Canada does not allow the wearing of religious symbols, including headscarves

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ANKARA – Islamophobia has never stopped in the world, and Canada is no exception. Cases of hatred and phobia against Islam keep popping up one after another.

A hijabi Muslim teacher in the Canadian province of Quebec has been removed from her position because of the hijab she wears. The removal was based on a controversial provincial law.

The teacher was named Fatemeh Anvari. She is a third grade teacher at Chelsea Elementary School in Quebec.

She was offered a permanent position after working as a substitute teacher in the School Board Quebec West for a few months.

After starting in that full-time position, in just over a month, the principal reportedly informed Anvari that she had to be transferred to an out-of-class position because of her hijab.

“Honestly, at that second, it was a shock,” Anvari told CBC Daily SabahMonday (13/12).

The Quebec 21 law prohibits most civil servants, including nurses, teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols such as turbans, headscarves, crosses and kippahs while working.

Local observers argue the law is a covert attack that centers on Muslim women wearing head coverings and forcing people to choose between their religion and their jobs.

Several court challenges have been filed against the discriminatory laws, but a final decision could take years. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, introduced by the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, guarantees equal rights for all citizens Canada and allowing them to oppose it because it is embedded in the country’s Constitution.

According to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), Muslims living in Canada have increasingly faced anti-Muslim sentiment since the 9/11 attacks that were carried out two decades ago across the border in the United States.

The tragic evolution has resulted in horrific attacks on Muslims. In 2017, a man visited a mosque in Quebec City and shot dead six worshipers and injured 19 others.

More recently, in London, Ontario, a hate-driven man rammed into a Muslim family with his truck, killing four people and leaving the only survivor, a 9 year old boy, an orphan.