The transcript for this witness testimony is currently in production by our volunteers. It will be available soon here on this page and as a downloadable PDF.

Summary

Dr. Salam provides detailed testimony about her evolution from a concerned parent to a national advocate for parental rights in education. She explains how a serious incident involving her son’s head injury at school, which the school failed to report to her, sparked her initial involvement in school safety advocacy. This leads to her discovery of broader concerns about gender ideology promotion in schools and the systematic exclusion of parents from important discussions about their children’s education. She describes organizing the Million March for Children in September 2023, which becomes a nationwide movement bringing together parents from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Dr. Salam details the significant backlash she faces for her advocacy, including death threats, media defamation campaigns, and professional persecution by Professional Engineers Ontario. She explains how complaints filed against her professional license relate not to her engineering competence but to her public statements about gender ideology in schools and her support for Palestinian rights. Throughout her testimony, she emphasizes that her advocacy stems from love for all children and a desire to protect their innocence, maintain parental rights, and preserve religious freedoms. She discusses the weaponization of rights against religious communities and women, and warns about the chilling effect of professional bodies targeting individuals for their political and religious views. Dr. Salam concludes by calling for unity among diverse communities to protect children and resist divisive tactics used to silence parental voices in education.

Credentials

Dr. Bahira Abdul Salam is an Egyptian-Canadian professional engineer and mother of three who became a prominent advocate for parental rights in education. She holds a PhD in civil engineering and has been actively involved in organizing movements to protect children’s safety and parental involvement in schools. Dr. Salam testifies about her journey from discovering safety concerns at her son’s school to becoming a leading voice in the parental rights movement, organizing the Million March for Children in 2023. She describes facing professional retaliation from Professional Engineers Ontario for her advocacy work and her stance on gender ideology in schools. She emphasizes the importance of protecting children’s safety, respecting parental rights, and maintaining religious freedoms in Canadian education. Dr. Bahira Abdul Salam is an accomplished Egyptian-Canadian professional engineer who came to Canada 20 years ago as a PhD student at the University of Sherbrooke. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, she pursued her doctorate in civil engineering specializing in composite materials, driven by her belief in Canadian values of freedom and democracy. After completing her education and spending time in the United States, she settled in Toronto where she raised three children. Throughout her time in Canada, she actively contributed to her community, serving as vice president of her university union and volunteering with the Liberal Party of Canada. Her professional background as a licensed engineer and her strong communication skills positioned her as a natural leader within her Muslim-majority neighborhood in Toronto. Her transformation from engineer to activist began when her youngest son suffered a serious head injury at school, revealing concerning gaps in school safety protocols and parent communication. This experience, combined with her observations about the promotion of gender ideology in schools, led her to become increasingly involved in school governance and eventually to organize the Million March for Children movement in 2023.