Muslim Association of Canada vows to block antisemitic word-cloud posts at future events

At its May convention in Toronto, the Muslim Association of Canada hosted a youth session that used an anonymous, audience-participation word-cloud tool to capture ideas about community values. Among the 50 visible entries, the phrase "Jew-free" appeared, prompting the organization to label the term as offensive to both Jewish and Muslim Canadians and inconsistent with pluralistic principles. Sharaf Sharafeldin, president of strategy for the association, explained that the submission originated from a bad-faith participant and could not be identified.

An internal investigation found that the third-party application lacked the necessary filters to block such content, a shortfall the group acknowledges as preventable. In response, MAC issued a statement condemning the phrase, expressed regret that it was displayed, and committed to using screening controls and providing facilitator training to catch hateful inputs in real time.