The federal government plans to get rid of two key offices combatting religious discrimination, merging them into a single Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion.
The Offices of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism will both be abolished.
“It’s about folding in those two positions into a new committee on national unity and advisory committee on rights, equity and inclusion,” Identity Minister Marc Miller told journalists on Parliament Hill Wednesday afternoon.
He said both offices played important roles in identifying issues that have sown division in the country.
“Now it’s about taking the next step into a national unity committee,” he said.
Replacing offices combatting Islamophobia, antisemitism ‘the next step’ to new advisory council: Miller
“This is not about a cost-saving operation,” he said.
The Toronto Star first reported news of the abolitions.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) issued a statement criticizing the government’s shuttering of the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.
“The Canadian Muslim community deserves sustained and dedicated leadership,” the NCCM said in a statement.
It said it will continue the work of fighting Islamophobia and will ensure the new advisory council’s work reflects that.
The NCCM also said it is concerned by the dissolution of the Office on Combatting Antisemitism.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) also said it will be keeping an eye on the new council. CIJA’s CEO, Noah Shack, said in a statement that antisemitism and extremism continue “to surge across the country.”
Shack said his organization expects to see leadership from the federal government in working with other jurisdictions, adding it is “crucial” for the council to “achieve meaningful outcomes in combatting the unprecedented wave of antisemitism and extremism in Canada.”
The NCCM had lobbied for the creation of a special representative on combatting Islamophobia, especially in the wake of the killings of the Afzaal family in London, Ont., in 2021.
Amira Elghawaby was appointed as the first representative to the government’s special office for fighting Islamophobia in January 2023.
Her tenure started with controversy over an opinion piece she had co-authored in 2019, criticizing the Quebec government for its secularism legislation that bans public sector workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols at work. The Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois and Quebec’s National Assembly have called for her to step down over the years.
The Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism’s office is currently unstaffed after the previous envoy, Deborah Lyons, stepped down in July 2025, four months before the end of her term. At the time, she provided no reason for her departure but said she is leaving “with a heavy heart” and deep disappointment, while also pointing to some achievements on improving understanding of anti-Jewish hate.
“It was troubling in the last few years to see our lack of patience, lack of tolerance and inability to reach out across the gulf to one another,” she wrote.
In its own statement at the time, the Heritage Department said Lyons was stepping down to spend more time with her family, and that her replacement would be appointed “in due course.”
In a statement Wednesday, the department said “the composition of the advisory council will be announced at a later date.”
In its own statement, the Bloc lauded the abolition of both posts and their replacement by the council, saying a better approach is needed to fight racism.
