Niqab for Schoolgirls in La Pointe-de-l’Île

La Pointe-de-l’Île is a northeastern suburb of Montréal in Quebec. The following TV report describes the controversy over a 15-year-old schoolgirl who has requested that she be allowed to wear the niqab in a middle school in La Pointe-de-l’Île.

It’s staggering that anyone would take this young woman’s request seriously, and it’s stupefying to discover that the wearing of a full-body covering in school is being debated as a human right in Quebec.

Many thanks to Ava Lon for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:00   An exclusive for TVA News: Several people are denouncing the lack
00:04   of guidelines concerning the questions of religious accommodation, while the liberal law project
00:08   still hasn’t been adopted, a 15-year-old female student re-launched the debate
00:12   when she requested to be allowed to wear a whole-body covering in class.
00:16   An accommodation request that hasn’t gone unnoticed in the middle school Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
00:20   A 15-year-old female student wished to wear the full Islamic covering, the niqab,
00:25   according to our information; with the consent of the school principal she was able to wear
00:29   it for a short period of time, but School Commission ended up denying her request.
00:33   Outlining their position, the School Commission of La Pointe-de-l’Île
00:37   refused to grant us an interview on camera; in an email they sent us,
00:41   “The School Commission of la Pointe-de-l’Île emphasises that they do not comment on specific cases, since this one concerns a minor.”
00:43   they mention that they won’t comment on a particular case,
00:47   because it concerns minors. When we give service and when
00:50   we receive it, it has to be done with a open face. The teachers’ union
00:54   supports the decision of the School Commission, but it denounces the lack of taking responsibility
00:58   on the part of the liberal government. The government has to assume
01:02   its responsibilities. It’s their job to say: from now on in the public schools and
01:06   in the private religious schools that receive government subventions, there is behavior that we
01:10   have to exhibit, all of us [male and female], and the fact that the government
01:15   isn’t occupying its space, well, this is leaving the space to extremists. The government
01:19   was always very clear that the public services are being received and given with an open face.
01:23   So has the School Commission of la Pointe-de-l’Île made the right decision?
01:27   It’s not my job to judge this situation today.
01:31   I’m telling you that our government
01:35   is going to file a draft for a law, and we will continue
01:40   to work on this law project. —For the official opposition, the law project concerning
01:44   state neutrality doesn’t go far enough. —In all the exceptions more or less
01:48   possible, and we have to prove, the burden of proof is on the
01:52   person who is making the decision. They have to prove that there’s a need for security
01:56   or a fundamental need for communication in order to prevent
02:00   the person from wearing a niqab. That’s what doesn’t make any sense. —It’ll allow for a request
02:05   for a religious accommodation like that young girl was trying to do.
02:09   And this is unreasonable. Minister [Stéphanie] Vallée is hoping to have her law project adopted
02:13   starting the next parliamentary session. Elisabeth Laplante, TVA News,
02:17   Montreal.
 

16 thoughts on “Niqab for Schoolgirls in La Pointe-de-l’Île

  1. Nothing like inviting death through the front door. I guess if my religious conviction involves wearing a NAZI SS a uniform and saying “heil Hitler” five times per day these school idiots would discuss accommodating me. Apparently, adult supervision and common sense no longer belong in schools.

    • Well done! I also like to compare muslims to Nazis. Not only because their goals is so similar, but the Nazis well deservedly become in our pop culture as the ultimate evil. Unfortunately communists never got that status and islam is idolized by the left. I always recommend to anybody if they hear or tell a muslim related story, try to do a thought exercise and substitute the muslim actors and deeds in the story with Nazi ones… It will put extra contrast on the events and for the less education ignorant ones at least get a clearer picture.

    • Come on. You know women are all about the clothes! Like mini-micro skirts in the 70s and pants suits in the 80s and whatever it is now, you cannot interfere with what they wish to wear. It only leads to the dog house or worse.
      So if hijabs become de rigueur in Paris in the spring, let it be. They may start off conservatively, but those fashionistas will soon have them strutting their stuff!

  2. Isn’t it inconsistent, and tantamount to government involvement in theological matters, for the Canadian authorities to green light niqab but red light female circumcision? Both are cultural matters in a theologically based culture.
    Whenever I encounter muslims – which I do on a daily basis since I live in the suburbs of Minneapolis and work in the school system – I feel I am being slowly strangled. I see a reasonably pleasant future for Minneapolis slowly slipping away. The disconnect between the liberal Democratic Party and working people in Minnesota is stark. The only people who support them are the ethnic beneficiaries themselves and their servants in local governments.

    • Mark,

      My thoughts are with you in Minnesota.

      One of the most vexing issues to me is why, oh why, is there a giant Somali colony that is a hotbed for terrorist funding and recruiting in the midst of your beautiful state.

      Stay strong.

  3. These people wherever they reside are constantly testing the resolve of the infidel. In almost every case the latter submits.

  4. There was a number of these cases in Czech Republic too – just now some muslim girl lost a court case because she wouldn’t take her scarf off at a medical school or something… And I remember at least two more similar cases. I find it funny that the muslim girls drive the niqab issue to court, and that they demand an apology and money, because their feelings have been hurt you know 🙂

    I have seen women in Sweden driving cars in Niqabs and even Burkas: It would be funny were it not scary that someone is driving around having her field of view narrowed down to just a thin hole in front of her eyes… That actually hurts my feelings, because I drive a lot, and these girls – you don’t even know if she sees you or not when you are passing by… God forbid they should become doctors, I doubt they would even wash their hands 🙁

    • Yeah I know that Arabic saying about the camel getting in… It is not without irony how their own sayings are explaining what they doing. Also probably there is another saying what they do with the camel in the tent after…

      • I believe they fight to get to the front of the queue. Well, you wouldn’t want to get an ugly one.

  5. In their quest to expand their Islamic totalitarian ideology, they ended up looking like corpse. It is bad enough that their Islamic community spreading this type totalitarian ideology via imposing such a horrible and oppressive dress code but it is even worse when those individual Islamic girls expect or demand respect for their Islamic totalitarian ideology outfit.

    • This is the trial run. They’ll scream and cry and claim, “Persecution.” Maybe fight through the courts. It’s to establish the equivalency of Shari’a with local laws and give validity to Shari’a. Her rights to obey the laws of her faith supersede any dress code or school policies. Send her to a private school for Muslim girls. Oh wait…never mind that idea!

  6. I am a teacher in Montreal with a different school board and if faced with this situation, I would REFUSE to teach someone who covered her face. This CANNOT be allowed.

    • This I think is the nub of the matter and how burkas/niquabs can be outlawed: it covers the face. Nobody really knows who’s in there. This is a security issue.

      It is also a social issue – in Western Civilization, we have a basic expectation of truth and honesty and candidness, and covering your face is deceptive. If they want to live here, they have to accept our custom of showing one’s face in public.

  7. I would bet the girl is telepromptered by her father or someone close to her to push their islam agenda. Whenever there was a similar case of women/girls requesting to wear their islamic garb there was always a bearded guy not far behind, as they can’t do it themselves as it would be too obvious, they send their women as a shield, willingly or not. Remember the woman who got her Canadian citizenship wearing a niqab, Zunera Ishaq, and all her ‘supportive’ family right behind her.

    • It is not surprising if she is being made use by her parents or her family to further their agenda to bully the world into following more of their Islamic nonsense.

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