Canadian MPs Weigh In On The Asmahan Mansour
1 Comments Published by The R Rated Blogger on Friday, March 02, 2007 at 4:44 AM.
Two very good points made by couple of Canadian politicians in the whole Asmahan (Azzy) Mansour, hijab incident.
"You can't hide a bomb under a hijab," said a laughing Khan, "I would hate to see what is happening in Europe come here, to be honest with you. I am very conscious of the security of Canada and Canadians. I have done a lot of work on that issue but I think an 11-year-old girl, all she wants to do is play soccer. Let her play the game. People are talking about burkas. A hijab is not a burka, for godsakes. I think there is a misunderstanding. But no one is telling anyone how to dress. I come back to the RCMP. If they can change their uniform, an old institution like that, we changed that, then I think saner heads can prevail."
Wajhid Khan, Conservative MP
"I was so shocked that Charest, first of all, would get involved in this. How does a hijab get in the way at all playing soccer. My sadness is it will stop girls from playing sports. We need to look at what is in the best interest of the children, especially the girls - it is real sad."
Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer
More on MPs defend girl at centre of soccer controversy here.
"You can't hide a bomb under a hijab," said a laughing Khan, "I would hate to see what is happening in Europe come here, to be honest with you. I am very conscious of the security of Canada and Canadians. I have done a lot of work on that issue but I think an 11-year-old girl, all she wants to do is play soccer. Let her play the game. People are talking about burkas. A hijab is not a burka, for godsakes. I think there is a misunderstanding. But no one is telling anyone how to dress. I come back to the RCMP. If they can change their uniform, an old institution like that, we changed that, then I think saner heads can prevail."
Wajhid Khan, Conservative MP
"I was so shocked that Charest, first of all, would get involved in this. How does a hijab get in the way at all playing soccer. My sadness is it will stop girls from playing sports. We need to look at what is in the best interest of the children, especially the girls - it is real sad."
Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer
More on MPs defend girl at centre of soccer controversy here.
In respose to some of the comments made above I should like to add that Charest is in the middle of a provincial election and had been criticised for not pronouncing himself during the Hérouxville code affair ( read my posts on Hérouxville).and ended up creating a commission to study the whole matter of accomodations.
As for the R.C.M.P. changing it's rules as you call it, I should like to remind you that the ''R'' in R.C.M.P. stands for ROYAL because Canada is part of the Commonwealth and therefore it has it's dress code including wearing the turban,The Indies were also colonized.
The whole debate over the hijab is making headlines because it is based on false pretenses. The soccer playing girl's own mother does not wear the Hijab as it is not an obligation of their religion. The hijab stands for oppression, women are totally controlled by men and not only Canadian women but Women all over the world see it as offensive to them when they have fought so hard to reach equality.Much ado about nothing. The soccer girl was not denied the right to play her game because she is MUSLIM and to say that the message being sent is to prevent girls from playing sports is a poor poor smoke screen. Her freedom to play has not been denied,her freedom to join the team has not been denied,all she has to do is comply with the rules of the governing body. Do you see Hockey players wearing turbans ? no they have to wear a helmet be they black,chinese, russian,or of any religion.It is a false debate.