Niqab or no Niqab...! By: Mohamed S. Kamel

Niqab or no Niqab...!

By: Mohamed S. Kamel*

Montreal, March 28, 2010

Lately and after weeks of struggle with the Niqab issue, Quebec government introduced Bill 94, a bill that if it passes will be a law that is one of its kind. This bill is meant to force everyone to uncover his/her face when seeking any service from governmental agencies and deny a work opportunity to any face covered individual.

I was hesitating for a long time to address this issue.  After the introduction of this bill, and after I have been chased by many individuals, associations and media outlets, I found that I cannot run from it any more, especially after we got this wide spread nonsense feedback from various parties.      

Why was I hesitating? Because we are not ready yet to face ourselves and to come clean about its reality. We are not practicing all that we preach.

Do we really understand what we are doing and where we are going? It is very easy to stand up for individual rights and we should do so in every occasion, but it is not easy to stand up for the community and society’s rights to build the future we are looking for.

  

Does anyone know about a Niqabi who applied for a position in the government? Does anyone argue that a person could not be served while his/her face is covered?

This will bring us to two issues: why this law has been introduced and what will be the consequences of passing the law and enforcing it?

                  

Quebec government, similar to any government, is looking for its long term survival, internally and within the public. Internally because some of the party’s members are double talkers and even hate mongers. Within the public, they try to not give their rival a chance to use this opportunity to strengthen their position.

But why now?

It has been two years since Bouchard-Taylor presented their report and recommendations to the government; it was the same government that established this commission during election period.   

Since then, there was no provocative issue that would divide Quebec’s society into Muslims and non-Muslims.  To the contrary and generally speaking, Muslims started to feel more welcomed within the society and the general public is more accepting towards the reality that Muslims are part of the society.

    

That makes Islamophobics and hate mongers not happy, and their wish came jointly with the ignorant Quebecers of Muslims and non-Muslims.

When the Niqabi woman was expelled from the school, wise people advised her not to go to the human rights commission, because by doing so she is provoking the question of reasonable accommodation in the wrong direction, and in a time where issues are calm and we do not have to open this can of worms again.

Some foreigners did not understand that and supported her claim to the commission and ran to the media defending her position.  Yes, they are foreigners, because they don’t understand the society’s dynamics and they are foreigners to even the basic understanding of their community and the entire society’s wellbeing.

These foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims, tried to link the Niqab issue to the Hijab one.  Some of them said all religious symbols must go, and others called it a war against religious rights.

Reality is, both are wrong. The Niqab issue should not be treated as a question of religious rights because it has been addressed from the communication and personal identification side. When in fact the Hijab issue cannot be addressed at the same level and it has nothing to do with these concerns.   

   

If some are trying to use this occasion to impose their new religion, the firm or closed minded secularism “laïcité ferme”, we say no to them.  Our society agreed and accepted the open secularism “laïcité ouverte” that promotes mutual acceptance and the living together concept.

The open secularism is defining the separation between the state and the church in a very clear term.  It clearly refuses that the state represents a religion, but defends individuals’ rights to practice and live by their religious believes.

  

When are we going to be really part of the society and part of Quebec’s future? This will not be materialized by talk, but by actions. This will not happen unless we stop looking on our door steps and start looking outside the box, when we consider ourselves one society, not divided into Muslims and non-Muslims.

The Niqab issue is the hot potato in today’s Quebec, and this issue will make or break our living together concept. Are we ready to understand or we will remain running with our baseball bat fighting against the hate mongers and the Islamophobics without understanding the affect on the society as a whole.     

Yes, there is no place for Niqab in the work place and yes Niqab could be a threat to security. But, does this need a law, I don’t think so. If the society finds that it is essential, the law should be more specific to limit the possibility of discrimination that we are starting to notice.

This can of worms has been opened, is there any one wise ready to help in closing it, or is it too late?

* Mohamed S. Kamel: is an engineer and a recognized project manager professional (PMP), a freelance writer, the editor of I.N. Daily, co-founder of the Canadian Egyptian for Democracy (CEFD), Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM) and the former president and co-founder of the Canadian Muslim Forum (FMC-CMF), could be reached at public@mohamedkamel.com