The Pessimist

Saturday was Canada Day. It was a beautiful day to walk around the local festivals and appreciate what a great country we live in. We are so justified in celebrating our personal freedom, our tolerant society and our abundant and fairly distributed wealth.
Some may disagree, of course, but that is their right.

The one thing that spoiled the day for me, however, was the repugnant sight of 3 women wearing burqas! One was at the Columbia Lake Canada celebration -- a free all-day open-air concert, kiddie fair, firework show. The other two were having a family picnic at Waterloo park. They were covered head-to-toe in black fabric, with a solid black face-mask leaving only their eyes showing. The first woman seemed to be by herself, which seemed odd. The "man" of the family in the park wasn't wearing any sort of ethnic costume. Basically, he was dressed like a schlub.

Being a non-confrontational kinda guy, I didn't do anything except glower. The encounter left me seething. Now I wish I had said something to them, though that probably would have gotten me arrested.

I'm quite liberal. I can tolerate a great deal of diversity; actually, I insist on it. Tolerance is the principle that makes Canada such a great place to live. But, the one thing that I cannot tolerate is intolerance. And the burkha is the very symbol of intolerance.

Wearing the burkha means:

• the woman is a chattal of a man, no more than a goat or a cow.
• that no man can be trusted in the presence of a woman ... the mere sight of a bare ankle or uncovered hair means that the man must rape and kill her, because he cannot be expected to control his "urges"
• they refuse to accept any law beside God's
• they refuse to be integrated into society.

I believe that France has done the right thing by legislating that outward signs of religious affiliation cannot be worn in public school.
I believe that the Netherlands is right in telling their guest residents that they must conform to Dutch norms or leave. Australia has said similar things.

Canada must take a stand against this hateful, intolerant uniform, just like they did against female genital mutilation. The burqa is a hate crime, and it should be banned.