At gala, Canadian MP demeaned Muslim Palestine advocate and academic
On the left - a poster for the 2024 edition of the One Love Gala, featuring Dr. Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui as keynote speaker. On the right - A photo of MP Rob Oliphant, shared on his LinkedIn.
Written by: Aidan Jonah
Footage released by Palestinian-Canadian activist Ghada Sasa shows a Canadian MP, Rob Oliphant, being confronted by Palestine solidarity activists and a professor of sociology and criminology, Dr. Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui. But there were multiple reasons behind the confrontations.
Oliphant and Ahmed Manasra
Oliphant, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was giving out the Ghulam Sajan Humanitarian award at the One Love Gala for prison justice in Canada on February 9, 2024. Oliphant was also a former prison chaplain who in 2013, as an MP, advocated against then-PM Stephen Harper’s move to privatize prison chaplaincy. Oliphant had been speaking at the One Love Gala for years, after connecting with Habeeb Alli, a gala organizer who serves on the One Love Family Services board, during Oliphant’s opposition to Harper’s privatization efforts. As Oliphant was giving out the aforementioned award, Sasa confronted him.
Oliphant was the MP responsible for preparing a response to Sasa’s petition to Canada’s parliament, which had called for Canada to demand the release of Ahmad Manasra, who was arrested by Israel on false grounds as a 13-year-old child, tortured, and is still being imprisoned to this day. Oliphant’s response did not mention Manasra’s name, nor indicate willingness to take any action to call for Manasra’s release.
The failure to act for Manasra’s release and the Canadian government’s support to Israel’s genocide against Palestine were fiercely criticized by Sasa, with no response coming from Oliphant.
Sasa and other activists accompanying her would refuse to watch the rest of Oliphant’s speech, and leave. But then, Professor Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui rose, and revealed that Oliphant had been engaging in problematic behaviour during the event.
A professor demeaned and insulted by MP Oliphant
Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui, speaking with The Canada Files, said Oliphant’s poor conduct began soon after an event organizer introduced her to Oliphant as a well-respected member of the community. She says Oliphant’s response to the introduction and knowledge of her being a professor – “good for you” – was said in a patronizing and dismissive manner. She said Oliphant’s further question – if she was tenured – was posited in a similar manner, a feeling exacerbated by tenure not being a factor for Canadian college professors.
Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui’s speech, which was the gala’s keynote speech, criticized Canada’s justice system for upholding the colonial nature of the state it serves, and spoke both about the case of Ahmed Manasra, and her own brother’s case.
According to Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui, during her speech Oliphant was, according to her, “obsessively googling” to understand who she was – “squirming and looking”. After her speech, he said to another attendee that “she [Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui] is a dangerous one”. Then he continued, saying that “Oh she [Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui] is not a real professor, she works at a community college”, going on to also ask if she was tenured.
Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui said she challenged Oliphant in a one-on-one manner afterwards. When Oliphant told her that “there’s no such thing as crime being a social construct… murder is murder”, Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui took the opportunity to ask, “does that include the murder of 30,000 Palestinian civilians”, prompting Oliphant to say, “I don’t play those games”.
When she referenced Oliphant’s “dangerous one” comment, Oliphant commented derisively: “ego and arrogance are dangerous”.
An activist who attended the gala, Faudia Baksh, mentioned an additional comment made by Oliphant, not caught by Ghaffar-Siddiqui, where he called her a “pseudoscientist”. The comment wasn’t mentioned since Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui hadn’t heard it.
After Sasa confronted Oliphant during his speech, Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui did as well, telling the audience about Oliphant’s behaviour, prompting anger from the crowd. When confronted, Oliphant only denied directly saying that Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui had displayed ego and arrogance, not denying any other comments he’d made to her.
Baksh asked the organizers to remove Oliphant from the stage. There’s dueling versions of what came next.
Faudia said that even when the Master of Ceremonies (MC) asked Oliphant to give the microphone back, he refused by telling the MC that they could just wait for things to calm down. Faudia shared a clip from Instagram with The Canada Files, to support her statement.
However, Habeeb Alli, who was seen in the clip Baksh shared, alternatively said he was okay for Oliphant to hold onto the microphone while the disruption occurred, and was looking for the event to proceed because inmates at halfway houses who attended the gala had to be back before their curfew time.
Baksh said soon afterwards, her daughter came up onto the stage to confront Oliphant and tell him he should leave. Baksh saw Oliphant leaving the event with security.
Alli said to The Canada Files that the gala organizing board would be more ‘insightful’ in having politicians speak at the gala after this, but couldn’t confirm whether or not Oliphant would be speaking next year.
Alli said he thinks that Sasa and Ghaffar-Siddiqui’s confrontations of Oliphant pushed Oliphant into taking a ‘stronger’ stance on Palestine, that ‘leaked’ out in an article by CBC News reporter Evan Dyer. But Sasa and Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui have said on social media that they believe this new ‘stance’ came because Oliphant’s actions during the gala were being discussed on social media.
Oliphant demeaned pro-Palestine constituents
On social media, Sasa shared footage of an individual with Palestinian heritage confronting Oliphant for the Canadian government’s stand on South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses them of committing genocide. Oliphant called fellow Liberal MPs Salma Zahid and Iqra Khalid “arrogant” for supporting South Africa’s case, and later apologized for this comment.
In the footage, Oliphant claimed that Hamas (ie. the Palestinian Resistance) was responsible for all of the-then 23,000 (now more than 30,000) Palestinian civilian deaths because of the October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and also claimed that the resistance was using Palestinians as human shields.
Oliphant said he’d spoken to Palestinians, saying “I know many Palestinians and have had many conversations with Palestinians”, but when asked what they wanted Oliphant to do, he told the constituent “that’s none of your business.” After the constituent told Oliphant they have Palestinian heritage, he simply continued to speak about knowing Palestinians and told them that everybody has an opinion.
But this constituent isn’t the only one to get demeaned by Oliphant. On social media, Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam - CEO of Composites Infrastructure Innovation Solutions Corporation, a PhD holder, a Certified Professional Structural Engineer, College Professor and former Toronto Mayoral Candidate - accused MP Oliphant of saying she hadn’t “earned the privilege” to run for Mayor of Toronto and that her name would be "in the mud" as a result, when she told him about her candidacy plans back in 2023. Dr. Abdulsalam then says Liberal organizers and activists coalesced around two candidates favoured by the Liberals: Ana Bailão and Mitzie Hunter.
This wasn’t the first issue Dr. Abdulsalam had with Oliphant. On January 15, 2023, Dr. Abdulsalam received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Award for her contributions to her local community, having been nominated by Oliphant, for whom she’d been a consistent Liberal party campaign volunteer over the years. But, despite every other individual receiving the award having their profession, degrees and community contributions mentioned, and Oliphant having known her for years, Dr. Abdulsalam says she only saw her name and community work mentioned – something she sees as a major slight to this day.
Dr. Abdulsalam shares Sasa and Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui’s suspicion about Oliphant’s supposed new ‘bravery’ on Palestine, in support of UNRWA, given how soon it came after Oliphant’s gala actions. Sasa and Abdulsalam both said they see a trend: that Muslim women have been demeaned repeatedly by Oliphant.
Other cases, of individuals who are staying anonymous, but have made accusations against Oliphant, have been shared by Sasa and Dr. Ghaffar-Siddiqui on social media.
When reached out to for comment by The Canada Files, MP Rob Oliphant did not reply.
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Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.
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