The Canadian Future Party is calling for the immediate dismissal of Amira Elghawaby, cabinet’s $191,000-a-year Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, and the elimination of her office entirely.
Blacklock's Reporter says in a platform released this week, the party proposed folding her responsibilities into existing government agencies.
“Remove the position and budget of the Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, reabsorbing this within the pre-existing responsibilities of the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Department of Canadian Heritage,” the platform stated.
No justification was provided for targeting Elghawaby specifically.
“Every public initiative must be properly funded to deliver results,” the party wrote in its platform. Leader Dominic Cardy, a former New Brunswick education minister, did not offer additional comment.
Elghawaby was appointed to the role in 2023 with a four-year mandate, a $5.4 million budget, and a staff of five. At the time, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said she would “help advance respect for equity, inclusion and diversity.”
Before her appointment, Elghawaby wrote columns for the Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Globe & Mail, and National Post, where she frequently challenged dominant cultural narratives in Canada.
She advocated for Muslim prayer in schools, criticized Canada Day for promoting “European, Judeo-Christian storytelling,” and referred to the monarchy as a “symbol of racial oppression.”
In a 2021 column, Elghawaby wrote that the Crown’s legacy was “built upon the oppression it benefited from throughout its shameful history,” calling for Canada to drop the Queen as head of state. “It would be difficult, though it would be worth it,” she wrote.
In the same year, she argued Canada Day should be reexamined, writing that national narratives had “created a false sense of what it means to be Canadian, often far removed from painful realities.”
Elghawaby also drew attention for her activism.
She was a speaker at a 2017 protest “against white supremacy and racism” outside the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.
In other writings, she questioned whether police should be armed, criticized Québec for “legitimizing the violation of human rights,” and said parts of Western Canada were unsafe for “Black Muslim women.”
In contrast, she praised Justin Trudeau as a “warm” figure with a “message of hope.”
