A recent encounter in Winnipeg has made one resident concerned about Islamophobia in the city.
On Friday at around 10:20 a.m. in the Fort Richmond area, Winnipegger Sarwat Qureshi told Global News she had an unsettling experience while she was taking her son to school.
She says she saw a man approaching her car on foot and waving his arm. She thought he needed help and rolled down her window.
“At that time I could hear him saying anti-Muslim slurs, things like, ‘go back to your country,’ and ‘leave my country,’ and ‘Muslim pigs and killers,” Qureshi said.
She said she kept driving, dropped her son off at school, and took a different route home.
However, she saw him again a few blocks away and tried to take a picture of him to file a police report. At this time, she said he approached her car again and this time, tried to open the door.
“They couldn’t open the door, then they started banging on the window and on the windshield, trying to break the side view mirror. And at that point, I tried to drive away, and that person started running after my car.”
Qureshi reported the incident to the police but was left feeling angry and upset. She said she has lived in the city for 23 years and has never experienced anything like this.
“I was in shock, I was rattled, and I was angry. And I was just appalled that this person didn’t know me, and he just felt so much hate towards me to come and attack me,” she said.
The Manitoba Islamic Association issued a statement saying it is “working to ensure that this troubling and hateful incident does not go unaddressed or unnoticed.”
The association also urged locally elected politicians to acknowledge that Islamophobia is in Canada and is on the rise, and to dedicate resources and the effort required to eliminate the problem for all Canadians.
A report of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights for November this year recognizes that because of hijab and cultural dress, Muslim women are often the primary targets of hate, violence, and intimidation.
Qureshi said she believes the incident shows that Islamophobia can happen in the city and it has profound effects on the Muslim community.
“I will drive my kids to school for maybe the next week, but that’s not how I want them to live, in fear. And that’s not how I want to live.”
She said it will take some time before she feels completely safe again.
— With files from Global’s Katherine Dornian