A Woman Gets Expelled From School: Not by School but by Minister of Immigration

Have you ever heard of anything this wild? Well, actually we have. It doesn’t get much nuttier than St-Stevie’s poll numbers shooting up because of Olympic gold. However, this little incident at CEGEP St-Laurent (For those outside of Quebec whod don’t know, CEGEP is  sort of a playground between high school and university instead of grade 12.)  in the north-west end of Montreal certainly can take a close second. 

Dan Delmar is surely going to speak of his favourite topic of banning burkas and niqabs on the radio this afternoon. It seems to be all he talks about when he fills in for various hosts at Astral Media Radio or when he writes.

An Egyptian lady taking a French class at the CEGEP had her classmates and teachers bending over backwards to accommodate her ‘needs’.  She was one of those extreme Muslims wearing a niqab. According to Cyberpresse this morning, this woman was not only allowed to wear her niqab, but also give her oral presentations at the back of the class instead of the traditional front and give them with her back turned to the class as well as getting the male students to move so they wouldn’t see her face.

Le collège a tout fait pour satisfaire la dame, qui pouvait porter son voile et faire ses présentations dans le fond de la classe, le dos tourné aux élèves. Pendant un cours, elle a même demandé aux hommes de se déplacer parce qu’ils lui faisaient face.

It was starting to cause problems for the school. Especially the particular nature of the class, one of its’ objectives is to encourage face to face dialogue.

Apparently, she has, on a few occasions, removed the niqab when alone with female staff and to have her student ID photo taken.

The Quebec government intervened. Roger Giroux, director of Francization with the Quebec Department of Immigration had finally issued an ultimatum: remove the niqab or be expelled. After insisting on having this in writing, she chose the latter.  She was also informed that she can take the same class on the internet.

Just a question,  if this class requires face to face interaction and oral presentations, how can this course be effectively given on line? I believe any language class, particularly an oral or conversation class does require face to face interaction in  order for the learning experience to be effective.

Unless, of course, this is more of a written course and orals are recorded onto a cd.  Of course something would have to be offered to her. The Office de la Langue Francaise wants Quebecers to speak French. This woman was taking a French course.  However, perhaps she may be better off doing this course on line as suggested if she doesn’t wish to compromise. No one was telling her to remove her long clothes or head scarf. Just the face covering.

For the risk of pissing off some progressives to the point of even pleasing some of Romper Roomies  (God, I hate that!), I hope the CHRC does not rule in this woman’s favor. While I don’t support legislating an all out ban because it just gives these extemists more publicity than they deserve, I do  support the school in trying to handle a situation the best way it could. They did try to accommodate her.  

My blood always runs cold when I’m face to face with someone with only her eyes in view, simply because I wonder if she or her family members are extremists. They’d have to be to either make her wear a face covering, of if she decided to continue that just like back home . No one’s face should be hidden to the world, unless of course it’s halloween or some other masquerade ball. I don’t feel at ease. What are they hiding?I don’t believe in discrimination, but those who do insist on walking through life here in Canada with their face coverings  do bring the discrimination onto themselves.

A lot of folks are not shy about Islam bashing because all the Corporate media machine talks about are the extremists and the dark side of fundamental Islam.  Women in the face coverings don’t help their cause.  It just fuels further bigotry, even escalating to violence. No, I’m not saying accommodate the bigots. I’m saying we shouldn’t be fueling them.

Yes, there are only a handful of  women in facial coverings, but that is all the media allows us to see, thus today’s society with their short attention spans, penchant for all things shiny and inability to think outside the box only get to know Islam through the terrorists and extremists portrayed.

Unless we take the time to actually meet Muslims, we would find, as I have,  that while there are bad apples, like in every group,  they are peaceful, charitable and gentle folks. While many Muslim women wear the head scarf, many that I have talked to don’t condone face coverings themselves. They say that women should have a modest appearance; a covered face goes beyond modest.

Also, has anyone ever noticed when a woman in niqab or burka walk down the street with their husband (or another male family member), they never walk beside them? They seem to follow their male companion. It sends the wrong message to women and girls.

I don’t think a work place or a school is out of order for requesting  to be able to see everyone’ s face clearly.

I am not alone in these beliefs. The Muslim Canadian  Congress agrees with me and they even requested that Ottawa legislate  the banning of  burkas and niqabs in public dealings.

…not only is the wearing of a face-mask a security hazard and has led to a number of bank heists in Canada and overseas, the burka or niqab are political symbols of Saudi inspired Islamic extremism.

The Muslim Canadian Congress also say that the Quran does  not say anything about women having to have their faces covered. They say that allowing these face coverings solely promotes  a political agenda.

CEGEP St-Laurent has had issues in the past with cultural accommodations; some going well some not, but this woman is the only one out 39, 000 students to be expelled for such a thing.

Religious extremism carried out from any denomination should never be encouraged or facilitated as it is a danger for society as a whole. 

In this case, the Canadian Human Rights Commission should not even entertain this woman’s case.  If any accommodation should be availed to this woman, it’s the online French course offered.