Category Archives: Canada

Canada: government bans leading Muslim from Defence Department event

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Ottawa imam who calls himself a bridge builder between Muslims and other Canadians has been barred by the Harper government from speaking at a Defence Department event next week on the grounds that his organization has promoted “extremist views.”

Zijad Delic, national executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, was scheduled to participate on Monday in a National Defence headquarters ceremony recognizing Islamic History Month.

But Defence Minister Peter MacKay has cancelled the imam’s planned appearance after learning of it Friday. His office issued a statement saying the Canadian Islamic Congress has a record of fomenting hatred and has no place at an event honouring Muslim contributions to this country.

Mr. Delic has previously been cited for efforts to help Muslims integrate into Canadian society. He was one of 13 Canadians included in a 2009 book, The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World, penned by Islamic studies scholars at Georgetown University. One of the book’s editors called Mr. Delic “a scholar who writes about how Muslims can integrate into Canadian society.”

Globe & Mail, 2 October 2010

The Muslims who support the ban on Zakir Naik

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Inayat Bunglawala has the details.

A similar situation obtains in Canada, where the ban on Dr Naik was not only supported but actively promoted by Tarek Fatah and his so-called Muslim Canadian Congress. The National Post reports Fatah as boasting that he “sent a mass email to federal MPs last week, warning them of Dr. Naik’s views”. “We are very happy that government agencies, having been made aware of his statements, have taken this decision,” Fatah is quoted as saying. “We certainly don’t want hate-mongers to come here.”

‘Honour killing over hijab gets life term in Canada’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thus the headline to a report that the father and brother of a young Canadian woman named Aqsa Parvez have been sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder in 2007.

The report begins: “Just days after a Punjab man was jailed for life in honour killing of his daughter-in-law, a Pakistani father, along with his son, here too faces life behind bars for honour killing of his young girl for her refusal to wear the hijab.”

But it seems clear that Aqsa Parvez’s tragic death did not in fact result from “her refusal to wear the hijab”. Though this has been the media spin put on her murder, it is a distortion.

The friend at whose house Aqsa was staying after leaving her own home stated that, at the time of Aqsa’s murder, her rejection of her father’s demand that she wear a headscarf was not a major cause of conflict between Aqsa and her family.

According to one report, the issue of the hijab had arisen in 2006 but had been resolved after Aqsa left home on an earlier occasion: “Upon her return, her mother took her shopping for Western clothes and she was allowed to attend school in non-traditional clothes.” Another report confirms that, following this dispute, Aqsa’s father “relented, and allowed her to wear urban-style jeans and T-shirts to school”.

The conflict would appear to have been a much broader one between a young woman who wanted to live a westernised lifestyle and culturally conservative male relatives who regarded her behaviour as an attack on the family’s honour. Such notions of honour are a feature of many backward rural societies across the world and are not associated with any particular faith.

So why was media so intent on depicting the hijab as the main motive for Aqsa’s killing? The reason is is not hard to identify. It was an attempt to pin the blame on Islam as part of an ongoing campaign against Muslims and multiculturalism.

Canadian court to rule on ‘veil’ testimony

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Ontario court is considering whether an alleged rape victim may testify with her face covered, which defendants say would call her truthfulness in question.

At a preliminary hearing last year, a judge ordered the 32-year-old woman to remove her niqab, or burqa, so defense lawyers could assess her claims of being molested. She resisted, saying her religion bars her from exposing her face to non-family members, the Globe and Mail reported Tuesday.

The defendants – a cousin and uncle of the woman – argue the truthfulness of her testimony cannot be determined if her face is hidden.

Some legal experts claim veils provide a convenient shield for a lying witness, while others reject the idea of facial expressions being a reliable guide to honesty, the newspaper said. The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund says disallowing veils would drive Muslim women from the justice system.

The case is currently before an Ontario appeals court.

UPI, 8 June 2010

Quebec: Hérouxville ‘secularist’ supports ban on veil, denounces multiculturalism, calls for end to immigration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andre DrouinThe small-town radical secularist who helped touch off the furor three years ago over reasonable accommodation of minorities cast his own unique spotlight yesterday on the province’s proposed limitations on wearing face veils.

