Two major surveys on hate to gauge Islamophobia

When was the last time you heard about a potential hate crime or incident targeting Ottawa's Muslim community?

Think now, it wasn't long ago.

In fact, it was in mid-August that members of the South Nepean Muslim Community discovered that the sign announcing the future site of the community centre and mosque had been vandalized ”“ for the third time.

And as the Barrhaven community works to obtain security equipment to help prevent such incidents from recurring, researchers in Canada and beyond are wondering just how often incidents like this are happening.

In Ontario, Professor Barbara Perry from the University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology is continuing her pilot project on anti-Muslim violence in the province. Dr. Perry is now asking Muslims to fill out a survey which should help improve services for victims of hate crimes as well as help find strategies to promote healthier community relationships.

And in England, the Islamic Human Rights Commission is also gathering data in a survey titled Muslim Experiences of Hatred, Hostility and Discriminations. This survey will serve as a model to help researchers gauge the experiences of Muslims in Canada and beyond.

Many experts believe that hate incidents are under reported. That makes surveys like these critical in gauging the real impact of Islamophobia.

Filling out a couple of surveys won't take long, but they'll go a long way in helping combat the kind of hatred that would victimize communities just for putting up a sign announcing a future mosque.

Visit MuslimLink.ca for links to the surveys.

Amira Elghawaby is the Human Rights Officer at the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations.