The
federation held a Monday teleconference to explain its weekend
decision to uphold a ban on turbans that is unique in the
country.
Brigitte Frot, the director-general of the provincial
association, was asked what she would tell a five-year-old boy
in a turban who shows up to register to play soccer with his
friends.
She replied: “They can play in their backyard. But not with
official referees, not in the official rules of soccer. They
have no choice.”
Someone could be heard openly laughing as she delivered that
response during Monday’s media telephone conference call.
Canada has an office for religious freedom but it said Monday
that it will not interfere in the issue. The new federal
organization, created by the Harper Tories, explained that it
operates under the Department of Foreign Affairs and its work is
limited to the area outside Canada’s borders.
A member of the governing party, however, is condemning the
Quebec decision.
Conservative MP Parm Gill fired off a series of open letters on
Monday to the Quebec and Canadian soccer federations as well as
the sport’s governing body over the ban on turban-wearing
players.
Gill said a statement he was disappointed with the Quebec
federation’s decision and called on the various groups to find a
way to change it.
“It is incredibly unfortunate and insulting that, in a nation
that prides itself on diversity, such discriminatory regulations
are allowed to stand. There is no valid reason for a ban on the
wearing of turbans or other religious symbols during athletic
competitions,” Gill said.
Related
Quebec upholds turban ban on the soccer field, despite national
directive to allow religious headgear
FIFA panel lifts ban on headscarves for Muslim women
The soccer federation explains the ban as an issue of player
safety.
When asked, however, how many injuries have actually been linked
to turbans Frot replied that the association doesn’t have money
to commission studies. There have been no injuries, as far as
she’s aware, she said.
“The point is we don’t know and because we don’t know we don’t
want to take any chances,” Frot said.
“That’s the main concern our board has.”
Frot was asked whether the move was racist and she said she
disagreed with the question. When asked whether it might at
least be construed as intolerant, she offered a “no comment.”
She said her group was simply taking its cues from FIFA,
soccer’s international governing body. FIFA rules do not
explicitly state a position on such headwear — which is neither
banned, nor allowed.
Frot said that if people want to change the policy they should
take it up with FIFA.
“They have to knock at FIFA’s door,” she said.
She said the federation would lift its ban immediately if FIFA
did. But, for now, Quebec referees who don’t apply the rule
could face penalties.
Quebec referees began cracking down in the last year on turbans,
patkas and keskis — the religious headgear worn by Sikh men and
boys.
The weekend decision to uphold the ban occurred despite a
directive from the Canadian Soccer Association in April, calling
for provincial associations to allow them by extending an
existing rule that allows Islamic hijabs for girls.
Quebec is the only province that has balked at the directive.
The Sikh community says this has forced a difficult dilemma onto
the families of 100 to 200 children: ditch a religious
requirement, or quit playing organized soccer. The World Sikh
Organization says those children were forced out of soccer a
year ago.
Now this season may already be lost for them because the
registration period has ended.
The Sikh organization says it hasn’t ruled out a legal
challenge.
The group held a meeting in Ottawa that was already scheduled
Monday and the issue was at the top of the agenda.
“In the normal course, what we try to do is reach out and have a
dialogue on how we can work around the issue and reassure both
sides and find a solution that works for everyone,” said
Balpreet Singh, spokesman for the World Sikh Organization of
Canada.
“The fact is we have been trying to reach out to the Quebec
Soccer Federation in 2011 and we have been unsuccessful, we have
not received any replies.”
Singh, who is a lawyer by trade, said he highly doubts that such
a ban would hold up in the courts.
B’nai Brith Canada’s Quebec office called the soccer body’s
ruling a failure in reasonable accommodation and offered its
expertise on Monday for both sides to come to a compromise.
The dispute has germinated in the emotional hothouse of Quebec’s
identity debates.
The issue of accommodating minorities landed on the political
stage in 2007, when tabloid media carried sensational reports
about examples of religious minorities imposing their views on
others.
One famous example was when a group of Muslims visiting a Quebec
sugar shack managed to get traditional pea soup with the pork
removed.
The issue wound up being the subject of a provincial commission
under the Liberals. More recently, it has been taken up with
greater enthusiasm by the governing Parti Quebecois.
The government now promises to bring in a new charter of Quebec
values — with secularism being a paramount virtue.
However, the government has signalled that its proposed brand of
secularism will not apply to all religions equally.
Muslim and Sikh headwear, for instance, will likely be banned
from public institutions under the proposed policy — while, on
the other hand, the large Christian cross hanging over the
Quebec legislature will get to stay.
As for the soccer pitch, Muslim and Sikh headwear will be
treated differently in Quebec — at least for now. Frot said
things might change eventually.
Frot said safety studies were done with the Muslim hijab and,
afterward, FIFA relaxed its rules for it. She said she expects
the same will eventually happen with turbans, although she noted
that the hijab issue took nearly four years to resolve.
“We have an obligation as a federation to put player safety
first,” she said.
“FIFA has done this work for the hijab and, when they’ve done it
for the turban, I have no doubt that FIFA will put out a
directive authorizing it and we’ll be happy to follow suit.”