France bans burkini, Canada honors hijab
By Bhupinder S. Liddar
On the very same day this week that French police were chasing Muslim women wearing burkinis (a new term that blends the words “burka” and “bikini”)
away from beaches, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s federal police, was announcing the allowing of Muslim women to wear the hijab (head scarf) as part of their uniform.
These two very different scenarios are unfolding on two sides of the Atlantic: on one side of the ocean – an intolerant, insecure, Old World (Europe) and, on the other, an inclusive, beyond tolerant, refugee-welcoming New World, epitomized by Canada.
In France in the last few days, four women were fined and six others cautioned, as French Prime Minister Manuel Valls described the Muslim swimwear as symbolic of the “enslavement of women.”
The women were all stopped by police in Cannes, where a ban on the conservative swimming attire came into place on July 28. Six left the beach, after a caution, while four were fined 38 euros (US$43) each.
At least 15 towns in France’s southeast, including the French Riviera towns of Nice and Cannes, have banned the “Muslim” swimwear.
Other European countries, including Belgium, have either put in place, or are considering, a ban on the wearing of niqab. While hijab allows Muslim women to show their full face, and covers only the head, the niqab-wearing women show only their eyes through a slit.
The niqab became an issue during the last Canadian federal election when a niqab-wearing Muslim woman insisted, and was allowed by the courts, to take her citizenship oath while wearing a niqab.
Debate still lingers on whether these face-covering garments are male ordered and whether they are mandated religious or arbitrary cultural practices.
According to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s spokesperson, “the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a progressive and inclusive police service that values and respects persons of cultural and religious backgrounds.”
However, the RCMP currently has no member requesting to wear the hijab on duty.
Canadians have been through this sort of saga before when in 1990, a Canadian turban-wearing Sikh, Baltej Dhillon, asked to join the RCMP. Then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s government was instrumental in allowing RCMP Sikh officers to wear turbans while on duty.
This led to an emotional debate, the signing of petitions, and protests against the decision. The Reform Party, precursor of the present-day federal Conservative Party, at its 1989 convention passed a resolution opposing the wearing of turbans as part of the RCMP uniform.
Today, no one gives a second look on seeing a turbaned RCMP officer.
The 1990 decision also proclaimed that indigenous officers could wear their hair in braids. A few years earlier, a Canadian Sikh won the right not to remove his turban and wear a helmet while serving in the Canadian Army’s artillery unit.
The above incidents illustrate that it was not too distant in the past when some Canadians displayed bigotry, racism and intolerance. There are still remnants of this intolerance but the country has matured by leaps and bounds since those bitter and divisive days.
Some of this lingering intolerance is reflected in comments on the CBC website, where almost five to one oppose the RCMP’s decision to allow Muslim women to wear a hijab as part of their uniform.
Quebec National Assembly member Nathalie Roy, of the right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec, reacted to the RCMP decision by stating that “the Islamic veil only serves to subjugate women and should therefore be banned from the police uniform.”
The federal police force is facing a serious personnel shortage with some 800 officers retiring this year. Because of the need to recruit new officers, the RCMP is dropping its requirement that applicants must be Canadian citizens. Permanent residents can now apply to become RCMP officers.
There are signs of hope for Canada and the clearest signal of this comes from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Speaking to reporters in Sudbury, Ontario, on August 22, he said: “I think in Canada we should go beyond tolerance. Being tolerant is accepting some people, but you don’t want to be too bothered.
“But you have to have an openness, comprehension, understanding, and this is what we are aiming for. This is what we see every day when we see diverse communities enriched by their communities. This is what they have to aim for.”
The challenge of nation-building is to implement policies that will lead to a cohesive, and not a divisive, society. The RCMP decision on allowing Canadian Muslim women to wear hijab on duty certainly contributes to building such an inclusive and cohesive Canada.
Bhupinder S. Liddar is a retired Canadian diplomat and former publisher/editor of Diplomat & International Canada magazine. He can be reached at [email protected] or his website www.liddar.ca
