MPP wants Ontario legislature to hold its own debate on Islamophobia

The furor in the House of Commons over a motion condemning Islamophobia is prompting a similar debate in the Ontario legislature next week.

Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers sent a letter to other members on Friday asking that they support a motion that she intends to introduce next Thursday.

It calls for the House to condemn all forms of Islamophobia.

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"I believe that hate crimes have no place in Canadian society," she writes in the letter.

A similar motion debated in the House of Commons this week sparked some responses from some members of the public that were sexually demeaning and contained racial slurs.

They were directed at both the Ontario MP who originated the motion and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly who added her support to the measure.

Des Rosiers said the reaction to the federal debate prompted her to ask the government House leader to allow her to make her motion in the legislature next week.

"I believe that Islamophobia needs to be addressed head on as we have seen too many acts of hatred and violence, most recently the mass shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City, where six Canadians of Muslim faith were killed and 19 injured."