Category Archives: Canada

Gavin Boby addresses small meeting at Ottowa public library

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Gavin Boby Ottawa meetingA controversial British lawyer spoke in Ottawa despite protest from groups who oppose his opinion, which is that mosques should not be built in non-Muslim areas.

Gavin Boby spoke in front of 40 people at the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library Monday evening as protesters stood outside the branch at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue West.

Boby, who is also an activist, is known for using zoning regulations to try to stop mosques from opening in areas he considers “non-Muslim.”

He told the CBC’s Simon Gardner before the speech he does not want views of Islam to dictate certain neighbourhoods. “Increasingly what we are seeing now is self-declared Muslim areas where you get Muslim patrols saying you can’t walk a dog, wear a skirt,” he said.

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CAIR-Canada urges public library to cancel speech by Gavin Boby

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Law and Freedom Foundation logoOTTAWA — A Canadian Muslim organization wants the Ottawa Public Library to cancel a speech by a controversial British lawyer who advocates legal tactics to block the construction of new mosques in the U.K.

Self-proclaimed “mosquebuster” Gavin Boby is scheduled to speak at the library on Monday night, the first stop on a Canadian speaking tour that will also take him to Montreal and Toronto.

Boby is the founder of an organization called Law and Freedom Foundation, which he says is devoted to “resisting the tide of Islam” by using the municipal planning process to oppose the building of mosques.

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Justin Trudeau defies critics in speech at Islamic Spirit conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Justin Trudeau (2)Liberal leadership contender Justin Trudeau told an Islamic conference Saturday that groups who attacked his decision to attend the gathering only work to divide Canadians.

Trudeau told a crowd of thousands at the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference in Toronto that his critics attempted to tap into “fears and prejudices” that sap the acceptance of others.

“It is short-sighted to pit groups of Canadians against one another. It may make some feel good for a little while, or even work politically in the short term, but it is no way to build a country,” Trudeau said in a keynote address. “It is not who we are.”

Trudeau was criticized earlier this month by some Jewish groups and media outlets for agreeing to address the conference because of allegations of a link between one of its sponsors, IRFAN-Canada, and the militant group Hamas.

Canadian Press, 22 December 2012

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Canada’s Supreme Court dismisses appeal by witness denied right to testify wearing niqab, rejects blanket rule on veil in court

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Canadian judges should decide on a case-by-case basis whether women can wear the niqab, a full-face veil, while testifying in court, but a blanket rule on the issue would be “untenable,” Canada’s top court said on Thursday.

The decision, supported by four of the seven judges who heard the case at the Supreme Court of Canada, said lower courts must consider, among other things, the harm that could come if Muslim women who wear the niqab feel discouraged from reporting offenses.

But the ruling also said that where a witness’s credibility is central to the case, “the possibility of wrongful conviction must weigh heavily in the balance.” Judges must also consider the sincerity of a witness’s religious beliefs.

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Security expert says Canada should keep eye out for ‘Islamist’ immigrants

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A security expert says Canada needs to go beyond screening for terrorists landing on our shores and consider the religious beliefs of some prospective immigrants.

Scott Newark says Canada should be concerned about “Islamist” immigrants.

Newark served as executive officer of the Canadian Police Association and also worked as a security and policy advisor to both the Ontario and federal Ministers of Public Safety.

“We need to think hard about what I would call ‘Islamism’, the political Islam that has absolutely no interest whatsoever in integration, that is intolerant and unyielding and absolutely committed to eradicating Western values,” he said in an interview.

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Ontario teachers’ union ‘under fire for workshop on Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ETFO

The union representing Ontario’s elementary school teachers is coming under fire for running an anti-Islamophobia workshop as part of a series of seminars on how to teach students about equality.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) began putting the anti-Islamophobia workshop together in 2011 following a request from one of its local presidents for such a seminar “as a response to the collective victimization of the Muslim community” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to an ETFO report from August.

Critics of the workshop, however, are slamming the ETFO for developing an anti-Islamophobia seminar that will not pro-actively address the fact that women and girls are treated as second-class citizens in some circles of the Islamic faith.

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CAIR challenges use of anti-Muslim textbook at Toronto school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

2000 Years of Jewish HistoryA Canadian Islamic organization is accusing a Toronto-area Jewish day school of using a textbook that vilifies Muslims.

In a Nov. 19 letter to Jewish groups, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-CAN, charges that a textbook used at the Joe Dwek Ohr HaEmet Sephardic School employs “inflammatory and hateful terms in describing Muslims.”

CAIR-CAN alleges that the book, “2000 Years of Jewish History,” describes Muslims as “rabid fanatics” with “savage beginnings.”

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Toronto woman sues Muslim barber

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Faith McGregor

In case of competing rights, a Toronto woman has lodged a complaint against a barber who refused to cut her hair because he’s Muslim.

In June, Faith McGregor requested a man’s haircut at the Terminal Barber Shop in downtown Toronto. Co-owner Omar Mahrouk told her that his Muslim faith prohibits him from touching a woman who is not a member of his family. All the other barbers in the shop said the same thing.

“For me it was just a haircut and started out about me being a woman,” McGregor, 35, told the Toronto Star. “Now we’re talking about religion versus gender versus human rights and businesses in Ontario.”

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Charlottetown: Muslims reach out to Islanders with education

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In the wake of perceived threats against a mosque in Charlottetown, P.E.I.’s Islamic community asked Prince Edward Islanders to learn more about their culture Thursday night.

The Muslim Society of P.E.I. invited Jamal Badawi, professor emeritus at Halifax’s St. Mary’s University, to give a lecture at UPEI introducing Islamic culture. About 100 people attended.

“We hope this to be part of a process of dialogue and outreach to people from different faiths and cultures, so that we can share with them our beliefs,” said Zain Esseghaier, a spokesperson for the Muslim Society of P.E.I.

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