Canada – Faith Matters https://www.faith-matters.org Working with Faith Communities Countering Extremism, Supporting Integration & Challenging Hatred. Founded by Fiyaz Mughal Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:45:26 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://www.faith-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/favicon.png Canada – Faith Matters https://www.faith-matters.org 32 32 95725945 Toronto says #StandWithMuslimsTO after anti-Muslim backlash https://www.faith-matters.org/toronto-says-standwithmuslimsto-after-anti-muslim-backlash/ Fri, 20 Nov 2015 10:49:58 +0000 https://religiousreader.org/?p=1455 The anti-Muslim backlash following the recent Paris atrocities is creating its own acts of solidarity. In Toronto, Canada, four high profile anti-Muslim incidents have made headline news. A Muslim woman was assaulted as she went to collect her children from school on Monday. According to police, two males pulled at her hijab and stole her mobile phone. The brother of the victim said she was punched in the stomach and face, called a “terrorist” and told to “go back home” during the assault. Metrolinx staff found anti-Muslim graffiti inside a bathroom of a busy train station. On November 19, a Muslim student at the University of Toronto, named Osama Omar, 21, was spat at as he waited for a streetcar in downtown Toronto. Omar wears a topi, or Muslim prayer cap. The perpetrator told Omar to take his “turban” off and attempted to punch him twice. In a Facebook post, he described how an elderly woman who saw the incident from across the street came over to ‘apologise on behalf of the man’. She told Omar not to see him as a ‘generalized representation’ of what society has become. At around 6pm on Wednesday, two Muslim women faced verbal abuse [...]

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The anti-Muslim backlash following the recent Paris atrocities is creating its own acts of solidarity.

In Toronto, Canada, four high profile anti-Muslim incidents have made headline news. A Muslim woman was assaulted as she went to collect her children from school on Monday. According to police, two males pulled at her hijab and stole her mobile phone. The brother of the victim said she was punched in the stomach and face, called a “terrorist” and told to “go back home” during the assault.

Metrolinx staff found anti-Muslim graffiti inside a bathroom of a busy train station. On November 19, a Muslim student at the University of Toronto, named Osama Omar, 21, was spat at as he waited for a streetcar in downtown Toronto. Omar wears a topi, or Muslim prayer cap. The perpetrator told Omar to take his “turban” off and attempted to punch him twice. In a Facebook post, he described how an elderly woman who saw the incident from across the street came over to ‘apologise on behalf of the man’. She told Omar not to see him as a ‘generalized representation’ of what society has become.

At around 6pm on Wednesday, two Muslim women faced verbal abuse on Toronto’s subway. Two men and a woman had made racial slurs and towards them, accusing them of being terrorists. The woman allegedly pushed one of the women.

A witness then pulled the emergency alarm and Toronto police arrived at the scene. The offenders fled.

A spokesman for Toronto’s transport network (TTC) later confirmed the incident.

In response, non-Muslims took to Twitter to offer solidarity under the hashtag #Illridewithyou. That act of solidarity re-purposed it following the Sydney siege in late 2014.

Twitter user @Kelly_Boaz tweeted “If you’re feeling unsafe and want someone with #WhitePrivilege to ride with, #IllRideWithYou #TTC”. Others soon followed with offers across the city and Greater Toronto Area.

Others tweeted under another hashtag #StandWithMuslimsTO. This included Toronto Star columnist and radio host Desmond Cole. That hashtag soon became a trending topic.

And soon narratives of hope and solidarity punctured, perhaps briefly, the tide of bigotry. A solidarity march will happen this weekend.

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]]> 1434 Canada’s niqab ban at citizenship ceremonies ruled unlawful https://www.faith-matters.org/canadas-niqab-ban-at-citizenship-ceremonies-ruled-unlawful/ Thu, 17 Sep 2015 13:18:28 +0000 https://religiousreader.org/?p=1343 In a blow to Stephen Harper’s government, the Federal Court of Appeal found a ban on wearing niqabs at citizenship ceremonies unlawful. Three justices wanted to rule now so Zunera Ishaq could take her citizenship oath and vote in the elections that will decide Canada’s next parliament on October 19. Ishaq, 29, moved to Ontario in 2008 to be with her husband. She had agreed to remove her niqab for an official before completing her citizenship test in 2013. But objected to removing it during a public ceremony, as required under a 2011 rule change. “The government of Canada will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in the Ishaq case,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said in a one-line statement. Paul Daly, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at the Université de Montréal tweeted: Very, very little chance leave will be granted. https://t.co/US9m5EKXd1 — Paul Daly (@pauldalyesq) September 16, 2015 Judge Keith Boswell argued that citizenship judges must allow for religious freedom when administering the oath. Boswell questioned the practicalities of a policy that asks individuals to ‘violate’ or ‘renounce’ tenets of their religion. The judgement brought tears of relief to Ishaq, her family, and supporters. [...]

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In a blow to Stephen Harper’s government, the Federal Court of Appeal found a ban on wearing niqabs at citizenship ceremonies unlawful.

Three justices wanted to rule now so Zunera Ishaq could take her citizenship oath and vote in the elections that will decide Canada’s next parliament on October 19.

Ishaq, 29, moved to Ontario in 2008 to be with her husband. She had agreed to remove her niqab for an official before completing her citizenship test in 2013. But objected to removing it during a public ceremony, as required under a 2011 rule change.

