NCCM

Car manufacturer Stellantis sold its Brampton assembly plant this week to armored vehicle company Roshel, shedding thousands of jobs.

This is after Stellantis received millions in tax-payer cash to restore and retool the plant.

Roshel, on the other hand, is a company that hascontracts with the United States's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, as well as the Israeli police for armored cars.

ICE has carried out a long list of violent abuses in the US, including violent removal operations and extrajudicial killings. There are many documented cases of recurring human rights violations by Israeli security forces across the West Bank.

Stellantis has thus turned its back not only on thousands of Ontario's auto-workers, but also on Canadians values, by selling to a company that seems to have no values at all.

It is deeply disappointing and hurtful to see a player on as popular a team as the Blue Jays promote Islamophobia and conspiracy theories.

Muslims, particularly youth, who cheer for the team and its players will now doubt whether they truly belong to the Jays fanbase.

There is simply a no room for Islamophobia or hate of any kind in the MLB or within the Jays organization.

We call upon the MLB, the MLSE, the Blue Jays, and all leaders to denounce these anti-Muslim posts. We urge leadership to follow the same precedent it has established when other players have taken bigoted stances against other communities.

We also call for a full apology from Mr. Santander, as well as a commitment from him to meet with Muslim communities to thoroughly understand why his posts are false, hurtful, and harmful to Muslims in Canada.

This past September, a Muslim student who wears the hijab wrote her LSAT exam in Vancouver, BC and was asked to remove her hijab for security screening.

She declined as it would have required removal of her hijab in front of men and security cameras. The exam proctor did not offer her a private space to do this screening.

Afterwards, the proctor lodged a report against the student to the Law School Admission Council, which withheld her LSAT score pending a long investigation.

If the score was not released in time, the student risked potentially being unable to use it for the upcoming round of law school admissions—a big waste of time and money for her.

NCCM Staff Lawyer Armaan Kassam led representation of the student and demanded a release of her score, compensation, and a review of how the company hosting the exam failed to uphold clear and simple religious accommodations.

In the end, the LSAC responded to our complaints by agreeing to ALL those demands.

No one should be punished after asking for reasonable religious accommodations. We will always be here to stand up for our communities' rights, and to demand justice and accountability.

We are horrified to learn that Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal was attacked last night. Several windows were damaged by what appears to be BB gun shots.

This is entirely unacceptable and yet another attack on a synagogue in a way that no words can truly capture our anger towards.

Those responsible should face the harshest possible penalties.

We are in touch with folks at the synagogue and will do everything we can to support them at this dark time.

This past summer, two vehicles were set on fire in the driveway of Scarborough Centre-Don Valley East MP Salma Zahid’s home in Scarborough.

It was a horrific act of violence that could easily have done even more damage had the fire spread to their home.

Security footage shows a suspect dousing several vehicles and lighting them on fire. One suspect, the driver of the vehicle, has been arrested, while the main suspect who conducted the arson is still at large, two months later.

The community is deeply concerned that this incident remains unresolved. It is absolutely vital that law enforcement is expeditious and diligent in its pursuit of justice in this case.

We call on all elected leaders to renew calls for justice regarding this horrifying episode. The investigation must be thorough, but also timely, so as to deliver real justice in light of such horrible violence.