Juno News - July 22, 2023


Muslims stand up to gender ideology in schools


Episode Stats

Length

53 minutes

Words per Minute

149.53427

Word Count

8,027

Sentence Count

512

Hate Speech Sentences

34


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hi there, everyone, and welcome to the Rupa Subramanir show. Today, we're talking about
00:00:23.760 the fact that many parents across Canada have been protesting against gender ideology,
00:00:30.400 which they claim is being aggressively pushed by our public education system, particularly here
00:00:35.840 in Ontario, where there seems to have been a complete bulk capture of the curriculum,
00:00:41.920 ironically under a premier and a government that are nominally conservative. Now, what's been really
00:00:48.000 interesting about these protests against gender ideology is that in recent weeks, many of the
00:00:53.200 protests have been led by visible minority groups, including Muslim Canadians. These are people who
00:00:59.120 believe in the founding values of their religion and have not been swayed into accepting woke ideology
00:01:06.400 that they believe is being thrust upon them by our progressive political elites.
00:01:11.680 To talk about these protests against gender ideology, what's animated the Muslim Canadian community,
00:01:17.680 please join me in welcoming Bahira Abdul Salam, a recent Toronto mayoral candidate in Ottawa entrepreneur,
00:01:25.040 Kamal El Shaikh. Bahira and Kamal, thank you so much for joining the podcast. And I'm really looking
00:01:32.960 forward to the conversation that we're going to have today. So let me start with you, Bahira. Can you tell
00:01:42.160 us what has animated these recent protests against the gender ideology curriculum in the school system
00:01:50.320 here in Ontario? What specifically about this issue do you find problematic that has led so many people
00:01:57.760 to take to the streets and protest?
00:01:59.440 Bahira Abdul Salam, So I believe we have been feeling the issue and it is not new. It has been there for a
00:02:11.440 while. But I think what really triggered this issue was the incident that happened in Alberta where the video
00:02:21.360 went viral and a teacher was trying to discipline students for not participating in the parade. So this
00:02:32.240 really triggered a lot of families and then they started to share their own stories about what has been
00:02:41.040 happening happening in schools. So I believe this is what what has been going on. And like it is not a new
00:02:52.720 issue and that many people have been talking about it. Many people have been communicating with school
00:02:58.320 boards and schools. However, maybe this incident, I believe this was the key incident that triggered
00:03:07.280 the oldest. Yeah, so it this the incident being in the Edmonton school where teachers berating a Muslim
00:03:17.600 student for for not for not being fully into the whole pride thing and then basically saying that, you
00:03:26.800 know, basically telling this kid to leave Canada and if you don't like our values, so to speak. Kamal,
00:03:34.960 what about you? You know, what what specifically about this do you find problematic? What what's animated
00:03:41.520 you to get involved with the protests against gender ideology? Well, I mean, as Behira was echoing, Edmonton
00:03:50.000 was one of them. But actually, that's that's one of many, to be honest with you. I had the privilege of
00:03:56.880 personally meeting the Alexanders, the family themselves, the mom and dad and Josh himself. And they're not
00:04:04.880 they don't live too far from me. So I got first look on this issue about six or seven months ago when
00:04:12.880 Josh got expelled from school and then, you know, obviously got banned from all schools in Ontario.
00:04:19.200 And Josh is the same age as my teenage son, Marty. So for me, that hit home. And, you know, he's a born
00:04:27.520 again Christian. I'm a Muslim. Right. And we're both Canadians. And and so that was problematic for us.
00:04:34.160 And, you know, he's a devout born again Christian. Right. Likes to hold his Bible and stuff like that.
00:04:38.560 So it was kind of an infringement on his values. But Canadian values are diverse. What's to say?
00:04:44.800 What is the Canadian value? So that's one of them. But it's just, you know, the the the
00:04:50.000 incidences of indoctrinations in the school, you know, kids are, you know, I got relatives,
00:04:56.880 kids are forced to color different gender fluid things, flags, stuff like that. So I think I can't
00:05:05.120 really pinpoint one incident because they all equally influence people to just, you know, want to do
00:05:12.720 something. I think, you know, the problem we had as a Muslim community, even the Christian community,
