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While it is widely acknowledged that Canadian Muslims are targeted at airports and borders, few studies have focused on their actual experiences of state surveillance practices. Moreover, little attention has been paid to how these experiences impact and shape identity formation and their understanding of citizenship. To address this gap, we conducted 50 in-depth interviews with young Canadian Muslims living in Vancouver and Toronto. Our interviewees referred to being repeatedly stopped, questioned, detained, and harassed by security personnel. They felt that any evidence of their Muslim identity -name, country of birth, appearance, or clothing -makes them a target for extra surveillance, resulting in heightened fears about being stripped of their rights and a lack of ability to assert their religious identities. This paper explores the implications of racialized border practices on identity formation and citizenship depletion among Muslim Canadians.

Abstract:In recent years, claims that multiculturalism has created segregated communities, encouraged terrorism, and failed to foster shared national identities in western nations have gained popularity. In this paper, we use young Canadian Muslims' lived experience of multiculturalism to reflect on this debate. Contrary to popular rhetoric, our interviews of 50 young Muslim adults show that many maintain a dual Canadian-Muslim identity by utilizing the ideology of multiculturalism, even though they are increasingly stigmatized for their religion. These findings lead us to problematize the discourse surrounding the 'failure' of multiculturalism and to highlight the contradictions within it.

Despite the increasing use of no-fly lists in countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, their impact has not been explored in academic research. In a bid to fill this gap, we conducted 70 in-depth interviews with Muslim community leaders to explore Canadian Muslims’ experience of the no-fly list. We find the Canadian no-fly list targets Muslim communities, restricts mobility, separates individuals from family and friends, diminishes professional and economic opportunities, and stigmatizes those labelled a security risk. Drawing on the preventive security literature and critical race studies of counter-terrorism, this research demonstrates how no-fly lists erode fundamental aspects of justice, and reproduce racial hierarchies.