It’s highly ironic that the federal government recently established the Office of Religious Freedom and yet religious rights are divided in our own country. The federal government used the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a minority Islamic sect, to launch the Office of Religious Freedom. And yet Quebec targets the few visibly Muslim Canadians, among other minorities of other faiths, by taking away religious freedom rather than giving it.

Is Quebec’s Charter of Values a political, religious, cultural or xenophobic gesture? Tough to say, but one thing is for sure: the conflict of values within our own country must be resolved, because it is the acceptance of the “other” that makes Canada a safe haven for all.

Asma Chaudhry

Calgary

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