00:05:18.080 they were actually relatively new to the dance. The problem we had is, you know, we wanted to be
00:05:24.000 kind and we want to respect other people's views. But then when compulsion came in and many attributes
00:05:30.480 throughout the country, that's when we said, you know what? Hang on a sec. This is getting out of hand.
00:05:37.760 But here I'm turning to you. You've been quite vocal on social media, especially on Twitter.
00:05:45.440 And you pointed to the opaque school regulations concerning gender ideology.
00:05:51.520 That you said that this this is even being taught to kids, even in grade five. And you've also pointed
00:05:58.400 to the fact that, you know, you know, that parents don't really even have the option to opt out if they
00:06:05.840 wish to. And you've you've detailed all of the problems with the with the regulations that govern the
00:06:11.760 school system. What kind of reforms would you like to see in the management of our schools as far as
00:06:20.320 this issue is concerned? So there's complete transparency and and parents have enough notice
00:06:29.040 that they can pull their kids out of such events that they find problematic.
00:06:33.200 Well, at the the issue and the it is very com complex problem and like we respect diversity and
00:06:48.800 we are not trying to impose any like religion or values or we don't have any hate toward and towards
00:06:58.320 anybody, specifically children like all child or children. We love them. We care for them.
00:07:06.800 So what I found that asking for our rights to not to have certain ideology imposed or over our children,
00:07:19.200 it turned out to be like a completely different story. And and this is part of the problem because
00:07:28.160 freedom of expression, freedom of of religion, those are essential part of our Canadian Charter of Rights and
00:07:36.480 Freedom. So when someone tries to speak up against
00:07:41.760 justice, like the school education or system that it's not working and then we are getting all this
00:07:51.120 hate and attack, this is a proof of that there is a reform that has to be done. This proves that
00:08:00.080 there is a need for change. So what change I am proposing?
00:08:04.560 So I am we need to have our children raised or educated in an environment focusing on their like
00:08:18.160 the subjects, the math, the science, the ethics. However, we shouldn't impose any ideology on them. So
00:08:27.680 we need to have a reform about the education system and the curriculum to ensure that and also we have to
00:08:36.480 ensure the diversity and in the of our educators because our educators and the values they carry, of
00:08:48.240 course, they are it doesn't matter what the curriculum is. So they carry specific values and they teach
00:08:56.480 teach by example to their children. So ensuring that we have diverse teachers and qualified,
00:09:04.000 this is also a critical issue that we need to look into in our system.
00:09:10.080 Yeah. How how forthcoming has the school system been, the administrators and the people in the
00:09:17.600 Ministry of Education? I don't know if you've had any kind of any interactions with these people,
00:09:21.920 the people in charge of formulating these policies. Have you first of all, have you have you reached out
00:09:28.320 to them? And if so, how receptive have they been to your concerns?
00:09:34.080 So I have I am actually a representative of parents in Word 14 in Toronto. I was recently elected to be in
00:09:47.120 this position because I also joined the parent council of Valley Park Middle School. And I wanted to raise the
00:09:59.520 awareness among parents about the importance of their contribution and how they need to be actively
00:10:09.760 involved in the system. Some schools, they don't even have any parent council. And this is really a
00:10:22.160 a problem. Some parents are not aware about the importance of the parent council. So this is
00:10:29.760 something we need to raise the awareness about. So we like when there is something happening, we need
00:10:38.640 to look into what are the factors that contributed to the status that we are in. People shouldn't be
00:10:46.880 afraid. You shouldn't be afraid of expressing your opinion and and being proud of your identity. And this is
00:10:54.560 why I'm really getting so vocal to to set an example for everyone. Like no matter what messages that you
00:11:03.680 are sending me or like I am a Muslim. I'm proud of my identity. It is not something that I should be
00:11:10.320 shying out of. I'm proud of my my own values. And I want to raise my children on those values. So I believe