“The government of Canada will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in the Ishaq case,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said in a one-line statement.

Paul Daly, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at the Université de Montréal tweeted:

Judge Keith Boswell argued that citizenship judges must allow for religious freedom when administering the oath.

Boswell questioned the practicalities of a policy that asks individuals to ‘violate’ or ‘renounce’ tenets of their religion.

The judgement brought tears of relief to Ishaq, her family, and supporters. Ishaq later spoke of her pride and desire to vote in the upcoming election.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who faces a tight campaign to get re-elected, argued that the niqab derives from an ‘anti-woman’ culture. The opposition Liberals and New Democrats argued the 2011 ban stokes anti-Muslim sentiment. Harper argued that the niqab is antithetic to Canadian values. To prove this point, the niqab ban became a campaign issue.

A subsequent campaign email that promoted the petition confused the niqab with the hijab (a non-face veil).

In a heated debate in the House of Commons back in March, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau had questioned why Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed to suggest that Islam is ‘anti-women’. Harper responded that a majority of Canadians, including moderate Muslims, favoured a ban.

New Democrats Leader Tom Mulcair criticised both Trudeau and Harper’s inflammatory rhetoric. Mulcair remarked that ‘it’s undignified from a Canadian prime minister‘ to suggest that Islamic culture is ‘anti-women’.

Some women used the hashtag #DressCodePM to ask if their own clothing choices would gain Harper’s approval.

During an earlier debate on Canada’s counter-terrorism legislation, Harper noted on the topic of radicalisation that “It doesn’t matter what the age of the person is, or whether they’re in a basement, or whether they’re in a mosque or somewhere else”. Mulcair then responded “It was irresponsible of the prime minister to throw the mosques into his comments. It was a form of Islamophobia and it was wrong.” A  spokesman dismissed the accusation in an email to CBC.

Anxieties towards the niqab reflect how some attach broader and negative attitudes more broadly associated with Muslims with a desire to veil. The decision to wear (or remove) a veil presents  complexities beyond simplistic assumptions.

In an op-ed for the Toronto Star, Zunera Ishaq wrote, ‘I have taken my niqab off for security and identity reasons in every case where that’s been required of me’. A decision to wear the niqab, she argued, had  religious and non-religious aspects. The latter created a sense of empowerment through a concentration on the inner self.

In spite of the defeat, the Conservatives intend to introduce legislation to ban niqabs at citizenship ceremonies in “the days ahead.”

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]]> 1069 Canadian mosque raised thousands of dollars to support vandalised church https://www.faith-matters.org/canadian-mosque-raised-thousands-of-dollars-to-support-vandalised-church/ Tue, 30 Jun 2015 12:10:19 +0000 https://religiousreader.org/?p=1079 A Canadian mosque raised thousands of dollars to support a nearby Catholic church after a spate of vandalism. News of the vandalism soon spread. Hamid Slimi, imam of the Sayeda Khadija Centre in Mississauga visited the St. Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Church to make sense of the crime. Father Camillo Lando showed Slimi footage of the vandal’s behaviour. According to the Toronto Star, “The guy who did it ripped pages out of the Bible. He broke the altar. He threw the cross,” said Slimi. “When I saw this, I thought it was pure injustice. It was just wrong”. After recalling the incident at a Friday sermon, Slimi urged others to donate. Within a day, the congregation raised almost $5,000. CCTV of the first incident captured a man tearing pages from bibles, throwing holy books, and laying a cross upon the floor. Upon leaving, footage captured him taking items. Days later, a vandal left a statue of Jesus desecrated; the adjoining school spray painted. Local police soon arrested Iqbal Hessan, 22, and charged him. At a bail hearing, Hessan stated he was ‘upset’ with Christianity. During the ongoing trial, prosecution told the court that Hessan confessed a desire to ‘hurt’ [...]

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A Canadian mosque raised thousands of dollars to support a nearby Catholic church after a spate of vandalism.

News of the vandalism soon spread. Hamid Slimi, imam of the Sayeda Khadija Centre in Mississauga visited the St. Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Church to make sense of the crime.

Father Camillo Lando showed Slimi footage of the vandal’s behaviour. According to the Toronto Star, “The guy who did it ripped pages out of the Bible. He broke the altar. He threw the cross,” said Slimi. “When I saw this, I thought it was pure injustice. It was just wrong”.

After recalling the incident at a Friday sermon, Slimi urged others to donate. Within a day, the congregation raised almost $5,000.

CCTV of the first incident captured a man tearing pages from bibles, throwing holy books, and laying a cross upon the floor. Upon leaving, footage captured him taking items.

Days later, a vandal left a statue of Jesus desecrated; the adjoining school spray painted.

Local police soon arrested Iqbal Hessan, 22, and charged him. At a bail hearing, Hessan stated he was ‘upset’ with Christianity.

During the ongoing trial, prosecution told the court that Hessan confessed a desire to ‘hurt’ a priest. Hessan’s father told the court that his son is a diagnosed schizophrenic. That he argued, was the reason for his anger.

Police did not seek a hate crime prosecution due to a lack of ‘evidence’. Yet, many Christians in Lando’s congregation expressed upset; but Lando preached forgiveness.

Other Muslims took the time to call Father Lando and express support.

Hessan’s trial continues.

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