Islamophobia in Canada

Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate can be defined as systematic hostility toward people who are or appear to be Muslim, or toward the religion of Islam. In Canada, this hostility has been manifested in a growing number of acts of discrimination and attacks against people associated with the Muslim community. Although the generalized use of the term Islamophobia to refer to this phenomenon is recent, Islamophobia as a lived reality is not. After Christianity, Islam is the religion with the second largest number of adherents in Canada. In 2011, 3.2 per cent of the people in Canada identified themselves as Muslim.