Not Evan Balgord’s journalist’s guide to reporting on the anti-Islam/anti-Muslim movement in Canada

Toronto journalist Evan Balgord, who writes primarily for “media criticism” site CanadaLand, asked for help from antifa in “writing a guide to reporting on the anti-Islam/anti-Muslim movement in Canada.” (He didn’t ask for help from right-wing groups.)

I’ve decided to write Balgord’s guide for him.

If you’re a left-wing or Toronto or downtown-progressive journalist (tautological), you, like Balgord, are convinced that right-wing assholes in Canada aren’t just swarming the country but are an active threat to the group you don’t belong to but feel most protective of, transgenders Muslims.

Expanding from Balgord’s brief a little, here, then, is the progressive journalist’s guide to writing about right-wing assholes and antifa in Canada.

It’s all about you.

You’ll pretend the anti-Muslim threat exists, is huge, and is growing

It isn’t.

There were 1,053,945 Muslims in Canada as of the 2011 census.

There were 1,053,945 Muslims in Canada as of the 2011 census.

A “hate crime” isn’t a hate crime unless and until a court issues a finding saying so. All that Statistics Canada tracks are reports to police of so-called hate crimes, and in 2015 there were only 1,362 of those all told.