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