Fired by the Canadian Government for Criticizing Islam



Christine Douglass-Williams lost her job last December as a Director with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.  She is now Public Affairs and Media Consultant to the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. 

She came to Canada as an immigrant from the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago. She describes herself as "an equal mix of Scottish, Chinese, black and Indian/native Indian". So being both a female, "black" and a fluent speaker of English, she must have seemed a prize appointment to the Canadian government.

There is a video of her here

Her termination follows a review begun last summer over concerns about her writings on the website Jihad Watch, including a post where she warned that people are being duped by seemingly moderate Muslims and another calling the passage of a House of Commons motion condemning Islamophobia a “victorious day for Islamic supremacists.”

Douglass-Williams had first been appointed to the board in 2012, and was reappointed in 2015. Her term was to expire next year, but the government terminated it on Tuesday.

“Why? Because I dared to criticize political Islam,” Douglass-Williams said in an email to The Canadian Press.

“I make a distinction between those who practice Islam in peace and harmony with others, and those with an agenda to usurp democratic constitutions, demand special privileges over other creeds and who advocate the abuse of women and innocents as a supremacist entitlement.”

She called her removal a “dishonourable decision” on the part of Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, who oversees the foundation, and accused her of acting “at the behest of questionable sorts.”

Neither the Privy Council Office nor Joly’s office would comment directly on Douglass-Williams’ firing, citing privacy concerns.

However, Joly spokesman Simon Ross said in an email: “The country’s leading organization dedicated to the elimination of racism and the promotion of harmonious race relations, the Canada Race Relations Foundation, must have a board that recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion in our society.”

The foundation was launched in 1997 as part of the settlement the federal government at the time reached with Japanese Canadians over their internment in Canada during the Second World War.

It holds workshops and roundtables across the country on combating racism, and also funds research into Canadian attitudes towards multiculturalism, immigration and other issues.

A spokesman for the board did not return a call for comment.

Appointees to the foundation’s board, like many arm’s-length organizations, serve “during pleasure,” meaning they can be removed at the discretion of the government.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims had been one of the groups that raised concerns about Douglass-Williams and they welcomed the government’s decision.

SOURCE