Staff, students in this school board are learning about Islamophobia, but true test comes in real world
CBC
Over the years, Nokha Dakroub has come face-to-face with racism and anti-Islamic hate during her work as a school trustee.
Among the most vivid incidents were a series of meetings at her Mississauga, Ont., school board in 2017, when protesters spewed Islamophobic comments and tore pages from a Qur'an in objection to a long-held policy granting Muslim students space at school for prayers.
This month, however, Dakroub is proud of a major, pioneering step the Peel District School Board (PDSB) is taking against those very sentiments: the board passed her motion to adopt an anti-Islamophobia strategy, which will include mandatory training for all PDSB staff.
"We need to continue doing work, through public education, to combat the elements of hate that exist in our society," she said.
Muslim students, teachers and educational leaders are among those working to make our classrooms more inclusive, but many say that the struggle to dispel Islamophobia is only just beginning and must expand to encompass everyone.
Amid an increase in hate crimes against Muslims across the country, including the targeted attack that killed four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ont., in June, Dakroub has noticed a positive shift toward fighting Islamophobia.
She believes Canada is slowly moving in the right direction and links this changing mentality to more Canadians acknowledging serious issues facing our nation, such as systemic racism against Black and Indigenous people.
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