On February 9th, 2024 Senator Percy Downe of PEI posted segments of an exchange he had with Senator Marc Gold, regarding security checks on international students. In this exchange, Senator Downe made multiple blatantly racist and Islamophobic comments, using dog whistles to paint international students as security threats, and then specifically target Palestinian students from Gaza, a population currently experiencing a genocide.
Senator Downe’s use of inflammatory language and racist dog whistles reveal him to be racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic. He CANNOT represent us with any integrity and we have no trust in him.
Therefore, we, BIPOC USHR, demand that
- Senator Downe immediately resign from his position; and
- Senator Downe issue a detailed public apology, including an explanation as to why his line of questioning was racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic, and what steps he will be taking to fill the large gaps in his knowledge regarding racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia
Senator Downe states: “The Canadian Border Services Agency has reported that criminal gangs are using student visas to import hundreds of gang members, people who never intended to go to school in our country. In P.E.I. there have been cases where international students have sexually assaulted students.” (emphasis ours)
This, unfortunately, is not the first time he’s expressed deep xenophobia toward international students.
First, the CBSA investigation was from 2020, a year in which there were 527,365 international students in Canada. Of those 300 were investigated, and only 10 were found to be involved in criminal activity as of last year. If you calculate that percentage, it is clear that people obtaining fraudulent student visas to commit crimes in Canada is not a serious security threat, unless you’re scared of Black and brown people and want to exploit this fear to limit immigration.
Second, anyone who works in sexual violence response and prevention knows that sexual violence is unfortunately a common phenomenon all across Canada and in all communities. However, to suggest that Black and brown international students are more likely to instigate it, relies on an incredibly old racist trope that paints Black, brown, Indigenous, and Muslim men as hypersexual and exceptionally lascivious, an accusation used by European colonizers for centuries to justify their brutality toward the colonized. Suggesting that international students are more likely to commit sexual violence is simply vile white supremacist garbage.
Downe then continues to state that “Islanders are concerned about terrorists coming to our country, given the terrible, savage crimes committed by Hamas against the citizens of Israel. Given the lack of security checks on international students, what checks will be conducted on individuals coming from Gaza?”
First, many have written about the history of the region highlighting that the current war on Gaza did not begin on October 7th with Hamas’ actions, but began 75-100 years ago with the colonization of Palestinians land that resulted in the expulsion and extermination of the Palestinian people from the land they had called home for generations upon generations upon generations, also referred to as the Nakba. Go to our website to learn more about this context, the history of Palestine, and the beautiful Palestinian people.
Second, the term “savage” is a racist term that white colonizers have used against Black, brown, and Indigenous peoples for centuries. To use it against Palestinians, an Indigenous population, can only be labeled as racist.
Third, it is important to remember, that “terrorism” itself is a label so often misapplied to Muslim, Black, and Indigenous peoples, by white supremacist power structures, that it has lost its meaning when used against racialized peoples. After all, Nelson Mandela was labelled a terrorist by the US until 2008 and Hamas is not viewed as a terrorist group by most of the Global South.
White supremacy always views Black, Indigenous, and Muslim peoples as security threats. Black people are viewed as a threat to white safety, Indigenous people to white sense of entitlement to stolen land, and Muslims to white people’s sense of national security. The racist fear mongering from Senator Downe is not only vile, it is an old white supremacist tradition dating back hundreds of years. How are we ever expected to become an anti-racist society if people still believe these lies? However, racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic fear mongering has grave consequences for the safety of racialized peoples, which white people rarely seem to be concerned with.
Today, as the people of Gaza experience a genocide, to hear Senator Downe smear them with such vile and hostile Islamophobic rhetoric issimply cruel. For anyone who has been watching this genocide happening, live, on our phones via social media, the anguish, suffering, and terror people in Gaza are experiencing is earth shattering. The children taking their last breaths, the sobbing and wailing parents holding the bodies of their dead babies, the newly orphaned children crying out for their dead mothers, the elderly grandparents barely shaking with trauma, the young men digging through the rubble with their bare hands to save whoever they can, and on an on. The people of Palestine have experienced 100 years of war waged against them, 75 years of European colonization and its accompanying ethnic cleansing and genocide, 56 years of brutality and countless massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces, violent occupation, decades of apartheid, and now four months of a gruesome genocide. Gaza is a concentration camp, and yet white supremacy and Islamophobia deny them their right to be recognized as victims, and can only see them as “terrorists” and a “threat” to white sense of safety, because white sense of safety is the only safety that counts in a white supremacist world. Only white people have the right to FEEL safe while Black, brown, Indigenous, and Muslim people have no right to actually BE safe.
Due to the gross dehumanization of Gazans, and international students, Senator Downe must step down.
