Category Archives: Canada

British Columbia: police look into mosque threats

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Victoria police are investigating provocative, anti-Muslim comments posted on the I Love Downtown Victoria Facebook page, suggesting the new Masjid AlIman Mosque on Quadra Street be blasted with a rocket launcher. The comments appear to have been posted late Thursday afternoon by Facebook user Dan Speed.

Speed’s profile page states his work and education include the Canadian Coast Guard (security), Canadian Forces, Department of National Defence, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Canadian Airborne Regiment, Sauder School of Business and Stelly’s Secondary School.

Times Colonist, 18 August 2012

See also CBC News, 18 August 2012

CAIR denounces PQ proposal to ban hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A national Muslim civil rights advocacy organization today condemned a proposal by Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Pauline Marois to ban the Muslim headscarf and other religious-based attire in provincial government offices if the PQ forms government after upcoming September elections.

The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) decried the remarks made Tuesday by Madame Marois at a campaign stop in Trois Riviere that, under a PQ government, Muslim women who wear the hijab would be barred from participating in the Quebec civil service. The PQ says other “overt religious symbols” would likewise be banned, while the Catholic crucifix would remain in Quebec’s National Assembly.

“Many Muslim women regard the hijab as an important and mandatory practice in their faith. The proposed exclusion of a targeted minority of women from the Quebec civil service under a PQ government undermines religious freedom and the democratic values of both Quebec and Canada. The PQ is once again using populist rhetoric and parochial ideas to advance their electoral strategy,” said CAIR-CAN Human Rights Officer Julia Williams.

Continue reading →

Parti Quebecois would bar hijab from civil service with secularism charter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pauline MaroisPauline Marois is promising to end Quebec’s reasonable accommodation debate if she is elected premier on Sept. 4.

With a new Quebec Charter of Secularism, a Parti Quebecois government would seek to strike a balance between protecting the province’s values and allowing for different cultures to interact.

Under the proposed charter, civil servants would be barred from wearing any religious symbols, including the controversial wear of the hijab. The law would also prohibit citizens from refusing to be served by a member of the opposite sex.

“In Quebec, the state will be neutral. That is absolutely important. Next, the equality between men and women is a value that is not negotiable,” said Marois, at a campaign stop in Trois-Riveries.

Despite the rhetoric, the party leader said that Quebec’s cultural symbols would not be impacted, including Christmas trees and the crucifix that has hung in the National Assembly since 1936. “We’re not denying our past,” said Marois.

Continue reading →

Ottawa: girl banned from soccer game for refusing to remove hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rayane BenattiA nine-year-old Gatineau girl who refused to remove her headscarf was forced to stand on the sidelines Sunday as her team played – and won – the final match of a soccer tournament.

The order came just days after the International Football Association Board voted to lift its ban based on the fact that “there is no medical literature concerning injuries as a result of wearing a headscarf,” the organization stated on its website.

Rayane Benatti was told to take off her headscarf for safety reasons, but she refused. “It made me feel very sad,” she told the Citizen in French on Monday. “I love soccer. I get to run around and do teamwork – I really like that.”

Continue reading →

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein honoured for campaign to overturn FIFA hijab ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MWSF Awards 2FIFA’s youngest vice-president, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein has been honoured for his efforts to overturn the ban on the hijab in football at the inaugural Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation (MWSF) Ambassador Awards, held at Wembley Stadium last night.

Prince Ali, elected in January 2011 and FIFA’s youngest ever Executive Committee member, was given a Special Recognition Award for his achievements and contribution to Muslim women’s sport.

Continue reading →

Tories seek Jason Kenney’s advice on courting BME voters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jason Kenney at MCCBritain’s ruling Conservative Party is reportedly seeking Jason Kenney’s help with an outreach effort among the U.K.’s ethnic minorities, longtime backers of the Labour party.

British news reports have quoted Conservative officials saying the party’s bid to achieve a parliamentary majority will only succeed if, like Canada’s Stephen Harper, Prime Minister David Cameron can broaden the Tories’ appeal among immigrants from India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

Continue reading →

Toronto: Islamic bookshop sells Maududi’s writings shock

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Maududi Process of the Islamic RevolutionAn Islamic bookstore in east Toronto is selling books that urge Muslims to usurp the Western world and install an Islamic State in its place. The books, written by deceased Islamic scholar Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, are available at the Islamic Circle of North America bookstore in Scarborough.

“Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation that rules it,” Maududi wrote in Jihad in Islam. “Islam requires the earth – not just a portion – but the whole planet.”

Continue reading →

Answering halal hysteria in Quebec

Posted on by Bob Pitt

As the Parti Quebecois conflates imagined Islamist plots with feigned concerns for animal welfare, I wonder if Chicken Little is on the separatist payroll. The latest act in Quebec’s Chronicles of Xenophobia takes us to the slaughterhouse, where the PQ claims all chickens are slaughtered under Islamic halal practice. The risk is twofold: (i) non-Muslim Quebecers will unwittingly eat halal meat; and (ii) halal slaughter practices are inhumane….

Quebec politicians seem to be ripping pages from France’s playbook lately; first toying with hijab bans and now exposing the lurking threat of halal meat. They justify their actions by claiming that precious values are at stake…. While scapegoating Muslims is de rigueur among right-wingers, it seems that the left-leaning PQ is blazing a new trail by marching lockstep with the likes of Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Tea Party and Harper’s Conservatives.

Ziyaad Mia responds to the PQ’s attempt to whip up halal hysteria.

Vancouver Sun, 27 March 2012

Islamic bookstore sparks controversy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

TORONTO — Shamim Ahmad has run his Islamic bookstore for 20 years in the popular East York neighbourhood of Little India. A green and white sign advertises Islamic books and souvenirs.

This quiet store is the site of a Canada-wide uproar because it sold a copy of “A gift for the Muslim couple.” The book was written by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, an Islamic scholar from the late 19th century who passed away in 1943.

“I didn’t read the book, I only bought because of the title,” Ahmad said. “It’s a hundred-year-old book and I don’t know what was inside.”

Continue reading →