Islamic Party of Ontario founder offered Wynne his support if she changed her sexuality

The founder of the Islamic Party of Ontario Jawed Anwar, published a letter in 2013 openly urging the then, recently elected Premier of Ontario to find a "change of heart and soul", by becoming ... heterosexual.

Perhaps most bizarrely, the letter states that Mr. Anwar would gladly become a devout Liberal if Kathleen Wynne actually switched her sexual orientation. All this while making a derogatory statement about fellow Muslims.

Ms. Kathleen Wynne! I pray for you for the change of heart and soul. If you change yourself, you will find me your biggest supporter, a full-time volunteer without asking any worldly reward in return. I am not looking for any job in your constituency and Queens Park office as are most of your “Muslim” supporters.  - Jawed Anwar

You can view the full letter by clicking here.

Now this bizarre letter was sent well before the reservation of the party's name with Elections Ontario, and more than six years before its founding.

In that time quite a bit has happened, including the party founder speaking once at a rally for Doug Ford, where he described Liberalism as a philosophy which erases God from all aspects of life.

As well as the launching of the Ontario Islamic Party's platform where multiple times it is stated that marriage is explicitly between a man and a woman and not and "Adam and Steve".

While this mess may seem funny, or like an opportunity for some like Michael Coren in his piece titled "Some parties matter. The Islamic Party of Ontario doesn’t", to attack the right, by including comparisons to the Christian Heritage Party, for most Canadian Muslims it is only infuriating.

Michael notes in his writing that "Christian Heritage Party has existed for more than 30 years, opposes abortion, euthanasia, and equal marriage, wants to eliminate secular education and to introduce “biblical values” into Canada".

While Michael does make an interesting point when it comes to the importance of equality, he seemingly fails to comprehend the clear difference between an organization which has aged along Canadian culture, and a bombastic startup with serious potential to cause social unrest due to its sheer inability to understand our national norms.

Could you ever imagine the current leader of the Christian Heritage party openly asking a Premier to change their sexuality? Or to find multiple references to "Adam and Steve", trivializing what should be a serious debate to devout religious practitioners?

I could not find anything like that on the Christian Heritage Party's website.

There where controversial topics for sure, but nothing so problematic as what was displayed by the Islamic Party of Ontario.

Even worse, the party leader has now taken us back to the 5th century and begun to declare individuals and Canadian journalists such as Tarek Fatah as "open enemies of Islam."

What do you think about this letter? Is it fair to compare this party to the Christian Heritage Party?

Join the conversation by commenting below!