A teacher in Quebec has been dismissed for wearing a headscarf in class.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TRENTON — Canada’s National Council of Muslims (NCCM) said Monday it was collecting signatures on a petition against an anti-hijab law. The petition asks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene after a Muslim teacher in the province Quebec was transferred (transferred) from her teaching position because she wore a headscarf in class.
The Quebec 21 bill was passed in 2019. It prohibits the wearing of religious symbols, such as the headscarf, kippah, turban and cross, by most civil servants at work. In response, the NCCM together with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association fought for the bill to be overturned by the court for violating human rights. The NCCM also said the bill unfairly targeted Muslim women.
Opposition to the bill intensified after the teacher was removed from his teaching position last week. NCCM CEO Mustafa Farooq said in a statement to Anadolu Agency that Fatemeh Anvari was a courageous Quebec Muslim woman who was removed from her position as a teacher because she had the audacity to wear her hijab to school.
“The shameful truth is he was not the first, nor will he be the last, as long as Law 21 is in place. The court battle has turned to the Quebec Court of Appeals in its struggle to overthrow this ‘heinous law’,” Farooq said. Anadolu AgencyTuesday (14/12).
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is recorded as saying the province has no business telling people what to wear. The NCCM wants Trudeau to act more decisively and is now asking people to put their signatures on the petition to help the fight for support from the government and lawmakers (members of parliament) to be on their side.
“Sign our petition asking the Prime Minister to intervene in our legal challenge. Your advocacy of principles is successful and MPs are starting to rise up to ask the Prime Minister to do the right thing. Let’s make it happen now,” Farooq said.
“In the courts, in the media, in the streets, we will not stop until this law is repealed,” he added.
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