Hikma Calls on Doug Ford to Pass the Our London Family Act

With the Introduction of the Our London Family Act by the Ontario NDP, supported by the Ontario Liberal Party and the Ontario Green Party, Hikma calls on the Doug Ford Government to complete the non-partisan support of this legislation, so that it can be passed before this June’s provincial election.

Accordingly, we have this message for the Doug Ford Government.

Dear Honourable Members of the Provincial Cabinet,

As Muslims living proudly in London, we felt, first-hand, the raw pain resulting from the June 6th terrorist attack. It will be a moment of horror that we will never forget. And so, we write to you today, as Cabinet determines what the priorities are before the Legislature shuts down for a provincial election, to ask you to make sure that the Our London Family Act passes into law before the election.
At the vigil on June 8th, 2021, on the footsteps of the London Muslim Mosque, Premier Ford asked the question, “what can we do?” Today, the answer to that question is very clear.
Every day that the Act is not passed is a missed day to make our education system more tolerant and inclusive; a missed day to prevent white supremacist intimidation outside places of worship; a missed day to make the provincial public service more inclusive; a missed day to provide real support to victims of hate crimes who are quite often re-victimized by a justice system that is not properly equipped or resourced to fight hate; and a missed day to give people more access to the human rights system.
The war on Islamophobia, for which the Muslim body count in Canada is unacceptably rising, requires non-partisan, united leadership. It requires a multi-dimensional legislative response, because it is a multi-dimensional problem. The Our London Family Act is just that – a non-partisan, multi-dimensional piece of legislation that sends a strong message about the direction the Province is heading in. A message of hope. A message of inspiration. A message of unity from all of our elected officials that hate will be fought vigorously in Ontario.