00:11:20.480 that this involvement is important because we are in a democratic system, right? And everything works
00:11:31.280 according to democracy. So if we contribute more and if we are more active in our school boards, I think
00:11:42.800 this will solve a big part of the problem. And another thing is I see that the school boards,
00:11:52.560 the system is designed in a way that school boards are not that the government has no influence on the
00:12:03.360 school boards. So this is something really I think we need to have to look again into the power that we
00:12:12.480 are giving to the school boards and to have more auditing about what is going on inside those school
00:12:18.800 boards and which resulted in the status that we are having now. Yeah, I have a lot of other ideas.
00:12:29.520 Yeah, no, no, no, I appreciate that. Kamal, turning to you, you've also been pretty active on Twitter
00:12:38.880 lately. And and you tweeted that when Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister, dismissed Muslim Canadian
00:12:46.800 protesters protesting against gender ideology as victims of disinformation, allegedly coming from
00:12:55.040 the scary far right in the US. You said this was extremely disrespectful to Muslim Canadians because
00:13:02.960 it implies you guys are just so dumb and gullible and so naive that you're just allowing your views to
00:13:09.200 be shaped shaped by right wing influencers south of the border. How did that make you feel?
00:13:15.440 Well, I mean, obviously, it made it was demeaning, you know, Beheera is a PhD, and she's an elected
00:13:25.280 official in the education board. So I mean, that's an example of a Muslim myself, I mean,
00:13:30.720 I got a background in corporations and auditing and accounting, right. So, you know, to suggest that,
00:13:36.720 you know, we need to be, you know, guided by a hand to tell us exactly what to think and when to think.
00:13:43.360 Both our Prime Minister and the pride community think that they need to tell us what to think.
00:13:52.000 And that's where the problem lies. I mean, Muslims, we're a compassionate bunch. We're proud Canadians.
00:13:59.680 I mean, me in Ottawa, I had Hindu Sikh friends growing up Jewish and Christian and all sorts. And that's the
00:14:07.680 beauty about Canada. I mean, we all had the same issues. We all complained about the weather and
00:14:12.000 stuff like that. But to suggest that, you know, we lack intellect to make our own decisions when
00:14:20.800 we're praying five times a day, fasting Ramadan 30 days, like a month. And, you know, there's a lot of
00:14:27.200 Muslim PhDs. Every fourth person you meet in the world is a Muslim. It's either a doctor, an engineer,
00:14:33.280 a cook, a restorator, you know. So they come in all walks, all walks and creeds, right. So to suggest
00:14:39.520 that, oh, you know what, these guys live in a little cocoon and we got to, you know, tell them
00:14:45.440 what to think. That is the meaning for sure. And, you know, I felt insulted and that's why you saw
00:14:51.440 that tweet go viral. Yeah. Bahira, how does it make you feel that you're being called a far-right
00:14:59.600 white supremacist? And I believe, yeah, and I asked this question as someone who's also been called a
00:15:10.720 far-right white supremacist. So, yeah, to you, Bahira. I guess that makes three of us, right?
00:15:18.080 Yeah. There's more of us who are brown and who are far-right white supremacists, apparently. So
00:15:24.000 it's a growing tribe. But anyway, Bahira, how does that make you feel?
00:15:27.280 Well, yeah, of course, we need to put politics aside when we are talking about the future of our
00:15:42.640 children. This is, yeah, this is, it is very critical. Like, people can survive
00:15:52.240 living in a very stressful situation, getting very low wages, like struggling with affordable housing.
00:16:04.400 So all those issues are issues that people are living now. But when it comes to their kids,
00:16:13.600 we don't really care about right or left or middle. We have values and we have our love
00:16:21.920 to our children. And we need, and this is why we are here in Canada, because we believe that this is
00:16:29.200 a country that respects human race and freedom, and we are not here for ourselves. We are here for the
00:16:37.600 future of our children, right? So being, we don't really, we are not influenced by anything other than
00:16:50.080 our love to our children and our care and our love to everyone. We don't only love our children. As
00:16:57.840 Muslims, we are very peaceful. We love everyone. We don't hate anyone. However, we have to put limits to
00:17:08.240 our freedom. Your freedom shouldn't be pushing me away from our, my rights and vice versa. So
