"Peel District" school is the first in Canada to offer a special program to combat Islamophobia, after its board of directors found that Muslims make up about a quarter of its students.

The school, located in the city of Toronto, has 153,000 students, and Muslim students represent about 40,000, enrolled at all levels from kindergarten to grade twelve (high school).

To learn more about the initiative, "Anadolu" met with those responsible for it, and also held a meeting with the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which initiated an attempt to generalize the strategy in the country's schools.

Muslims in Canada have faced notable hostility and incitement since the events of September 11, 2001, in the United States, with incidents of killing, running over, and shooting against Muslims residing in the country.

On January 26, last, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Amira Elghawabi, a founding member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, as the first representative to combat Islamophobia in the country.

 The full story

During Anadolu's interview with Manon Edwards, the communications director of the school board, he spoke about the initiative and the strategy the school has adopted to combat Islamophobia.

Edwards said, "Launching a strategy to combat Islamophobia shows the school board's commitment to ensuring that Muslim students feel they have a safe and inclusive learning environment."

The story of the strategy goes back to an initiative presented by the former president of the school board, Nouha (Noha) Dakroub, who chaired the board from 2014 to 2022.

"Noha" is a Canadian of Lebanese origin, working as a social worker and activist, and she had repeatedly warned, during her time on the school board, about the dangers of Islamophobia on students.

In August 2022, Dakroub presented a proposal during a school board meeting to establish an anti-Islamophobia strategy, which the board officially adopted in September of the same year.

The proposal states that "the school board commits to an anti-Islamophobia strategy, where staff report on their efforts to develop the strategy, providing specific information on actionable elements and accountability measures, if any."

The proposal also stated: "The school board requires all staff to undergo training on combating Islamophobia," and the final version of the proposal was approved in January 2023.

The full mark

The proposal, named "Strategy for Affirming Islamic Identities and Deconstructing Islamophobia," earned the school an "+A" grade from the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

Asia Khan, the director of education programs at the council, said that "The Peel District School Board is the first school board in Canada to develop such a strategy to combat Islamophobia."

Khan explained to Anadolu that Peel District School "might be the first to establish the program in North America as a whole," noting that it is "a strategy we desperately needed."

She added, "Recently, the National Council of Canadian Muslims receives almost one call daily about incidents of hate, racism, or Islamophobia in schools."

She continued, "A very real problem faced by students, teachers, and school staff within the system that must be addressed; schools must be the safest places for our students."

In 2020, the Canadian police reported 2,669 hate-motivated criminal incidents (overall), the highest number ever recorded since 2009, according to a report issued by Statistics Canada on March 17, 2022.

From you and to you

The school's initiative, implemented over four years, adopted a plan to guide teachers and other staff on how to deal with Islamophobia incidents if they occur.

The plan also adopted educational programs created with community partners, such as the National Council of Canadian Muslims, in addition to annual training on combating Islamophobia, maintaining communication with Islamic associations, and encouraging Muslim student associations.

Khan said that "The anti-Islamophobia strategy was created by those previously affected by the phenomenon, to help those who continuously face direct or indirect forms of hatred and racism within the school system."

She confirmed that the Council of Muslims in Canada "will continue to work with school boards across the country to develop anti-Islamophobia strategies similar to those followed by the Peel District School Board."

At the end of her talk with Anadolu, Khan described the strategy as "an important step in the right direction."