London council asked to oppose Quebec's controversial secularism bill
CBC
Councillors Mariam Hamou and Josh Morgan, and Mayor Ed Holder, are asking London city council to oppose Quebec's controversial Bill 21, which bans public servants from wearing religious symbols such as turbans, hijabs and kippahs at work.
The three were inspired by Brampton's opposition to the bill this week, and came together to draft a motion, which they'll bring to council on Dec. 21.
Like Brampton, they are asking council to put up $100,000 for the legal challenge against the bill by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, Canadian Civil Liberties Association and World Sikh Organization of Canada.
"We see that the leadership isn't coming from the top," said Hamou. "So municipalities have taken on that leadership and they're saying, 'You know what? No province is allowed to tell anyone how to dress or how to express themselves.'"
Hamou believes that the federal response to this bill, which was passed on June 16, 2019, has been "dismal."
"When the Afzaal family was murdered by that terrorist attack, they came here and they said, 'We're going to pledge and we're going to do and we're going to help you, and we're going to do all this stuff,' but none of them stood up against Bill 21," she said.
The drafted motion references the June terror attack in London that killed four members of the Afzaal family. The three council members say this initiative is one way to fight Islamophobia and other discrimination.
It's a personal issue for Hamou since she is a hijabi herself.
"I wouldn't be able to do my job," she said, speculating about the situation she'd be in if she were working in Quebec. Hamou is the first Muslim woman to sit on London city council.
"Essentially, you're creating a tiered system of second class citizens," she said.
There was a public outcry after Fatemeh Anvari, a Quebec teacher, was ousted from her classroom this month for wearing a hijab. Since then, Toronto has also pledged to give $100,000 to the legal battle, and more cities could join.
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