Sandro’s department did not officially announce that it had removed 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 position as head and committee member. The Cabinet decision contained no reasons for the decision or comment from Shandro. The move comes after May’s newly hired legal representation tweeted that she would not be resigning. Calls for May’s resignation came after questions were raised recently about words she wrote about Islam in a 2009 book review. Sandro called for May’s resignation on Monday after the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and 27 other community associations sent a letter to the justice minister. Story continues below ad May was appointed to a five-year term as head of the Alberta Human Rights Commission by Shandro in July after serving as a member since 2019.

		Read more: Alberta human rights commission chief asked to resign over Islamophobic comments 		
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			Alberta Human Rights Commission chief asked to resign over Islamophobic comments

May’s review of Israeli-British historian Efraim Karsh’s book Islamic Imperialism: A History in the C2C Journal resurfaced in July after several members of the community raised their concerns with the NCCM. Independent news outlet The Progress Report also wrote about the comments in July. In the review, May called the religion “militaristic” in nature. Trending Stories

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Since then, the NCCM said it has tried to work with May on several occasions to try to reconcile and build trust with Muslim communities. When May did not follow through as agreed, it prompted the NCCM to call for his resignation.

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May has said he does not hold anti-Islamic views, and the review’s editors said the essay made it clear that the offensive comments were the views of the book’s author, not May’s. May hired Toronto-based lawyer Kathryn Marshall, who tweeted Thursday morning that she would not resign. Story continues below ad “My client, the first openly gay head of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, will not resign his position,” Marshall said in a statement emailed to Global News. “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.”

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Opposition NDP justice critic Irfan Shabir said it was “completely unacceptable” that the chair of the human rights commission had what he described as Islamophobic views. “Tyler Sandro must have known about Colin May’s abhorrent views when he appointed him to the committee and when he appointed him chairman,” Shabir said in a statement after May was removed. “I am pleased that Mr May has been removed from this position and I encourage Minister Shandro to be more careful and diligent in finding a replacement.”

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The NCCM declined Global News’ request for comment, saying it is not releasing a statement or doing interviews at this time. Story continues below ad “We are currently monitoring new developments and want to make sure we have all the information before we do any interviews,” said Said Omar, NCCM’s Alberta advocacy manager. —With files from Adam Toy, Global News and The Canadian Press © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.