Pioneer in the community. Muslim candidate says she shouldn't be dismissed because of her personal beliefs
JEFF HEINRICH
The Gazette
Saturday, September 13, 2008
As the NDP candidate for Bourassa, Samira Laouni (seen here with the NDP's Rosemont candidate Alexandre Boulerice) is billed as the 'first veiled candidate' to run for federal office in Quebec. Laouni has faced decisions on whether to compromise her traditional Muslim customs - such as not shaking hands with men she isn't related to - for the sake of working as a politician.
Samira Laouni did a bold thing yesterday: she spoke to men inside a mosque where the sexes are segregated.
Samira Laouni did a bold thing yesterday: she spoke to men inside a mosque where the sexes are segregated.
Normally, at the Centre culturel islamique Ach-Choura, a squat building next to a dépanneur in Montreal North, men and women pray on separate floors - men on the ground floor, women in the basement.
But yesterday, the Muslim sabbath, Laouni left her place below and went up to talk to the men.
It was her first time at the mosque, and she was on a personal mission: to get volunteers for her campaign as the NDP's candidate in Bourassa, the local Liberal stronghold.
In the end, she wound up breaking down barriers between devout Muslims - barriers that keep the sexes apart.
But yesterday, the Muslim sabbath, Laouni left her place below and went up to talk to the men.
It was her first time at the mosque, and she was on a personal mission: to get volunteers for her campaign as the NDP's candidate in Bourassa, the local Liberal stronghold.
In the end, she wound up breaking down barriers between devout Muslims - barriers that keep the sexes apart.
Ironic, because as the first candidate in Quebec history to wear a hijab, she has struggled to overcome suspicions she's pushing a pro-Muslim agenda.
Amongst her own brothers and sisters of Islam, she's actually known as a bit of an iconoclast.
Yesterday was perfect proof.
"I came here for Friday prayers, to practice my spirituality, which relaxes me, and I started my speech downstairs, where the women are," Laouni, 47, said outside the Léger Blvd. mosque after her address to the faithful.
"But because the microphone wasn't working, I went upstairs. I made a breakthrough, and I think that's what you have to do. You have to dare."
On the back wall of the men's floor, a closed-circuit video camera captured her visit, relaying to the women below the candidate's speech, along with the answers to the questions the men asked her.
There were about 50 men in all; some had brought their young sons. They sat cross-legged on the carpet, most of them barefoot, others in socks, their shoes left at the door, as tradition dictates.
In Arabic and French, the men wanted to know about Laouni and her party, about their positions on immigration issues, on employment.
Laouni spoke to them standing at the front of the hall. Her head was wrapped modestly in the Muslim scarf but her feet were bare to the naked eye, just like the men's - one small step for a Muslim woman's rights, a permissible breach of one mosque's orthodoxy.
"I think this will happen more and more," Laouni said afterwards. "It takes women who are pioneers, and I think we're starting to change things."
Amongst her own brothers and sisters of Islam, she's actually known as a bit of an iconoclast.
Yesterday was perfect proof.
"I came here for Friday prayers, to practice my spirituality, which relaxes me, and I started my speech downstairs, where the women are," Laouni, 47, said outside the Léger Blvd. mosque after her address to the faithful.
"But because the microphone wasn't working, I went upstairs. I made a breakthrough, and I think that's what you have to do. You have to dare."
On the back wall of the men's floor, a closed-circuit video camera captured her visit, relaying to the women below the candidate's speech, along with the answers to the questions the men asked her.
There were about 50 men in all; some had brought their young sons. They sat cross-legged on the carpet, most of them barefoot, others in socks, their shoes left at the door, as tradition dictates.
In Arabic and French, the men wanted to know about Laouni and her party, about their positions on immigration issues, on employment.
Laouni spoke to them standing at the front of the hall. Her head was wrapped modestly in the Muslim scarf but her feet were bare to the naked eye, just like the men's - one small step for a Muslim woman's rights, a permissible breach of one mosque's orthodoxy.
"I think this will happen more and more," Laouni said afterwards. "It takes women who are pioneers, and I think we're starting to change things."
It was that pioneering spirit that brought Laouni to Canada from Morocco 10 years ago. Born in Casablanca, daughter of an aristocrat and a farmer, she now lives in the Vimont district of Laval with her three children and husband, Abderrahim Maallah, who supports the family through his work as a laboratory director of a large pharmaceutical company.
Laouni said she tried finding a good job in her own domain - she has a PhD in economics from the Sorbonne, in Paris - but gave up after too many prospective employers balked when she came to the interview in her hijab. Feeling rejected, she threw herself tirelessly into a wide range of volunteer work with a variety of local Muslim organizations.
But her work with the Canadian Islamic Congress - she was a volunteer project manager whose job was to "de-mystify" her religion by leading delegations to visit Hérouxville, serve meals at the Old Brewery Mission, and console the family of Cédrika Provencher - has not endeared her to opponents in Quebec.