BIPOC USHR
Additional signatories
- Nora MacPhee, PEI resident
- Kal Ross
- Lucky Fusca, Executive director, PEI Transgender Network
- Jill MacIntyre, Climate justice organizer
- Charlottetown Mutual Aid
- Sarah Tamula, PEI resident
- Tegan Hermanson
- Rebecca Ford, Owner, Now and Then Event Services
- Mikayla Gallant
- Alison DesRoches
- Nicole St. Denis
- Avery Alexandria
- Al Kelly
- Kendi Tarichia, Artist, Creative PEI
- Rachel Adams
- Hannah Elizabeth Bell, Citizen, Self employed business consultant
- AinZ Kendrick
- Wade Beaton
- Shannon
- Zain Esseghaier
- Jaclyn Borden
- Jo-Ann Esseghaier
- Menna Elmoslemany
- Cassandra Leblanc
- Candace Hagen
- Tristan Gray
- Eberechi Okwuwolu
- Kaelyn Mercer
- Walaa Nasry, PhD student, AVC
- Angela Farmer
- Melanie Hutchins, Master’s student, UPEI
- Fairouz Gaballa, Coordinator – Scholarships, Awards, and Financial Aid Office, UPEI
- Nelson Snow
- Dempsey Perry, Constituent
- John Underhay, Retired
- Andrew Trivett, Associate professor, UPEI
- Emma Campanaro
- Kelly Robinson
- Kaitlyn Isaacs
- Dylan McIntyre
- Anna Keenan
- Roula, Student at University of Prince Edward Island
- Natasha McKenna
- PEI 4 Palestine
- Alanna West
- Danielle White
- Noah MacDougall
- Maggie Finkle-Aucoin
- Lyndsey Paynter
- Sarah Dennis
- Erin MacDonald
- Jodi MacPhee
- Ferne MacEwen
- John Frederick Cox, Painter, John Cox studio & www.TallPines.ca
- Victoria Keefe
- Raneem Subh
- Michelle Neill, Leader, Island New Democrats
- Thao Nguyen
- Judith Logan Junop, Very concerned citizen
- Kerry Salmon
- Parker Snow
- Annie MacEachern
- Katie Shaw
- Harriet Huestis
- Kari Kruse
- Marli Trecartin
- Cory Pater
- Roseanne Gauthier
- Marian White, Leo Broderick, Phil Callaghan, members, Island Peace Committee
- Abdul Razack
- Jo Cain
- Sophia Saad
- Sahib Singh, Student, UPEI
- Micheline Steele
- Daniele Kendall
- Sarah Bulman
- Jessica Chaisson
- Jo Morrison
- Sacha Luttermann
- Via Reyes
- Khadija Ghanam
- lauralynn shaefer
- Conor Mullin
- Dan Bevan-Baker
- Carrie Snow
- Selina Porter
- Hugh Walker
- Mackenzie Campbell
- Cordell Wells
- Jennifer O’Brien, Islanders Protecting Animals
- John Burhoe, Private citizen
- Charlene Wight
- Megan MacKenzie
- Michael Sciascia
- Erin Ferguson
- Tatiana Ibáñez
- Malak Nassar
- Helaina Lalande
- Thierry Allemann, IT Contractor, Greater Restoration
- Annick Mondat Allemann, Executive director, Actions Femmes IPÉ
- Hadil Haddad
- Tara-Lynn Rioux
- Fiona Cashell
- Tom Gammons
- Wrenn Mehlitz, Diversity and Social Justice Student, University of Prince Edward Island
- Alanna MacNevin
- Wasan Yacoub
- Erin Gillespie
- Daniel Ohaegbu, Executive director, Atlantic Student Development Alliance
- Cameron Cassidy, Executive director, Pride PEI
- Ayaz Imtiaz
- Abby Miller
- Clover Gallant
- Quinn Gallant
- Benjamin Gallant
- Amy Mckie
- Ashley Clark
- Nicole Wadden Garland, Manager, Accessibility Services, University of Prince Edward Island
- Julia Brown
- Nolan Kressin, Student
- Patricia MacAulay
- Edith Perry, Resident
- Stephen Murray
- Alex Taylor
- J Lorch
- Amy Carver
- University of Prince Edward Island Student Union
- Leena Daboo
- Divya Daboo, UPEI International student
- Jaclyn Borden, Secretary, Atlantic Association of College and University Student Affairs (AACUSS)
- Lawrence Millar, PEI resident (Cardigan Riding), Council of Canadians Charlottetown Chapter
- Teena Marie Fancey, Citizen
- Zoey Mossman
- Omair Imtiaz, Community member Belfast, PE
- Amanda Rae Gallant, Activity Coordinator, St. Paul’s Anglican Church
- Lorne Duplessis
- Penelope Gallant
- Calder Gathankathala
- Virginia Reddin
- Ray Ghiasudeen
- Antoinette van Kouteren
- Mary Cowper-Smith
- Hannah, Student, UPEI
- Ellen Mullally, PEI Resident
- Berry Genge
- Nour olett
- Rhea Gallant
- Tabea Gyr, Student, UPEI
- Nadin Subeh
- Rosa F.W. Thompson, Senator Downe must resign for his genocidal beliefs and bigoted statements.
