The Canadian Islamic Congress is calling on provincial education ministers to make education about world religions compulsory in all of Canada's public and private schools.
"Sept. 11 shows that we need to understand religion," said Mohamed Elmasry, president of the congress.
"We are trying to turn the bad experience of Sept. 11 into something [good] that will impact all of Canada," he said.
Mr. Elmasry and other congress officials will raise the idea in a meeting with Mike Harris, the Ontario Premier, today and are sending letters to all provincial and territorial education ministers as part of what they call Operation Knowing Me, Knowing You -- There Is Nothing We Can't Do. That is a line borrowed from a song by ABBA, the Swedish pop group, and Mr. Elmasry said it is an attractive way of summing up the campaign to better inform Canadians about the faith of their neighbours.
He said Islam is a religion practised by 650,000 Canadians, more than half of whom were born here. "Yet it is almost certainly the least understood religion."
In its letter to education ministers, the congress says "90% of Canadian students attend public schools where there is no required religious teaching. The rest attend faith-based parochial or private schools where they are taught mainly about one religion.
"We must educate all our children about the faith, religion, morals and ethics practised by their fellow Canadians. Such knowledge is the surest weapon of all in combatting the tragic effects of systemic ignorance, which in turn lead to prejudice, discrimination, racism and bigotry," the congress letter said.
Ontario's 35-page guideline on religious education says courses are essential because "religion is one of the cornerstones of human identity" and is essential for promoting tolerance in an increasingly multicultural province.
The guidelines say elementary schools may provide up to 60 minutes per week of education on religion, and secondary schools may offer optional world religion courses.
The Islamic congress urges education officials to make it mandatory for public, private and parochial schools to offer a Grade 11 world religion course, and introduce a preliminary multi-faith religion course at the elementary or middle-school level. These courses should also include ethics and morality, and "recognize that people who happen not to believe in God are still good citizens and propagate good morals," Mr. Elmasry said.
The congress will urge the federal government to make money available to provide qualified teachers, and suggests that faith groups be directly involved in development of the curriculum for religion courses.
Mr. Elmasry says Canadian mosques, synagogues, temples and churches welcome visits by those who want to learn. "Most of the people around the world long for that chance, and we have it in Canada."
In an attempt to remedy Canadian ignorance about Islam, Mr. Elmasry and other Canadian Muslim leaders have given many public talks on Islam since Sept. 11. The Canadian Islamic Congress has also created a special fund to buy books on Islam for Canadian universities and colleges.