Attorney General Tyler Sandro’s department has not officially announced that it has removed Colin May as head of the commission. Instead, he emailed the media late Thursday afternoon without comment a copy of the official cabinet decision canceling May’s job. The Cabinet decision contained no reasons for the decision or comment from Shandro. Earlier this week, Sandro publicly urged May to resign after a Muslim advocacy group said May had failed to keep her promise to meet with them over comments in a book review she wrote in 2009 that they considered Islamophobic. May refused to resign and instead hired a lawyer who announced earlier Thursday that May had done nothing wrong. “My client, the first openly gay head of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, will not be resigning his position,” lawyer Kathryn Marshall said in a statement. “The various public allegations that have been made about my client are false. “My client has been targeted by politically motivated individuals and groups who are peddling a misleading interpretation of a book review he wrote 13 years ago.” The statement did not explain which groups are targeting May or why May’s sexual orientation is relevant. Opposition NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir said Sandro did the right thing. “I am pleased that Mr May has stepped down from this position and I encourage Minister Shandro to be more careful and diligent in finding a replacement,” Sabir said in a statement. May came under fire even before Sandro appointed him head of the committee in July. At the time, critics pointed to criticism of the 2009 book, saying it raised concerns that he was Islamophobic and therefore unfit to serve as head of the commission dedicated to making sure Albertans don’t face discrimination. May responded in a statement on July 7, strongly rejecting the allegations. He promised to meet with Alberta Muslim leaders and “commit to continuing my personal education about Islam and all faiths.” Things came to a head on Monday when the National Council of Canadian Muslims published an open letter accusing May of failing to meet despite repeated attempts to contact him. The organization gathered endorsements from 28 Muslim community groups calling on Shandro to direct May to resign. Hours later that day, Shandro’s office issued a statement: “Minister Shandro has sought an explanation from Mr May (about the NCCM criticism). “After considering the explanation, Minister Shandro has called for Mr May’s resignation.” The statement did not elaborate on the conversation or what specifically sparked the call for resignations. Said Omar, a spokesman for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, declined to comment on May’s reversal of the appointment. May, a Calgary-based lawyer, was appointed to the Human Rights Commission in 2019. In past years, he has contributed articles to the C2C Journal, an online and print publication focused on political, cultural and economic issues. In June 2009, he reviewed Efraim Karsh’s book Islamic Imperialism: A History, which examines the forces and cultural attitudes that have shaped the religion. In one part of the review, May notes that the book argues that “Islam is not a peaceful religion abused by radicals. On the contrary, it is one of the most militaristic religions known to man, and it is precisely this militaristic legacy that informs the actions of radicals throughout the Muslim world.” The National Council of Canadian Muslims has focused on this paragraph in its criticism, calling it a “shocking” and stigmatizing stereotype. May, and the authors of his article, responded. May, in his statement on July 7, said: “I want to state clearly that I do not believe or accept the characterization of Islam as a militant religion or movement.” C2C Journal editors George Koch and Peter Sean Taylor, in a rebuttal posted on its website in July, said May made it clear that it was the book’s author’s view, not his own. “Whether a reviewer agrees or disagrees with an author’s position, he or she has a duty to convey the book’s position in good faith,” the editors wrote. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 15, 2022
