Why is Quebec demanding resignation of Canada’s anti-Islamophobia adviser?

The Quebec government demanded the resignation of Canada’s anti-Islamophobia representative after she sent a letter to post-secondary institutions urging them to hire more Muslim, Arab and Palestinian professors, Canadian media reported.

The letter, dated August 30, was criticised Friday by the Quebec government and it resulted in a stern rebuke demand for her resignation from Quebec’s Minister of Education Pascale Dery.

“Amira Elghawaby needs to mind her own business,” Dery wrote on X. “We are talking about the same person who has insulted Quebecers on several occasions. She has no legitimacy to ask our colleges and universities what to do. We repeat: she must resign.”

Elghawaby wrote to the heads of colleges and universities that since the start of the Israeli Gaza war on October 7, a dangerous climate has festered on post-secondary campuses.

She suggested colleges and universities could defuse the unrest by doing more to support freedom of expression, giving personnel information on Islamophobia and hiring more Muslim, Arab and Palestinian professors.​​​​​​​

Several pro-Palestinian encampments sprang up on Canadian universities this summer.

Trudeau refuses to demand her resignation

“I will spare no effort to ensure that our institutions do everything possible to restore a healthy and safe environment for all students and to counter bullying and hatred,” she said, reported the Canadian Press (CP).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Montreal on an unrelated matter Friday and at a news conference he told reporters that each university has its own hiring rules.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who was with Trudeau, said Elghawaby’s recommendation was “totally unacceptable,” CP reported. “It is up to the universities to choose the professors who are the most qualified. I find it unacceptable that someone would suggest favouring a religious group when we are in a secular state.”

Legault later chastised Trudeau for refusing to demand her resignation.

The Quebec government had clashed previously with Elghawaby, who was appointed in January 2023, after she criticised Quebec’s ban on most public sector workers wearing religious symbols at work.

She later apologised.