The Terrorization of Muslim Canadians in a Post-9/11 Era: A Critical Analysis of Racial Profiling, Self-Identity and Surveillance

Canada has been praised for its multicultural approach towards their policies and procedures regarding immigrants through its politized involvement with introducing multicultural literature in our constitution. However, the implementation of these policies and procedures questions the authenticity of these multicultural initiatives in relation to the overall security detainment, racial profiling and discrimination faced by Muslim Canadians in a post-9/11 era. The commoditization of immigrant practices prioritizing the coercive white social order needs to be addressed in relation to the inherent incline of religious and ethnical hierarchy that displaces those minority classifications. Specifically concerning the entrenched cleansing of Muslim bodies within a post-9/11 era, it is imperative to conceptualize the deliberate denigration and vilification of Muslim characteristics and practices as a means of augmenting existing surveillance practices. This paper explores into the terrorization of Canadian Muslim’s race relations, identities and policing bodies in a post-9/11 era and their impacts on socio-economic relations of Canadian Muslims. Previous research has suggested that these security-based policies and procedures are the foundation of obscuring Muslim identities and furthermore forcing assimilation that highlights the preferential treatment of the white majority over the terrorist ‘other’. Introducing the idea of reactive identity formation and identity concealment provides a robust approach in attempting to introduce literature and framework for combating racial profiling and the policing and surveillance of Muslim bodies through breaking down negative stereotypes manipulated into fear-mongering media and introducing the integration of Muslim literature in everyday practices. Keywords: Muslim identity, 9/11 effects, multiculturalism, racial profiling, terroris