The Senate human rights committee outspent all other committees combined last year with a detailed study of Islamophobia. According to Blacklock's Reporter, hearings resume this week after the panel heard from 135 witnesses in five cities..Records show committee expenses totaled $155,146 last year including $78,575 for hearings in Vancouver and Edmonton. The Western meetings were attended by six senators, six staffers and three interpreters. The panel spent another $77,571 on similar hearings in Mississauga, ON. and Québec City, QC..Only two other Senate committees incurred travel expenses last year. The fisheries committee spent $9,485 traveling to Halifax to report on First Nations fishing rights, and the agriculture committee spent $14,879 attending a week-long World Congress on Soil Science in Glasgow..The Islamophobia study to date has comprised 19 meetings. A 20th hearing opens today with testimony from the National News Media Council..Asked on its Twitter feed, “How does the Senate human rights committee define the term Islamophobia?” the committee replied: “Thank you for reaching out. The Senate human rights committee hasn’t limited its study to one definition and expects to hear testimony about the definition and the scope and impact of Islamophobia in Canada.”.Submissions to date include a petition from the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council to monitor “anti-Muslim discourse” by MPs and Senators, and testimony from Naheed Nenshi, former Calgary mayor, who said he feared white people were radicalized in Canada..“The whole time I was mayor I was invited to innumerable conferences on the radicalization of young Muslim men,” Nenshi testified February 13. “How do we stop the radicalization of young Muslim men? I would submit to this committee our problem in this country is not the radicalization of Muslim men.”.“When do we start talking about the radicalization of white people in this country?” said Nenshi. “When do we start talking about the fact there are generations – not students but the next generation up – people in their 20s and in their 30s and older who are feeling dispossessed, who are wondering about change in their community, who are very, very susceptible to radicalization messages?”.“I actually don’t love the term ‘Islamophobia’ because it’s not about a phobia,” said Nenshi. “It’s not about a fear. I often talk about religious bigotry. But it doesn’t matter what we call it. The same people are going to attack us anyway.”.“We need a strong statement from this committee that across this country the importance of the dignity of Muslim people matters and that Muslim people cannot be used as political footballs,” said Nenshi. “It’s a hard thing to say.”
