Could there be anyone more interested, and more disappointed, in the current kerfuffle about an 11-year-old girl banned from playing soccer in Québec because she wears the hijab than Pardeep Singh Nagra?
As he watched a professional soccer game on the tube Saturday, in which the goalie from Chelsea wore a rugby-like helmet with a padded chin strap, Nagra couldn’t help but laugh at the idea that a hijab could be a danger to other players.
When he was growing up in Malton, where he now lives once again, the former diversity officer at University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) played lots and lots of soccer, which was his favourite game.
He wore his hair in a topknot with a small handkerchief around it, or in a bandana or in a tight turban because his Sikh religion required the head covering. He and plenty of friends did that for years and nobody said a word. “It’s happening every day on playing fields all over Peel and there’s no problem,” says the 37-year-old who has a unique perspective on this case from a number of points of view.
As manager of the employment equity office at the Toronto District School Board, Nagra knows the ins and outs of human rights legislation and the innovative ways some people find to avoid embracing others’ religious or cultural customs.
After an injury dimmed his dreams of a soccer career, Nagra took up boxing and ended up in a celebrated confrontation with officials in that sport over the fact that he wore a beard in the ring.
Over five years, the Morning Star Secondary School graduate took on the soccer establishments who, of course, didn’t want to talk about the tenets of the Sikh religion and the ring. First he challenged the beard ban, which was also an alleged safety issue, in Ontario. He won a Human Rights decision. Then it took another court challenge against the federal association to get the national rules changed.
“Still as we speak, they don’t accept it,” says the former Peel Regional Police force auxiliary member. “They were very arrogant during the whole thing.”
Nagra is astounded that the International Football Association Board upheld the ruling of the Québec referee on the weekend. It just doesn’t jibe with reality, he said.
Many women professional soccer players and some men wear headbands and kerchiefs. One male professional player wears glasses on the field. The goal posts, and another player’s head are a lot more potentially damaging than any head covering, says the married father of one.
He is hoping that Asmahan Mansour and her parents will pursue the hijab issue because he knows they will win in the end.
But, let there be no mistake, there will be a cost. Nagra’s own personal battle to overturn the ban on facial hair for boxers cost him a lot of time, a lot of personal grief and a lot of money for lawyers.
And he has a very good question for all of us who like to be smug about how different and accommodating Canada is to minorities. If that is true, why did it take a Supreme Court challenge to allow the first turban to be worn by a police officer and a Human Rights Commission ruling to allow a Sikh boy to wear a sheathed kirpan in a Peel public school in 1990?
If Canada is the tolerant place we like to think, shouldn’t those changes have been made voluntarily, not through application of judicial force?
“When you say Canada accedes to minorities, when you say that people are being accommodated... it keeps people in a marginal position,” says the Malton resident. “It means that the dominant culture will tell you what the limits are.”
And isn’t it interesting that when Asmahan played back in Ontario this weekend no one made a peep. In fact, the same thing goes on, as it should, every day in every other province across Canada except Québec.
You would think that our friends next door are the last ones who should have to be reminded that understanding and acceptance, like so many other worthwhile qualities, begin at home.
Comments (9)
The hijab doesnt necessarily have to be tied in a way where it will choke a person. There are velcro hijabs out there as well. To say that no head gear is allowed period is absurd.
We know that this is a secular society and that is respected. Having said that not allowing people to popularly carry out the obligations of their faith when they dont logically intefere with society is just plain wrong.
Posted by Chaudhry | March 12, 2007 6:39 PM
Posted on March 12, 2007 18:39
Say!! those are incredible songs Gerry Timbers. Is Frank Zappa still the online editor at The Mississauga News?
I didn't know Bill Gates was still pumping gas at down at Joe's Garage?
Posted by PPAG | March 10, 2007 3:26 PM
Posted on March 10, 2007 15:26
Yes Irene. If you have something you’d like to get off your chest please send pics “here first” before you send them into our Nature Boy Don Barber watcher0I0@eol.ca and the boys at the Mississauga News before I reset the adult controls on my cookies.
Premier Harris and his Whiz Kids (Chief Administration staff) were far from simple by nature. Confirmed by the Provincial Auditors report most their time was spent reviewing the Film Review Board porn sights and vacated all the responsibilities from the MPP’s representing constituents because wedging different religious cultures were pitted against the “laws of our land” acting as Red Herrings.
