The Social Construction of Muslim Minority Groups in Canada

The 9/11 terrorists attacks in the United States created tension between majority population and Muslim minority groups in Canada. Canadian print media discourse played a significant role in constructing negative images of Muslims as folk devils and fueled the situation of moral panics in Canadian society. The 9/11 incident spawned a culture of fear and sense of alienation among the Muslim minority groups in Canada. This study does not claim that Muslims are not involved in any terrorist acts around the world, but insists that a handful of bad people cannot represent the whole Muslim world. The media presented Canadian Muslims as potential threat to the norms and values of Canadian society based on their racial and religious similarities to those who carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Growing trends of racism, stereotyping of Muslims, religiously motivated hate crimes, gender discrimination, and Islamophobia were observed in Canadian society soon after the 9/11 incident.