‘Everybody needs to look in the mirror’: London, Ont.’s Islamophobia problem

Police charged a man on Monday for hitting an entire family with his truck on Sunday night in London, Ontario, alleging that he did it intentionally because of their Muslim faith. Four members of the Afzaal family died, leaving the only survivor and youngest child, a boy named Fayez, seriously hurt in hospital.

An outpouring of grief from the community and across the country followed; a vigil held Tuesday saw leaders from the three major parties speak. But many Muslims say they don’t feel safe now, and not for the first time.

On the show, we’ll hear from two London residents who share their stories about experiencing and witnessing racism in London, and what needs to happen to move the conversation forward on Islamophobia in Canada.

Javeed Sukhera is a child psychiatrist, an associate professor at Western University’s medical school, and the outgoing chair of the London Police Services Board.

Jeff Bennett was the Ontario PC Party candidate for London West in 2014 and wrote about the Islamophobia he witnessed on the campaign trail in a Facebook post that went viral.

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