Anti-Islamist websites such as PointdeBasculeCanada.ca think she's fronting for an organization that pushes conservative Muslim values. And on two popular French-language radio talk shows in Montreal and Quebec City this week (see sidebar), Laouni was repeatedly confronted with pointed questions:
Laouni said she tried finding a good job in her own domain - she has a PhD in economics from the Sorbonne, in Paris - but gave up after too many prospective employers balked when she came to the interview in her hijab. Feeling rejected, she threw herself tirelessly into a wide range of volunteer work with a variety of local Muslim organizations.
But her work with the Canadian Islamic Congress - she was a volunteer project manager whose job was to "de-mystify" her religion by leading delegations to visit Hérouxville, serve meals at the Old Brewery Mission, and console the family of Cédrika Provencher - has not endeared her to opponents in Quebec.
Anti-Islamist websites such as PointdeBasculeCanada.ca think she's fronting for an organization that pushes conservative Muslim values. And on two popular French-language radio talk shows in Montreal and Quebec City this week (see sidebar), Laouni was repeatedly confronted with pointed questions:
Doesn't her hijab make her a submissive woman? Did she have to ask her husband's permission to run for office? Isn't observing Ramadan cruel, since it imposes hunger on Muslim schoolchildren)? Does she support sharia law? (Her answer: no). And why do some radical Muslims celebrate the 9-11 anniversary as a victory? (She doesn't, and condemns all violence).
Laouni wants to keep religion and politics separate in the campaign. For example, since Hérouxville, she's taken to shaking the hands of men she meets - at least, those who don't know that devout Muslim women are prohibited from doing so (it's considered "haraam" - forbidden, in Arabic - to touch someone who's not your husband, brother, father, father-in-law, uncle or grandfather).
Laouni wants to keep religion and politics separate in the campaign. For example, since Hérouxville, she's taken to shaking the hands of men she meets - at least, those who don't know that devout Muslim women are prohibited from doing so (it's considered "haraam" - forbidden, in Arabic - to touch someone who's not your husband, brother, father, father-in-law, uncle or grandfather).
"People I'd meet didn't understand why I wouldn't shake their hand - they found it insulting," she recalled. "So I decided to start shaking hands. It was less shocking and hurtful that way."
Her hijab - something she's worn all her adult life - means people can't forget she's Muslim. But she tries to make them forget anyway.
"I'm first and foremost a Canadian citizen named Samira Laouni," she said emphatically. "After that, I'm also the NDP candidate for Bourassa. And it happens that sometimes, like today, I'm a Muslim who prays. There's no contradiction."
At a Montreal campaign stop Thursday with her party's leader, Jack Layton, in Victoria Square, other candidates deplored how some media harp on her Muslim convictions just because she wears the headscarf.
Everyone is bound under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to respect "other religions," said Thomas Mulcair, a former Quebec environment minister who as MP for Outremont is the NDP's sole MP in Quebec. "Some of the things I hear (in the media), frankly, go beyond intolerance, and that's a bit of a surprise."
Her hijab - something she's worn all her adult life - means people can't forget she's Muslim. But she tries to make them forget anyway.
"I'm first and foremost a Canadian citizen named Samira Laouni," she said emphatically. "After that, I'm also the NDP candidate for Bourassa. And it happens that sometimes, like today, I'm a Muslim who prays. There's no contradiction."
At a Montreal campaign stop Thursday with her party's leader, Jack Layton, in Victoria Square, other candidates deplored how some media harp on her Muslim convictions just because she wears the headscarf.
Everyone is bound under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to respect "other religions," said Thomas Mulcair, a former Quebec environment minister who as MP for Outremont is the NDP's sole MP in Quebec. "Some of the things I hear (in the media), frankly, go beyond intolerance, and that's a bit of a surprise."
If people question how the NDP can call itself "progressive" when it fields a hijab-wearing candidate, they don't understand the role women play in Islam, and how strong a woman Laouni is, Mulcair said. "She's an extraordinary political candidate who wears a Muslim headscarf" - and that should be the end of it, he said.
Anne-Marie Aubert, the NDP candidate in Mégantic-L'Érable, agreed.
"I don't think that she has a religious agenda, per se," Aubert said. "She just wants to show that people of any religion can work in politics and support a secular society. Just because you have your personal beliefs doesn't mean you can't engage in political life."
Is that why Laouni doesn't shy from shaking hands with men? Is that a compromise of sorts?
"I guess it just shows that, when you're out there trying to tell people that there should be reasonable accommodation (of religious minorities), you have to practice what you preach. And I think she's learned that."
Anne-Marie Aubert, the NDP candidate in Mégantic-L'Érable, agreed.
"I don't think that she has a religious agenda, per se," Aubert said. "She just wants to show that people of any religion can work in politics and support a secular society. Just because you have your personal beliefs doesn't mean you can't engage in political life."
Is that why Laouni doesn't shy from shaking hands with men? Is that a compromise of sorts?
"I guess it just shows that, when you're out there trying to tell people that there should be reasonable accommodation (of religious minorities), you have to practice what you preach. And I think she's learned that."
Samira Laouni's NDP website is samiralaouni.ndp.ca.
jheinrich@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008
jheinrich@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008
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