"Soccer moms 'R' us" is a good way to describe the recreational league I play in," Sheema Khan writes today on the Comment Page of the Globe in her article Don't kick up a fuss on hijabs
"We are women, over 30 years of age, who get together every week in friendly, competitive matches.
"I am the only hijabi in the league, but no one has ever raised the issue of my head scarf being a safety hazard . . . In fact, I don't think anyone notices it anymore. I'm simply known as "No. 13 . . .
"That is why I shook my head in disbelief when I heard yesterday about Asmahan Mansour, 11, who was barred from playing in a Quebec tournament for wearing her hijab. Apparently, the referee ruled it a safety hazard."
The ban has ignited a fierce debate, with the Quebec Soccer Federation defending the referee's decision as a matter of safety, not religious prejudice.
Quebec Liberal Premier Jean Charest backed the soccer officials today, saying: "They have their rules, and they're for safety. It's up to them to apply the rules, and they applied them in the way they saw fit … and I don't have a problem with that," he said Tuesday morning during a stop in the provincial election campaign.
Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair took a different tack, backing the girl and criticizing Charest. Full Story: Charest backs referee in soccer flap
What do you think? Is it unfair to ban the hijab for soccer games? Or is there a real safety issue?
The soccer-playing, hijab-wearing Ms. Khan joined us online earlier to take your questions on the issue and on her column today.
Your questions and Ms. Khan's answers appear at the bottom of this page.
Ms. Khan came to Montreal from India at the age of 3. She obtained a Masters degree in physics and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard.
After Harvard, she returned to Canada to work in R&D for a pharmaceutical firm and is an inventor of a number of patented inventions in drug delivery. After that, she worked at a couple of law firms in intellectual property law.
Ms. Khan also served as chair of the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), a grassroots advocacy group from 2000-2005.
She is married, with three small children.
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Tabassum Siddiqui, Globeandmail.com: Good afternoon, Sheema, and welcome back to the Globeandmail.com online forum.
This has become a very hot topic over the past day, with everyone from Quebec politicians to everyday Canadians weighing in with their opinion. We heard your thoughts on the subject in your column in today's paper, but why do you think this issue has captured such widespread attention?
Sheema Khan: In Quebec, the issue of 'reasonable accomodation' has become a hot topic over the past few months. It picked up steam with comments from ADQ leader Mario Dumont, and international attention when the town council of Herouxville decided to weigh in on the subject. It is now an election issue, as Quebeckers debate the limits of inclusive policies. In Canada, a similar debate is taking place as we discuss limits of multiculturalism. This may be an imperfect analogy, but the present hijab brouhaha is reminiscient of the debate over the permissibility of allowing a Sikh to serve in the RCMP while wearing his turban. We have various notions of what defines "Canadian" identity (or Quebec identity), and we are now facing choice of whether such definitions can include beliefs and customs which have not been part of historical markers of national identity.
