effect this has on Muslim communities. Those we interviewed spoke about being fearful of voicing their concerns regarding state practices, as they believe this would incur CSIS surveillance.”

Even the widespread criticism of Muslim activists in the U.S., Canada and Europe for allowing so much airspace to extremists and banning Muslims from the airwaves fell on deaf ears.

The report highlights that in recent years, Canada has witnessed the highest number of Muslims killed in hate-motivated attacks out of all the G7 countries.

That’s the G7 countries only.

The research states “CSIS is just one institution that racially targets Muslims. There are a host of other counter-terrorism laws and practices that also operate to reproduce racist perceptions and assumptions about Muslims.”

It cites documented examples such as how Muslims are racially treated at Canadian airports and border crossings, pointing out that the measures are endemic practices of institutionalized racism. 

“They target Canadian Muslims, exacerbate racial profiling and subject people to demeaning treatment,” The research report says.

Other disturbing examples cited in the study is how the country’s domestic spy agency uses aggressive tactics such as making “unannounced visits to people’s homes in the middle of night; actions that intimidated entire families, including children. We were informed that this is a common practice as individuals are unable to access legal counsel or community support at such times.”

The research also focuses on the legislation that prohibits public school teachers, police officers, judges and government lawyers, among other civil servants, from wearing religious symbols, such as the hijab, turbans, yarmulkes and crosses while at work in Quebec.

The bill has been criticized for unfairly impacting Muslim communities, particularly Muslim women.

It further highlights the response to remarks made by Amira Elghawaby after she posted an opinion piece that said French Canadians were the largest group in Canada to be victimized by British colonialism.

Elghawaby was appointed as Canada's first Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia in January 2023.

In response to an opinion piece by a Canadian Muslim woman, the leader of the political party Bloc Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet, has called on the federal government to scrap the position of the special representative on combating Islamophobia altogether.

A position that was formed just last month.

The truth is Canada was founded by racism with its attacks on the indigenous people.

Further attempts to wipe out the natives in the 19th century, indigenous and Native American children were dragged from their homes and placed in school institutions operated by the government and churches.

They were forced to assimilate to the government's preferred way of life, often through violence and other forms of torture such as sexual, physical and emotional abuse.