OTTAWA — Canada's new special representative on combating Islamophobia said Wednesday that she is sorry that her words have hurt Quebecers.
''These are very difficult conversations and I would like to say that I am extremely sorry for the way that my words have carried, how they have hurt the people of Quebec," Amira Elghawaby said in English before she met with Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet.
She said she would listen carefully and that is what dialogue is all about.
Multiple politicians in Quebec have called for Elghawaby's appointment to be rescinded because of comments she made in a 2019 opinion piece.
The column, co-written with former Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber, cited polling data to say that "a majority of Quebecers" who supported Bill 21 also held anti-Muslim views.
Farber and Elghawaby, a journalist and human-rights activist, were board members with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network at the time.
Quebec's Bill 21 has been heavily criticized — including by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — for discriminating against members of religious minorities by banning them from wearing religious symbols at their public-service workplaces.
Trudeau said after the apology on Wednesday that it demonstrated the extent to which she is a sensitive person who is open to others' concerns and wants to "build bridges" in a difficult file.
Earlier Wednesday, Trudeau said Quebec has a complicated history with religion, citing the oppression of the Catholic Church in the province before the Quiet Revolution largely removed the church from government services including health care and education.
He said it is important to him that all Canadians understand that before the Quiet Revolution, Quebecers "suffered the yoke and the attacks on individual rights and freedoms of an oppressive church."
"And that comes with it a certain perspective around what secularism is, and the role of religion in society that informs what modern Quebec is," he said. "Quebecers are not racists."
There are also Canadians, including in the Muslim community, for whom religion is extremely important in both a public and a private way, he said.
"What we need now is people who can understand and bridge those two realities," said Trudeau.
Elghawaby, he said, is the right person to try and bridge that divide.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.
The Canadian Press