The simple language behind “outsourcing” (aiding and embedding) implies there is a $66 million a year (tax increases) “margin of error” for fingering (slandering) the wrong persons because of structural problems ( pooling: the removal of natives) cause by lack of Due Diligence ( Ipperwash – Walkerton) that would have to be sorted out through Federal T-4 slips and Occupational Codes (disclosure of vital statistics). Victims and home owners could ill afford legal expenses and risks of retaining an incompetent lawyer (Mississauga Community Legal Services) or a biased Judged because of huge information gaps in disclosure with in the disappearance of our vital statistics (omissions of facts through outsourcing ).
Posted by Abbe | March 10, 2007 12:47 PM
Posted on March 10, 2007 12:47
If Guitar Man were to write in simple language, liable legal suites can be very inconvenient when even Ron Lenyk knows publishing the truth are often monitored by political affiliations who sue for the sport of misinterpreting the facts.
Speaking from Navdeeps Bains recent experience with smear tactics, that was totally uncalled for, the “Red Herring” ( a stinky smelling fish animal advocates use to throw blood hounds off the scent of the fox during a fox hunt) is the fact that it‘s schizophrenics behind terrorism and blow up airplanes that will masquerade under any creed of bandanas.
The "Common Sense Revolution" accused the same group of people (schizophrenics) of sitting around drinking beer and eating pop corn while being outsourced as scapegoats to bust up of Skills Trades unions through Workfare replacement workers under the $66 million a year pooling spree through the Mississauga property taxes.
If Nagra wants to make mountains out mole hills, it’s the bras affecting our womens topless volley ball teams that should be abolished from all Canadian sports.
Maybe Irene can show us a few pointers?
Posted by Guitar Man | March 9, 2007 8:06 PM
Posted on March 9, 2007 20:06
Hey Guitar Man:
You never make any sense. Maybe you could playit and we can all sing along.
Do you know David Gates?
Bill Gates?
Father Goetz?
Posted by GDT | March 9, 2007 5:56 PM
Posted on March 9, 2007 17:56
Oh, for God's sake!
Mr. Nagra is making mountains out of molehills. We have people accusing George W. Bush of creating a police state with the invention of the Patriot Act (which, just so you know, I don't like either), Jack Layton accusing the bank industry of gouging the population when they take a dollar and a half for a transaction fee, and now this guy saying the fact that someone can't wear a headdress is indicative of a problem with minorities in the eyes of the population.
Hey Mr. Nagra, did you ever try calling up the referee and asking what his thought process was when he banned the girl for wearing the headdress? I've seen pictures of it, and if someone happened to pull on it by accident, that girl could have been strangled to death, but no, all of a sudden it's your chance to get on your soapbox because you think minorities and immigrants aren't being "accommodated"...here's a thought: 5 years from now, the number of immigrants in this country will exceed the number of native citizens born here, so don't tell me that you're not being "accommodated".
Also, I have no clue what Guitar Man is saying, although I THINK he's talking about the homogenization (sp?) of immigrants and native citizens as one society, and that we're all the same, regardless of what headwear we have.
Posted by crazyrabbits | March 9, 2007 2:17 AM
Posted on March 9, 2007 02:17
The answer is quite simple. Those living in Quebec are more intolerant to change than those living in Ontario.
Posted by anurag | March 8, 2007 10:49 PM
Posted on March 8, 2007 22:49
I wish Guitar Man would write in simple plain language.......
Posted by Irene Gabon | March 8, 2007 1:47 PM
Posted on March 8, 2007 13:47
If in need an anthem “Ode to Billy Jack” and the “One Tin Soldier Rides Alone” tribute, it’s the stereotypical manner which the schizophrenia society and social paths are being sheep herded into the 905 faith community through the back door of the regional structural problems behind social services.
There’s no way to distinguish a worship dagger from a Workfare potato peeler that slipped out from under the Maple Hurst Detention Centre.
Since the disappearance of T-4 slips and HRDC occupational codes the melting pot uses the same soup kitchens as every other religion and political affiliation being sheared through social services when it comes right down marginalization.
Posted by Guitar Man | March 6, 2007 11:15 AM
Posted on March 6, 2007 11:15