00:17:19.040 we agreed that the school system will be free from religion, but not to be anti-religion, right?
00:17:27.840 That's an interesting point. You, Bahira, have received a lot of flack on social media. I think you
00:17:33.920 pointed in one of your tweets that you've also received death threats. You know, what does it suggest to
00:17:43.280 you? But the, to my mind, this suggests, you know, hypocrisy of the progressive left, you know, they
00:17:50.800 like you just fine, as long as you know, you agree to their, to their views, and, and that you have to
00:17:58.880 basically be part of their cult. And, you know, and they like you just fine, if that's the case. But
00:18:05.520 the minute you start, you know, exercising your own right to free speech, and you start expressing
00:18:12.560 your own views, and you draw in the, a line in the sand, you know, in terms of where you, you, you are
00:18:19.200 on this issue. Does that not reek of hypocrisy from the progressive left?
00:18:23.520 Yes, of course, it is hypocrisy. It is a kind of ignorance. So I see that there is a lot of
00:18:37.360 misunderstanding and ignorance about other cultures, and about other people, and about the, the way they
00:18:45.040 think about their values. So the comments I have been receiving, it made this more clear to me. So in
00:18:53.360 instead of attacking people, try to understand their objectives, try to understand their struggle,
00:19:01.840 because I was reading something in like, in psychology about the, when a minority, they are
00:19:11.920 looking for their right, they can be so extreme to the extent they turn to be the monster themselves,
00:19:21.040 right? We shouldn't, we shouldn't exceed or reach this level, right? We should be understand that as
00:19:29.920 much as we have our rights, the others, they have rights, and we are here not to impose our ideology
00:19:38.800 on each other. This is the beauty of Canada. Every group of people, they have this, their specific
00:19:46.240 culture that, and this diversity. But I see that there is like, kind of like the definition of
00:19:56.560 diversity, it's getting some changes, like, why diversity, it's not only about sexual orientation,
00:20:04.640 there, there are, or maybe this is what the message that they are trying to teach us. Pride is not only
00:20:15.040 about being LGBTQ. I am proud of my identity. I'm proud of being a Muslim and wearing a scarf. And this was,
00:20:24.720 by the way, the title of the demonstration. It, we are not, we were not protesting. We, we call that
00:20:34.960 I wasn't one of the organizers, by the way, I was just attending, but they called it
00:20:41.680 rally, which means like modesty. And we were saying that modesty is our pride. So when people are proud
00:20:52.320 of their identity, doesn't mean that this is demeaning any other people or culture.
00:21:00.480 No, I think also some of the, some of the issues we are facing with, with this, it's kind of like a, almost
00:21:06.640 like a narcissistic condescending behavior. My rights trump yours. And we, we as Canadians, heterosexual
00:21:14.080 Canadians of all walks, you know, Christians, Muslims, you name it, all other creeds. I think
00:21:20.080 we didn't want to insult or be rude. So we were silent. And we said, you know what, you want to have your
00:21:26.080 pride walks, whatever you do, whatever you want. We don't want to offend. But I think sometimes
00:21:31.040 kindness can be taken for weakness. And that's where the problem lies. There's a, there's an element
00:21:36.160 of negligence on all our part. We're all responsible for not saying anything, but for, for 30 years,
00:21:42.560 you know, equal rights, uh, tolerance, you know, you need to tolerate us. I, you know, people don't
00:21:48.240 want to, uh, you know, insult or demean, but it got to a point where you had to say something. And I
00:21:54.960 think what's happening today is the fabric of Canada is changing where all other creeds are saying, Hey,
00:22:01.600 listen up, we're going to be active. We're going to be active in all levels of government, municipal,
00:22:07.520 you know, uh, provincial and federal, but we're also going to be active in the, in the school,
00:22:13.360 trustee boards. And we're going to be active in every organization that concerns our child, because
00:22:19.360 you got to a point where you, you took our kindness for weakness and that's where the line
00:22:24.720 has been drawn. So there's a different, there's a shift, a seismic shift from coast to coast of people
00:22:30.800 saying, Hey, diversity does not just mean your sexual orientation. Diversity also means
00:22:37.520 straight nuclear families, Muslim families, Christian ones, sequence, all that kind of stuff.
