Trudeau should be more tolerant to different religious beliefs, Muslim parent says
By Teny Sahakian
Muslim parents say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is either “lying or he is misinformed” after he blamed the “American right-wing” for Canadian Muslims’ opposition to gender ideology and LGBTQ curriculum in K-12 education.
“It’s shocking that Trudeau would use the same kind of silly arguments that are being used in the United States,” Kareem Monib, a parent from Montgomery County, Maryland, told Fox News Digital. “I’m surprised that they don’t have anything else to say other than to accuse parents who are truly concerned and want to pass on their religious teachings to their kids — to say that that’s right-wing manipulation.”
“It’s just sad,” Monib added. “He’s either lying or he’s misinformed. The curriculum is there. Everyone can read it.”
Trudeau spoke with the Muslim community last week at a Calgary mosque, after hundreds of Muslim parents gathered last month to protest against teaching gender ideology in schools, chanting “Leave our kids alone.”
According to a video from the meeting, one Muslim parent asked Trudeau to “please protect our culture, our belief, the sin that you are doing to them.”
Trudeau responded, “First of all, there is an awful lot of misinformation and disinformation out there [from] people on social media, particularly fueled by the American right-wing [who] are spreading a lot of untruths about what is actually… in the curriculum.” Trudeau’s remarks appeared to echo liberal media narratives that Muslims were being manipulated by conservatives into their stance, such as MSNBC’s Jen Psaki saying the GOP was “trying to recruit” Muslims into being anti-transgender.
In his response to the Muslim community, Trudeau said there is not “aggressive teaching or conversion of kids into being LGBT,” claiming that narrative had been “weaponized” by people on the “far right who have consistently stood against Muslim rights.”
Binnish Mustafa, another Montgomery Country parent to a seven-year-old special needs child, said Trudeau “really needs to go to the public school classroom and sit there and see the discussions that follow certain classroom books that are being discussed.”
Mustafa and Monib attended similar rallies in their own community last month protesting a change to the curriculum that prevented parents from opting their children out of sexual and gender identity lessons based on religious beliefs.
“I’m surprised that Trudeau has also not asked himself why this is happening,” Monib said. “Is it because there has been an aggressive overreach to do this?”
“This accusation of right-wing manipulation is actually a way for them to avoid looking at their own role and responsibility in creating this situation,” he added.
The frustration among Muslim parents in Canada reached a boiling point after audio surfaced of an Edmonton Public Schools teacher berating Muslim students for skipping school in order to avoid Pride events.
“It goes two ways. If you want to be respected for who you are, if you don’t want to suffer prejudice for your religion, your color of skin or whatever, then you better give it back to people who are different from you. That’s how it works,” said the teacher.
In his meeting to appease concerned parents, Trudeau added these “far-right” forces are using Muslims’ strong opinions on LGBTQ issues to stoke fear and “drive a wedge between a government that will always stand up for all your rights.”
“I take much offense to what he said,” Mustafa said. “This is something that really affected us here in Montgomery County. When we spoke, we were categorized as the right wing. We were categorized as bigots.”
Mustafa said that in today’s modern society, more value is placed on the freedom to love whomever you choose than the freedom to practice your religion.
“It’s just really funny, love is love when it’s with man, woman, somebody that’s part of the LGBTQ. But love is not love if it’s with God. There is no love with God,” she said. “So you can accept boundaries when it comes to a relationship, but you can’t accept those boundaries if it’s set by God?”
“I would say, Mr. Trudeau, how accepting and tolerating are you of views that are different than yours? I mean, you don’t seem like the nicest guy when it comes to that,” Mustafa added.
