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Heckler who hurled racist comments at Canadian Sikh politician swears she’s not racist

A woman from the far-right, anti-Islam group Rise Canada is explaining why she yelled at Jagmeet Singh about Sharia law.

The woman who interrupted a Jagmeet Singh campaign stop by screaming questions about Sharia law and the Muslim Brotherhood has taken to Youtube to give her side of the story, but is hardly apologetic.

“Colour, race, religion, they’re really not the point here,” she swears in the video.

The woman, Jennifer Bush, emerged from the crowd at a campaign event in Brampton, Ontario on Friday to hurl racially-tinged comments at Singh, the frontrunner in the leadership race for the federal NDP.

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“When is your Sharia going to end?” she yelled at Singh during the rally.

Singh called it an “awkward” moment, telling Bush in the middle of her tirade: “Everyone in this room loves you, we all support you, we believe in your rights.”

Singh is, of course, Sikh, and not Muslim. Bush swears in the video she understands the difference, although doesn’t display much understanding of Sharia law — an Islamic legal doctrine that governs divorce proceedings and forbids interest on loans, as well as a host of other things.

Since the video went viral, racking up millions of views on Facebook, Singh’s campaign has enjoyed a bump. Singh, who could become Canada’s first non-white leader of a major national political party, has spent a large portion of his campaign addressing non-white Canadians, especially second-and-third generation Canadians, by drawing on his own experiences growing up as the child of immigrants. He has spoken bluntly about racism and discrimination he’s faced as a man who wears a turban.

Thus far, polls show that Canadians are generally receptive to his candidacy, but a small minority say they’re uncomfortable with it. Bush is evidently one of those.

Bush released the video on Youtube on Saturday to explain her purpose in heckling Singh at his “Jagmeet and Greet” event. She first states that she knows he is Sikh and not Muslim, and says she attended to ask about his policy choices in supporting M-103 and opposing the niqab ban from 2011.

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“What is that? Sharia,” Bush says of both policies in the video. “I’m not a racist, I strongly support the Hindus. We work together on a regular basis to get political ideas moving, to move our country together.”

The heckler insists in the video she went there to “discuss” the issues to Singh.

Bush seems to have little grasp of Sharia law, or the actual impact of M-103, a motion condemning Islamophobia and other religious discrimination.

The heckler insists in the video she went there to “discuss” the issues to Singh.

Bush is involved with Rise Canada, a group which called for the mass deportation of all existing Muslims in Canada, and participated in a protest outside a Toronto-area school saying Islam is a political movement that hates women — one protester sparked outrage at the event by tearing up a copy of the Qu’ran.

This isn’t the first time Rise Canada has made national headlines. During the Conservative Party leadership race, earlier this year, candidate Kellie Leitch was recorded speaking to members of the group at a meeting. She later denounced the group, after outcry.

Bush, according to an upload of the video posted to Youtube, recorded her reaction at Ford Fest, the annual barbecue hosted by the Ford family — of late mayor Rob Ford, and current mayoral candidate Doug Ford.