Juno News - Federal employees asked to schedule breaks around those observing Ramadan

00:00:00.000 How would you feel at work if you were told to stop taking coffee breaks in order to show

00:00:04.020 solidarity with Muslims observing Ramadan? This is exactly what federal employees are being asked

00:00:09.780 to do. Managers at Ottawa's IT department are recommending that staff stop taking coffee breaks

00:00:15.340 for a month to show solidarity with their Muslim employees. Although Muslims only represent a

00:00:20.760 fraction of the staff, only roughly 100 employees in the department self-identified as Muslim out

00:00:26.380 of the 9,393 total staff, and even among those 100, not all of them observed the religious holiday.

00:00:33.840 Shared Services Canada managers issued an email to staff telling them to avoid scheduling lunches

00:00:39.060 or informal coffee breaks and chats, as this could unintentionally put their Muslim colleagues in an

00:00:44.680 uncomfortable position. Now, this entire directive was given in response to a complaint from members

00:00:50.180 of the volunteer group Muslim Federal Employees. This group stated that they feel Muslims are not

00:00:55.300 receiving the same level of federal support that was given to the Ukrainian community during the

00:01:00.360 Ukraine-Russia situation. They also said they feel unsafe expressing their Palestinian identity

00:01:06.340 at work due to fears of retaliation and potential harm. If you guys like to read more about this

00:01:12.280 story, make sure to visit chununews.com. As well, I'd love to hear your thoughts, so make sure to

00:01:16.980 leave a comment.

Juno News - December 08, 2025