This Liberal threatened to take a stand over Gaza. Now she’s leading talks on anti-Palestinian racism

Two Liberal MPs are holding a roundtable Friday evening in Toronto about anti-Palestinian racism, to study whether this type of discrimination should be part of the federal government’s recently updated anti-racism strategy, CBC News has learned.

The move comes after one of those MPs, Scarborough Centre’s Salma Zahid, quietly threatened to quit her parliamentary committee duties three weeks ago in protest.

Sitting on a committee offers MPs the opportunity to shape legislation before it becomes law; they can also be a stepping stone for MPs to serve in higher roles, like party whip, caucus chair or even as cabinet minister.

A highly publicized resignation could have embarrassed Liberals still reeling from the Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection loss.

In a draft statement, Zahid’s office had prepared to release in July but never did — a copy of which was shared with CBC News — the Toronto-area MP criticized the government for not treating “Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism with the seriousness that it deserves,” and not mentioning anti-Palestinian racism in the updated anti-racism strategy.

The government’s anti-racism strategy said Palestinians are among the “racialized and religious minority communities in Canada” affected by systemic racism and also mentioned how there had been “unprecedented levels of hate towards Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities right here in Canada” since the events of Oct. 7, 2023, that precipitated the latest Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

However, the strategy does not explicitly name anti-Palestinian racism.

“Pretending it doesn’t exist is not acceptable,” Zahid said in her unreleased statement from July. “Effective immediately, I am resigning my positions on standing committees of Parliament.” 

But Zahid never released the statement publicly.

She also never resigned from her positions on the public safety and citizenship and immigration committees or her role on a subcommittee also related to immigration.

In an interview Thursday, CBC News asked what changed and why she didn’t go ahead with the planned resignation.

“My constituents have been asking that I should resign from my parliamentary duties because they think that concrete actions are not happening,” she said.

“I always hear my constituents, and I am working with the Government of Canada to make sure their voices are heard.”

WATCH | Scarborough Liberal MP says constituents wanted her to resign from parliamentary committees:

Zahid added she has been in discussions with government officials.

“During the last nine months, we have seen rising incidents of anti-Palestinian racism right here in Canada,” Zahid said.

“We have seen attacks on the peaceful protests, many people being threatened or losing their jobs just because they are trying to speak for the rights of the Palestinian people,” she said.

The other MP on Friday’s roundtable is Montreal-area MP Sameer Zuberi of the Pierrefonds-Dollard riding.

He is the parliamentary secretary to Diversity and Inclusion Minister Kamal Khera, whose office released the anti-racism strategy. 

Zuberi and Zahid have been among the more vocal pro-Palestinian voices in the Liberal caucus since last October and some of the first in caucus to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict — a call that came weeks before it became government policy.

Khera’s office told CBC News it is “glad to see members of Parliament putting forward local initiatives to present the strategy to their communities and to highlight its funding opportunities while listening to their voices and concerns.”

Zahid said she and Zuberi would prepare a report and present it to Khera after discussions.

Israel’s war in Gaza has caused a division among Liberals.

MP Anthony Housefather publicly discussed leaving the party after almost the entire caucus helped pass an NDP motion criticizing Israel’s conduct in its conflict with Hamas.

He ultimately decided to stay and was named the federal government’s new special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism.

Calls to recognize anti-Palestinian racism

The Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) produced a report in 2022 calling for anti-Palestinian racism to be broadly recognized. 

“Anti-Palestinian racism is a distinct form of racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians and those who advocate for Palestinian rights,” said Dania Majid, the president and founder of the association, in an interview with CBC. 

“It is often employed in order to uphold Israel’s occupation, illegal occupation and apartheid of Palestinian people and their lands,” Majid added.

WATCH | What is anti-Palestinian racism?:

Anti-Palestinian racism is a distinct type of prejudice, says lawyer

Lawyer Dania Majid, founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, says anti-Palestinian racism is a distinct form of racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians and those who advocate for Palestinian rights. She explains how it’s different from other types of racism.

ACLA’s 2022 report states Palestinians face a unique form of racism that targets both them and their allies.

It could include, the report states, people being denied employment, micro-aggressions and negative comments about their Palestinian identity and extends to denying the Nakba.

The Nakba — meaning catastrophe in Arabic — is how Palestinians describe Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people during the war over the creation of Israel.

Israel contests the assertion that it forced out Palestinians. It recognizes that period as the war of independence.

Attempts to recognize anti-Palestinian racism have been seen by some in the Jewish community as causing discrimination.

In an editorial in the National Post, Shimon Koffler Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, described the ACLA’s definition as “one-sided positioning of political and historical issues that are subject to legitimate debate.”

“Adopting APR (anti-Palestinian racism) would incite discrimination against Israelis, Jews and Zionists, preventing them from expressing their views on the conflict. Simply asserting the fact that there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Israel for more than 3,000 years — debunking the idea of Israel being a settler-colonial state — would, under this definition, be considered racist.”

Majid dismissed those arguments. 

“We all should be committed to fighting all forms of racism and discrimination,” she said.

“The attempts of a few to spread fear and misinformation about the recognition of anti-Palestinian racism not only harms Palestinians and other Arab communities, but also members of many other groups that face racism and discrimination.” 

Zahid’s other demands

Earlier in July, Zahid also said she would resign from her roles unless the Liberals made progress on two foreign policy fronts.

She asked for the Canadian government to recognize a Palestinian state and for Ottawa to take steps to prevent the conflict from spilling further into Lebanon, on Israel’s northern border.

It is unclear if the federal government will address the statehood request.

When CBC News asked Thursday whether there had been any movement on it or her concern over de-escalating the war, Zahid simply said she would continue to advocate for these causes. 

On Friday, the day after Zahid spoke to CBC News, the federal government released a joint statement with New Zealand and Australia, reiterating the call for a ceasefire.

It also notes how “further hostilities put tens of thousands of civilians in Lebanon and Israel at risk,” and warns “a wider scale war would have disastrous consequences for Israel and Lebanon.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office declined to comment on Zahid’s threat to leave her committee roles.

A spokesperson for Trudeau said the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly would be best positioned to respond to requests related to the war in Gaza.

CBC News contacted Joly’s office and is waiting for a response.