- John MacKenzie, Prince Edward Island resident, private citizen
- Chelsey VanKeymeulen
- Lauren King
- UPEI Engineers Without Borders Chapter
- Heather MacEwen, Resident
- Liliana Dupuis, Senator Downe immediately resign from his position; and Senator Downe issue a detailed public apology, including an explanation as to why his line of questioning was racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic, and what steps he will be taking to fill the large gaps in his knowledge regarding racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia
- Josh Dixon
- Andrea MacPherson
- Adrienne Montgomery
- Ali Jones, MSW
- Riz Ali
- Dane Sheets
- Tamina Doyle
- Angela Douglas
- Angela Barrett
- Kegan Bradley, PEI Resident
- Ellen Macphail
- Nia Stokes
- Charlotte Sullivan
- Maria Tarenta
- Lindsay Dunphy
- Jimmy Hulton
- Ethan Drake, EDI Commissioner, UPEI Engineering Society
- Sarah Outram
- Adiel Ngabo Rutabana
- Jason Buote
- Hammad Ahmed
- Alicia Bowering, Student, UPEI
- Amin Abomonasar
- Michelle Jay
- Amira Alkumaim
- Rosalind Waters
- Mariam Esseghaier
- Tahir Rafiq
- Amelia Lockert, Charlottetown Resident
- Zahrah Purahoo, Island Abbey Nutritionals
- Nida Ashraf, Mentor, Holland College
- Rosina, Demand his resignation. People with such mentality should not hold prestige positions
- Trevor Clements, Poet, Drummer, Educator, Counseling Student, & Private Citizen, Trevor Lowell Clements & the Barn Cat Poetry Beat
- Zakiya, Esthetician
- Mahmoud Elmoslemany, Student, University of Prince Edward Island, President of UPEI Muslim Student Association
- Jillian Kilfoil
- Ibra Younis, Student
- Josie robinson
- Humphrey K Muthoni
- Alexa
- Cynthia Dennis
- Bayan
- Omar Shokr
- alexis bulman, artist
- Emmanuelle Billaux
- Ryan MacRae
- Heather Spetifore, Registered Social Worker
- Audrey-Anne Landry
- Joce Reyome
- Jocelyn Fraser
- Laura Oakie
- Leah Gauthier
- Grace Gibson
- Brandon Howard Roy
- Hugh
- Brett Roche, Teacher, PSB
- Arjun Kundu, Student, University of Prince Edward Island
- Jessie Gould
- Christien Deveau
- Ryan Neumeyer
- Arian Abolhassani
- Irene Doyle, Islander living in Charlottetown
- Joe Byrne
- Josh Carter, Musician
- Eliza MacLauchlan
- Yoan Rousseau, Bilingual employer outreach officer, PEI Office of Immigration
- Leia McMillan, UPEI Diversity and Social Justice Student,
- Cooper Institute
- Ashton Casey
- Katie Pound, Student, UPEI
- Josie Baker, Executive Director, PEERS Alliance
- Hannah Bulman, Tattooer/Artist, Pokey Rae Hand Poked Tattoos
- Farida Dabbit
- Laura Reyes Castillo, Support Services Manager, Carleton Kirk Lodge
- Sophia Nicholson
- Rachel Bartlett
- Lauren Smith
- Dana Chatterjee
- Christine Clements
- Danielle Burke
- Mohamed Eldeeb
- Milla MacVicar
- Cooper Institute
- Ann Wheatley
- Ryl
- Muslim Society of PEI
- Rowan Scott
- Yehan
- William Craine
- Oliver Chaffey, Student, UPEI
- York Elmer Tumen, Political Intern, House Of Lords
- Hannah Faye MacLean
- Rahaf
- Sarah Freeburn
- Lucas MacCormack
- Anje khalil
- UPEI Engineering Society
- Youssef ahmed, Student, UPEI
- T Khan
If you, or your organization, would like to sign on, please follow this link to our Google Form and leave your information. It will be added to this letter.
https://forms.gle/CN3NqjPr9tVr6n3Y8
As Senator Downe has removed the tweet in question, please see this screenshot of it.
