Nawaipakistan.com

Last week, the Quebec Court of Appeal made its decision to uphold Bill 21, the law that bars so many of our mothers, daughters, and sisters in Quebec from wearing hijab at work.

Our community has been fighting this unconstitutional and discriminatory law tooth and nail since its inception, and now we have reached the most critical stage in this fight: a trip to the Supreme Court.

As a father and a husband of an amazing woman who wears the hijab, this fight is personal to me. 1 out of every 4 Canadian Muslims lives in Quebec and is directly targeted by the most Islamophobic piece of legislation to ever see the light of day in our country.

But this law also has far-reaching impacts for our community that goes far beyond Quebec. Because of this decision, and the precedent set by the Quebec government, any province in the country could pass a law taking away our fundamental rights and freedoms.

This precedent is nothing less than a threat to the heart of Canadian democracy. In a country where our rights are supposed to be enshrined, politicians can now violate our civil liberties on all levels, including the right to worship, our right to protest, or even our right to speak out against oppression, be it local islamophobia or Palestine.

This is a threat not just to Quebec or to the Muslim community. It is a threat to all of Canada, period.

Allah SWT reminds us several times in the Quran that “The oppressors do not succeed”. To live in a country where any government can take away our rights because it’s popular or politically expedient is an impossible reality for us to accept.

That is why we will continue to fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

And so now the real work starts. We will all need to be side by side to support each other in this fight against oppression.

We believe this to be our obligation, and we want you with us.

So please consider volunteering with NCCM or becoming a monthly donor.

Stephen Brown

CEO, National Council of Canadian Muslims