“Remove your Hijab or quit your training dilemma”

March 18, 2007

In another sign of continuous attempts to make it harder for Muslims enjoy a stable life in Western countries, 19 year-old Sondos Abdel Latif got trapped in “the remove your Hijab or quit your training dilemma”.

Last Tuesday Sondos was informed that she has to take off her Hijab to continue the training in Montreal’s Brodeaux Jail.

But Abdel Latif chose her Hijab.

Quebec’s Public Security Department claimed that they were only concerned about Abdel Latif’s life since it was against her safety.“

As a security measure, the Hijab cannot be accepted as an element of the uniform to execute the functions of a correctional officer," department spokesman Real Roussy said Thursday.

The Canadian Council on American Affairs couldn’t agree less, stressing that dismissing Sondos for wearing the Hijab was totally unnecessary and that the Canadian Armed Forces and police departments in other Canadian cities allow women to wear headscarves on active duty.

"If it really was a security issue, they would have sat down with Sondos and would have said, 'Look, we're really worried about your safety and we need to talk about what we can do to address this or we'll fire you,'" said CAIR spokeswoman Sarah Elgazzar.

"But she was given an ultimatum: 'You either take it off or you're fired.'"

Repetitive and different forms of violations of Muslims’ basic rights have been the source of furor of many Rights organisations.

Abdel Latif was not available to answer reporters who were investigating this incidence; however, a debate about how Muslims have been treated in Quebec is starting to make headlines.

This was a result of the previous incident involving another 11 year-old Muslim girl in Ontario, who was participating in a soccer tournament, before she was requested to remove her Hijab. When the girl refused, she was pulled-off the field.

The flap became international when the Hijab issue was raised at an International Football Association board meeting and Egypt accused Canada of “religious intolerance”.

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