A national Muslim advocacy group says Montreal would send the wrong message if it takes down a welcome sign in the lobby at city hall that generated controversy because it included a woman wearing a hijab.
Stephen Brown, chief executive of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said Wednesday his organization was surprised and disappointed by the city’s decision.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told a television talk show that aired on Sunday that the artwork depicting a woman wearing a headscarf would be removed in the name of secularism, adding that it made some people feel uncomfortable.
The image, in the style of a pencil sketch, shows the woman standing between two men — a younger man wearing a baseball cap and an older man with his hands crossed — with the words “Welcome to Montreal City Hall!” in French above them.
“This poster represents Montrealers — not a religious person or a secular person,” Brown said, adding the city should have told anyone who was uncomfortable to take a stroll around town.
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“In Canada in the 21st century, we don’t remove people from society because of the way they look,” Brown said. “The poster was not the picture of a veiled woman — the poster was representative of Montrealers and anybody that goes outside and walks around Montreal for half an hour is going to see all sorts of different people.”
On Sunday night, Plante told “Tout le monde en parle” on Radio-Canada she recognizes that the image had caused “discomfort” and that institutions must strive to be secular. She said the city should find ways to promote diversity while also favouring secularism.
Since city hall reopened after renovations in the spring, the new sign has sparked criticism from secular and women’s rights groups, who have said the image is insulting to women and promotes religion in the public space.
Brown, however, took issue with the secularism justification and said it sets a “dangerous precedent” for the city.
“Secularism is the idea that the state does not involve itself in religious matters and religious matters do not involve themselves in the governance of the state,” Brown said. “That is not the same thing as policing what people look like.”
Brown said it’s unacceptable to send a message that it’s OK to “render people invisible” because of the way they look.
“We got to the point in society where we said if you don’t like the way somebody looks, it’s not for that person to hide themselves or to change their identity — it’s for you to get over your own anxieties.”
Plante told reporters Wednesday that she doesn’t want anyone to feel erased because in Montreal “everyone has their place.”
She also expanded on her comments on the talk show, explaining that the sign is part of a rotating exhibit and would eventually have been replaced with something new. “For me to say that it will be changed, is something that we would have done anyway,” she said.
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