Quebec's human rights commission ruled that niqab-and burka-wearing women must uncover their faces to apply for a medicare card and cannot insist on being served by a woman.For years, we have had to observe the degrading scenes of burqa-clad women being led down the streets of Montreal on a leash, listen to the endless discussion in the Supreme Court of whether shariah laws should be accepted in Canada, deal with students whose faces were completely covered in our classrooms, accept all the attempts by the fanatically religious to control how we live our lives. It is so great to see the authorities in Quebec finally realize that the most extreme sectors of the Muslim community are not the only people who deserve to have their rights respected.
Kudos to Quebec for finally listening to reason and for losing the pseudo-liberal fear of anybody who uses their claim to being religious in order to control everybody else.
4 comments:
I would not celebrate this decision. It's one specific case and it's too soon. The bigger frame is not that rosay.
Quebec has been almost as coward as the ROC regarding laicity in public spaces.
FYI
http://www.voir.ca/blogs/jose_legault/archive/2010/03/25/vous-avez-dit-171-gestes-fondateurs-187.aspx
Josee Legault also writes in the Gazette.
Ol
Even if I agree that public workers should not wear religious signs, this time, I disagree with your position. This is contradictory with your position in the Ground Zero mosque issue.
My position on this issue:
http://anarchopragmatisme.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/interdiction-de-la-burqa/
http://anarchopragmatisme.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/interdiction-burqa-tremblay/
No, it's really not the same. Cordoba House people are proposing to have a mosque in a space that belongs to them. It's their private space.
We regulate our public spaces the way we do not our private spaces. You can dump garbage, walk around naked, do a variety of things in your private space that you absolutely cannot in shared spaces. The niqab issue is similar to the issue of public nudity. People can't attend classes, walk down the street or march into the supermarket naked. If it's ok to regulate that, it's perfectly ok to regulate the niqab.
"No, it's really not the same. Cordoba House people are proposing to have a mosque in a space that belongs to them. It's their private space."
"The niqab issue is similar to the issue of public nudity."
Okay, I see why it's not the same. But what's next? Regulating the wearing of ties for mens? Regulating the length of skirts? ...oops sorry this occured really in Louisiana!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1178083/Skirting-issue-Scottish-man-sues-U-S-police-clothing-discrimination.html
If you give the opportunity to the State to regulate wearing of some clothes in public, The State will not just ban the niqab, they will ban red flags like Oklahoma.
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