Goddess

It's a choice like when you are being mugged and someone puts a gun to your head and says, "Your money or your life." Dialamah, thank you for the thoughtful response. Perhaps an answer, in Canada at least, is to have support networks set up so that women can report this kind of coercion and abuse and be safe from the repercussions of their men. And have the men go to some kind of classes where they are taught to view women differently. Education. I think this should be done as soon as they arrive in Canada. I don't believe in Canada should be allowing this kind of abuse of women just because it's THEIR culture. It's not our culture. Women have fought hard to have the same rights as men and it would be a shame and a detriment to Canada if we backslide or allow the normalizing of women as second-class citizens. Will a few women in burka destroy Canada? Likely not, but it is the thin edge of the wedge. A wedge Muslims have been adept at using. "Questioning the Veil" is an excellent read in this regard. To me, hijabs and burkas are either religious abuse of women or domestic abuse of women. With a few wearing it to make a political statement.

I understand your thinking about the "choice" part of it. I'll give that a bit more thought. I've researched the subject a lot though and coupled with my experiences with the culture, I will stand by thoughts for now. Thanks for the quoting tip, too

Having trouble with the quote feature on this forum, sorry. "I would hope that she would see a woman making a choice, as I am assured some women do when it comes to the hijab." ~~bcsapper "Some" women do.....because they've been conditioned to accept their subservient role. Or they want to make a political/religious statement. Many more are forced into it. Aqsa Parvez refused to wear it and was murdered by her father. This is the reality, even in Canada, but much more so in Middle Eastern countries. Is that really a choice? In either case, I feel it is forced on them. Taxme said he will start up a conversation with a hijab wearing woman in front of her husband.....Wasn't there just an incident like that in the news....a woman's co-worker spoke to her and her husband in a mall and he ended up going to the job and killing someone over it..... I hate that women are again being told what they can and can't wear, but I also feel that our right to live in a society that is not openly hostile to women trumps their right to wear a garment that represents women's second-class citizenship. The principle should be that discrimination based on your innate characteristics (sex, race, etc) trumps protection from discrimination based on your affiliated ones (political party, sports, religion, etc.) Maybe it's the wording surrounding it that I don't care for.... "modest". It's not modest, it's fetishizing some parts of a woman's body that have nothing to do with sex and extending the sexual area inappropriately. And the overt inference is that you are not "modest" if you don't wear it, like you fail some minimum standard. But that's just my 2 cents.

I am also 100% against hijabs being added to our Mountie uniforms. There should be no religious affiliations prominently displayed with a police uniform. How safe will a Jewish person feel when pulled over by a clearly adorned Muslim Mountie? How supported will a female domestic violence victim feel with a Mountie who's wearing something that symbolizes her acceptance of women's subjugation to men? What happens if she has to arrest (or even deal with) a Muslim man...will he respect her authority at all when she is clearly communicating with the hijab that she is subservient to him? The uniform and the hijab are at odds with each other.

New person here! I am one of the ones who lost a home in Fort Mac (in Beacon Hill). I did not have to evacuate, as I was working in Edmonton that day. My ex was there and called at noon that day to say everything was okay. He was working in the Emergency Operations Center keeping an eye on the fires. Then at 2:30 pm, I got called out of a meeting with a phone call from him, crying on the side of the highway because the police would not let him go back to the house to get our dog. The fire was only a few feet from our house by then, so thank you to the policeman who kept him from going back. By 9 pm there was nothing left of my house except a smoldering hole. I know for a fact that there were no "eyes on the ground" that day, so no one knew Beacon Hill was burning until homes were already on fire. This could have been so, so much worse. Our insurance company has been pretty good, although they will only cover a portion of the home's contents. So thank you to everyone who has donated items or money. Not everyone is "rich" in Fort Mac. The mortgage on the house was $1400/mth and now my ex pays that, plus $2200 for a tiny basement suite. Hardly a day goes by that I don't remember something dear or important or that I need that was lost in the fire. I enjoyed reading this thread. And now I have 1 post under my belt.