A Quebec teacher has been fired for wearing a headscarf in class.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TRENTON — The National Council of Muslims in Canada (NCCM) said Monday it was collecting signatures on a petition against an anti-hijab law. The petition calls on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene after a Muslim teacher in the province of Quebec was fired from his teaching job for wearing the hijab in class.
Quebec Bill 21 was passed in 2019. It prohibits the wearing of religious symbols, such as headscarves, yarmulkes, turbans and crosses, by most civil servants at work. In response, the CNMC and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association fought to have the bill overturned in court for violating human rights. The NCCM also said the bill unfairly targets Muslim women.
Opposition to the bill intensified after the teacher was sacked as a teacher last week. NCCM CEO Mustafa Farooq said in a statement to Anadolu Agency that Fatemeh Anvari was a courageous Muslim Quebecer who was fired from her job as a teacher because she had the audacity to wear her hijab to school.
“The shameful truth is that he was not the first, nor will he be the last, as long as Bill 21 is in place. The legal battle has turned to the Quebec Court of Appeal in its fight to overturn this ‘odious law,'” Farooq says. Anadolu Agency, Tuesday (14/12).
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly said the province didn’t have to tell people what to wear. The CNMC wants Trudeau to act more decisively and is now asking people to put their signatures on the petition to help fight to get the government and lawmakers (MPs) on their side.
“Sign our petition asking the Prime Minister to intervene in our legal challenge. Your advocacy of principle is successful and MPs are starting to rise up demanding the Prime Minister do the right thing. Let’s make this happen. produce 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“In the courts, in the media, in the streets, we will not stop until this law is repealed,” he added.
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