Muslims & Islamophobia

I want to encourage more Mississauga residents who are interested in policing to choose Peel Police so that they can police the communities that they actually live in. This would result in more culturally informed policing, and strengthen trust with ethnic and religious communities.

I have had a Muslim Advisory panel with approximately 30 participants. Have had police advise them on reporting Islamophobia interactions and how to report them. Also education sessions to take back to their mosques.

My crime platform includes plans to connect religious institutions with federal funding for security purposes, and to create an event safety coordination unit to support religious gatherings and community events for prepare for emergencies, traffic management, and security.

Have been doing so. Need to expand the Mayor’s Advisory panel to include a broader spectrum from the community.

I would direct police to conduct proactive outreach and monitoring for Islamophobic or discriminatory criminal behaviour. I would support greater visibility for Muslims in City of Mississauga programming to show broader community support, and I would create a formal Muslim Advisory Committee to be a part of the City’s anti-discrimination efforts.

Have had our City communications department prepare public action plans and publicized them in public buildings and in information blitzes.

I would create the Muslim Advisory Committee which would have formal recognition as an advisory body at the City of Mississauga. This would empower Muslim voices to guide decision-making within City procedures. This is more integrated into the City’s practices than mayoral advisory groups which are not permanent.

Expand my muslim Advisory Council to a broader base including significant organizations, leaders and age groups from our vast muslim population.

As part of my policy planning, I will engage religious community organizations offering non-profit services to become partners. This way the City can open up funding streams to support those organizations and expand opportunities for residents.

As we do all such organizations that operate in our city, by recognizing them officially, assisting with funding and connecting with like-minded groups in the broader population with the experience required to operate to a maximum efficiency.

I have been proud to work with the religious institutions in my ward to expand zoning to support mosque and religious school expansions. Mississauga’s zoning model is outdated, so I would work to modernize it to include the recognition of religious gathering spaces.

Need to be realistic with parking regulations geared to maximum prayer times so we don’t penalize mosques with Community centres when they operate effectively with less parking restrictions on days other than Fridays. Honour Eid with relaxed overnight parking restrictions in neighbourhoods as we do now.

The greatest issue facing the City of Mississauga is affordability. I plan to address this by freezing property taxes for everyone, building more homes so that we can expand our tax base and reduce the cost of housing and rent, and support local businesses so that we can strengthen the local economy and ensure job security for residents.

Parking on Fridays and holidays and public understanding of the significance of those days requires acceptance of exceptions to daily regulations like extended parking regulations for Eid as we do now in Mississauga.