André Drouin dubbed Canada’s multiculturalism policy “idiocy” and called for a moratorium on immigration. He also cast doubt on the separation of church and state, noting the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms starts off affirming the “supremacy of God.”

Drouin made his comments on the last scheduled day of the National Assembly’s public hearings on Bill 94, which sets out guidelines for accommodating religious differences in Quebec’s public sector.

Among its provisions, Bill 94 would require people seeking government services to uncover their faces, including Muslim women who wear veils or burqas.

After only three days of testimony representing a handful of more than 60 briefs received on the topic, the Liberal government has suspended the public debate until a date to be determined in August.

While other witnesses this week objected to the proposed law, claiming Muslim women are being singled out, Drouin said no religion offers women equality. He said he supports the Parti Québécois’s proposal for a charter of secularism to end favourable treatment for religions and banning the display of religious symbols.

Drouin is author of the controversial Hérouxville “life code”, which warned prospective immigrants to his village of 1,338 in Quebec’s heartland that they were not allowed to burn or stone women.

Montreal Gazette, 21 May 2010

Quebec: ‘secularists’ demand that religion should be excluded from the public sphere

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CCIEL logoQuebecers fought hard to free themselves from the Roman Catholic Church’s control during the Quiet Revolution and they must prevent newcomers from imposing religious values here again, speakers said last night at the start of a three-day conference on secularism.

“We must not let other religious groups bring back religious practices,” said conference organizer Djemila Benhabib, co-founder of the Collectif citoyen pour l’égalité et la laïcité (CCIEL). “The rights of women, children and homosexuals are threatened by the demands of reasonable accommodation,” Benhabib told an audience of about 225 at the Bibliothèque Nationale.

Her group is part of a diverse coalition of feminists, Quebec nationalists, defenders of gay rights and anti-immigration activists calling on the government to ban all religious symbols and teachings from the public sphere.

Quebec’s Conseil du statut de la femme helped pay for the conference along with the French consulate. The movement also has support from public-sector unions and media personalities including columnists Marie-Claire Lortie of La Presse and Richard Martineau of the Journal de Montréal, who moderated panels at the conference. In March, 100 intellectuals signed a manifesto calling for Quebec to adopt a charter of secularism that would ban all vestiges of religion from the public sphere.

Montreal Gazette, 20 May 2010

Montreal protest against ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bill 94 protestAbout 120 people turned up Saturday afternoon outside Montreal City Hall to express their opposition to Bill 94, saying the legislation reflects cultural xenophobia and has no place in Quebec society.

The legislation, which would predominantly affect women who wear the Islamic niqab or burka, would require public employees, education and health workers to have their faces uncovered at all times.

The law would also apply to anyone seeking government services. Saturday’s protest, organized by a group calling itself simply “Kill Bill 94,” lasted for about two hours and drew representatives from the South Asian Women’s Association, Jewish organizations and Montreal’s Anglican diocese.

Montreal Gazette, 17 April 2010

See also CTV News, 17 April 2010 and the Examiner, 18 April 2010

Why Tariq Ramadan has come to Canada – to organise a ‘fifth column against Western civilization’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tariq Ramadan 5MONTREAL — This charming, erudite Muslim scholar is secretly out to destroy the free world. That pretty much sums up the message critics of Tariq Ramadan sent Thursday at a press conference on the eve of two lectures by the controversial Oxford University professor at the Palais des Congrès.

“Tariq Ramadan has come here to make sure our children become the fifth column against Western civilization,” Tarek Fatah, founder of the Canadian Muslim Congress, told the conference organized by Point de Bascule, a group opposed to Islamic fundamentalism.

On his last visit in November, the organizers of Thursday’s press conference sponsored a full-page advertisement in Le Devoiraccusing Ramadan of hiding his true views on Muslim fundamentalism behind a facade of moderation. That didn’t stop more than 800 people from attending the sold-out speech.

Update:  Cf. the report of Professor Ramadan’s speech in the Montreal Gazette, 16 April 2010

Further update:  See also “Tariq Ramadan, ‘stealth jihadist’, exposed!”, LoonWatch, 16 April 2010