Muslim Montreal university student harassed on campus after start of Israel-Hamas war
Posted October 18, 2023 2:41 pm.
Last Updated October 18, 2023 6:31 pm.
A Université de Montréal Master’s student says she was the victim of a hate incident, with a woman berating her on the street right outside campus on Oct. 10, just a few days after the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
“We are the direct consequences of what’s happening hundreds of kilometers away,” said Kamilla, who wears a hijab.
CityNews agreed to not show her face on camera and just use her first name as she fears for her safety.
“We are being targeted for what’s happening on the other side of the world and for nothing,” she said.
As Kamilla was on her way to the library around 7 p.m. that evening, she was crossed the street between Jean-Brillant and McKenna.
“I was walking this way and over here this lady gave me the finger, right as we were crossing the road,” she said. “She called me a murderer among other words and as she kept walking, she said ‘you all are going around killing people.'”
Kamilla describes not realizing the woman was speaking directly to her, until she made eye contact with her. “I was shocked.”
“She’s calling me, someone who’s never done anything, a murderer.”
Kamilla says this happened as the world was learning more about what had happened in Israel, when Hamas militants had attacked and killed civilians.
“With the gravity of the words and the violence behind them and their cruelty, it’s highly possible that it was a trigger from what’s happening,” she said. “I’m wearing the hijab and that’s enough. It’s enough for her to picture me as everything that is inhumane and for violence and hate.”
Kamilla says she reported the incident to her school, police and the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).
In the last week alone, the NCCM has seen a staggering increase of 1,300 per cent more reported hate incidents.
“It’s not the first case that we received, it’s not going to be the last, we’re still receiving many, many more,” said Yasser Lahlou, Quebec Community Engagement Officer with the NCCM. “We clearly see that the Muslim population is being affected by the conflicts. Simply because Kamilla was looking visibly Muslim, she was the target of these slurs.”
A spokesperson for the Université de Montréal tells CityNews in a statement: “We’re aware of one such case that has been reported to staff at our Bureau du respect de la personne; they’re the ones who can help students deal with such incidents. This case is the only one we know of; there have been no others reported to us.”
They go on to say that the university’s rector, Daniel Jutras, “wrote an open letter last week to the entire UdeM community reminding people of the importance of maintaining an atmosphere of calm on campus and that no manifestation of hatred will be tolerated.”
The school also adds that their security service has had a constant presence on campus, particularly in high-traffic areas.
Since the incident, Kamilla says she hadn’t been on campus.
“I do not feel safe walking around, especially at night,” she said. “I always have this fear that someone’s going to assault me.”
Montreal police say that as of Wednesday morning, 11 hate incidents or crimes have reported against the Muslim community, and 25 against the Jewish community since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
The Jewish community says they’ve seen a surge of anti-Semitic incidents.
“We had a rabbi whose house was egged in Surrey, BC,” said Marvin Rotrand, National Director, League for Human Rights, B’nai B’rith Canada. “We had a Jewish student whose car was attacked, people banging on it and people pulling off the Israeli flag he had on his car, we’ve seen a surge of anti-Semitism on campus that definitely we are going to investigate as possible infringement or promotion of hate.”
“We’re both being misrepresented and we’re both being put in categories that’s calling for hate and violence,” said Kamilla.
“In my circle, a lot of visibly Muslim women have been targeted and assaulted, a lot have been isolated at work, socially, a lot have been seen as ‘the other.'”
Kamilla says it’s important for victims of hate to speak up.
“Otherwise, we’re just going to normalize the hate.”
