Stephen Harper deliberately sowing fear against Muslims: Justin Trudeau
Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News | March 9, 2015 9:57 PM ET, Source
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau addresses students last week at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C.
OTTAWA — Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of deliberately sowing fear and prejudice against Muslims in Canada.
The charge came in a strongly worded speech Mr. Trudeau delivered in Toronto Monday night to highlight his views on the importance of liberty in Canadian society.
“These are troubling times,” the Liberal leader told a gathering organized by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “Across Canada, and especially in my home province, Canadians are being encouraged by their government to be fearful of one another.
“Fear is a dangerous thing. Once it is sanctioned by the state, there is no telling where it might lead. It is always a short path to walk from being suspicious of our fellow citizens to taking actions to restrict their liberty.”
In his speech, Mr. Trudeau castigated the prime minister for his comments last month in the wake of a court ruling that struck down the government’s policy that forbid Muslim women to wear the niqab, a religious garment, over the face during citizenship ceremonies.
‘It is a cruel joke to claim you are liberating people from oppression by dictating in law what they can and cannot choose to wear’
At the time, Mr. Harper said his government would appeal the ruling because wearing a niqab during the ceremony is “offensive” and it’s “not how we do things here.”
In subsequent days, the Conservative party reinforced that message to its supporters and financial donors, as the Tories gear up for an election campaign.
“We all know what is going on here,” Mr. Trudeau said of Mr. Harper and the Tories. “It is nothing less than an attempt to play on people’s fears and foster prejudice, directly toward the Muslim faith.”
Mr. Trudeau said people can dislike the niqab and refer to it as a symbol of oppression.
“This is a free country. Those are your rights. But those who would use the state’s power to restrict women’s religious freedom and freedom of expression indulge the very same repressive impulse that they profess to condemn.
“It is a cruel joke to claim you are liberating people from oppression by dictating in law what they can and cannot choose to wear.”
Mr. Trudeau said Canada is a land of a million Muslims who should be allowed to thrive in a free and open secular democracy.
“Keeping these freedoms safe from those who would undermine them through violence is a vital national responsibility.
“What we cannot ever do is blur the line between a real security threat and simple prejudice, as this government has done. I believe they have done it deliberately, and I believe what they have done is deeply wrong.”
The Liberal leader noted that after Mr. Harper publicly spoke out against the niqab, a Quebec judge prevented a woman from wearing a hijab — a head scarf that still keeps the face visible — in the courtroom.
He said the judge’s decision is part of a “troubling trend that Mr. Harper seems keen to accelerate and exploit.”
“Fear is a dangerous thing. Once stoked, whether by a judge from the bench or a prime minister with a dog-whistle, there is no way to predict where it will end.”
He added that the Conservatives’ “approach to politics might work in the short term, but it is corrosive over time. Especially in a diverse country like Canada. It stokes anxiety and foments fear. Instead of encouraging Canadians to fight for one another’s liberty, it tells us to be suspicious of each other’s choices.
