‘We’re complicit’: Nenshi says Calgarians need to do more to combat racism in wake of London attack

CALGARY – Calgary’s mayor was emotional while talking about a recent attack on a Muslim family in London, Ontario, saying Calgarians are complicit in allowing racism to fester in the city and country when we don’t actively try to fight it.

Naheed Nenshi discussed the attack at the beginning of the Tuesday council meeting.

“When we allow these acts to go forward, when we spend a day debating whether we should call something terrorism–which it clearly is–or use that term ‘domestic terrorism’–because that’s different than the other one–we’re complicit,” he said.

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“When we march in an anti-mask rally–no matter how we feel about masks–that has tiki torches and racists at the front, we’re complicit.”

He says Canadians should not pretend they are shocked by the attack in London.

“In March this year, a young teenage girl walking down the street, on of the pathway to Prince’s Island was beaten and had her hijab torn off–here in Calgary. So let’s not pretend we’re shocked by this.,” he said.

“Let’s not think that this is unthinkable that this happened on our soil. Let’s understand that this is the result of acts that we take, and more importantly, the acts that we do not take, in fighting racism in our community.”

He added that this Canadian tragedy shows that Islamophobia has only grown across the country.

“I need to remind you that it was in 2017 when a gunman opened fire at a Quebec mosque. What have we changed since then?” he said.

RELATED: ‘Hate is still present’: Co-founder of Quebec mosque reacts to London attack

“Islamophobia has gotten worse. The government of Quebec passed a law targeting Muslim women and suggested that there are certain jobs they can’t do because of their faith. And the federal government didn’t utter a peep.”

Nenshi says he is left feeling raw after London, because he can see links between deadly racist attacks and smaller things, like government policies, that may seem harmless to some people.

“I can see the linkages between Quebec’s Bill 21 and what we saw happen. I can see the linkages between the new Alberta school curriculum and others, people who don’t come from a European perspective, and what happened. And it’s time for us to break those links. It’s time for us to work at every level to fight racism in our community.”

Nenshi says as a Muslim, many friends have reached out to him. He says while he appreciates it, they need to go further.

“Don’t tell me your thoughts are with the Muslim community. Tell me what you’re going to do about racism in this country, particularly those of us who are lucky enough to have a microphone.”