Trump victory emboldens white supremacists in Canada
Donald Trump’s election victory is causing a ‘spill-over effect’ in Canada, where hate-motivated incidents have seen a recent spike, experts say
By Jillian D’Amours
Middle East Eye | November 28. 2016
As the US election results rolled in earlier this month, and it gradually became clear that Donald Trump would be elected the country’s next commander-in-chief, the Canadian immigration website unexpectedly crashed.
Online commentators speculated that Citizenship and Immigration Canada couldn’t handle a surge in web traffic from its southern neighbours, many of whom were frantically searching how to move to Canada.
Canadian immigration officials have not released any data yet to show an increase in US requests to emigrate to the country since Trump’s victory.
The issue highlights growing fears of a crackdown on minorities, curbs to press freedoms, increased deportations, and other human rights violations under President-elect Trump.
But the upcoming Trump presidency has also had an impact north of the border, as Canadian experts say an uptick in racially-motivated incidents and calls to join far-right movements can be tied to the US election results.
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Amira Elghawaby, communications director at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), said the hate crimes in Ottawa were “disheartening and disappointing”, but the wider community rallied around the victims of the attacks.
“What was positive was how Ottawa really came together following that rash of incidents and really made it very clear through the response from elected officials, as well as just everyday citizens and residents, that such hatred really has no place in our community,” she said.
An uptick in hateful incidents is routinely tied to political rhetoric both in Canada and the US, Elghawaby told Middle East Eye.