00:22:42.880 That's diversity too. And, you know, uh, for a long time, there's one flag and now I find that
00:22:50.080 problematic. Okay, great. You, you like your flag, but what about the Canadian flag? We all can carry
00:22:55.680 the Canadian flag. That's, you know, we're aren't, aren't we all one nation under God? And that's,
00:23:00.480 that's where we'd like to go with that as hands off the kids, parents, that's parental consent,
00:23:06.480 just like you come. Uh, you know, uh, my, my, my, my, uh, uh, son's friend has to take my permission
00:23:15.440 through his parents to see his best friend, to organize an activity. You have to take my
00:23:20.720 permission, uh, for my kid to go on a field trip, but you can't take my permission for hormone
00:23:26.000 blocking pills and a gender modifying therapy for four year olds at some point. Like there's that
00:23:31.840 rhetoric. And then of course, you know, the pornographic, uh, uh, books in the schools and how
00:23:38.320 does that feel? And how does this feel? Well, you know, you're, you're completely, uh, disregarding
00:23:44.560 people's beliefs with respect to raising their kids. And that's where we draw the line.
00:23:50.640 Okay. So that's a good segue, uh, to my next question, because you, you spoke about beliefs,
00:23:57.600 um, and you're both, uh, uh, you know, Muslim Canadians. And, uh, as I understand it, Islamic
00:24:03.760 doctrine would be opposed to, uh, not only to gender ideology, um, but even more basically to homosexuality.
00:24:12.720 How do you address this issue in opposing gender ideology in schools? Are you also opposing homosexuality?
00:24:19.520 Um, you know, do you, so do you oppose gay rights? For example, uh, gay rights is now firmly entrenched,
00:24:26.880 uh, as part of Western society, including gay marriage. Um, do you, do you feel, um, there's
00:24:33.200 some desire to push back against these entrenched rights as well? Um, you, you know, or are you able
00:24:40.640 to draw a line in the sand between gender ideology and gay rights? Okay. Um, so let me, let me make
00:24:46.640 something clear, um, growing up in Ottawa. I mean, I came here when I was seven years old,
00:24:51.120 I was supposed to be born here, but my dad decided, you know, to come later. Uh, so I grew up in Ottawa.
00:24:56.000 So, you know, it's not like we're living in this little bubble and, you know, you, you don't have
00:25:01.200 a gay colleague at work. I had, I managed a team of 3000 employees. There's some people that were in
00:25:07.840 transition, uh, some that were homosexual and I didn't care about your sexual orientation. I don't
00:25:13.200 want to know about it. I just want to know how productive you're going to be at work and how,
00:25:17.680 how good you're going to be in a team. Okay. And some of them were exceptional in terms of work.
00:25:22.800 Uh, I had a gay boss. I actually had three gay bosses. So, you know, I'm going to separate the work
00:25:29.760 from, from the way of life in Islam. Yes, it is forbidden, uh, as a sexual orientation. Yes. Now,
00:25:36.960 is there Muslims that are gay? Sure. But you know what, uh, you can't practice the faith and, and,
00:25:42.880 and, you know, continue to do that, but that's completely up to you. Who am I to judge? In the
00:25:47.280 end, we know that the creator judges. My prerogative is as a Muslim, because you're my Christian best
00:25:54.400 friend and you eat pork. I still can't eat pork to be your friend. Right. And so we agree to disagree.
00:26:01.120 I have best friends that ate pepperoni pizza in front of me. You know, I'm not going to hate them.
00:26:06.480 I still love them. We're still best friends since elementary school, but that's, that's the melting
00:26:12.240 pot of Canada that I recognize. And I want to go back to that. You want to be gay. You go, you do
00:26:17.680 whatever you want, but don't compel me to engage in your, you know, pronouns and, and, and adhere to
00:26:26.000 your indoctrination because it's forbidden in my faith, just like pork is just like alcohol is. I got
00:26:32.320 good friends that drink. I still don't hate them. That's their life. Who am I to say what, what to
00:26:38.080 do and not? Bahira, for you, I mean, the same question for you, but I would like to, you know,
00:26:44.960 modify it a little bit. You know, a lot of school teachers say that, that, you know, they worry that
00:26:53.520 some students come from conservative religious families. They might feel very afraid or scared
00:26:59.760 to share their feelings. Perhaps they're feeling, uh, gender dysphoria, or they feel that they might
00:27:05.200 be gay and, and they're afraid to share that with their families because they might get a strong
00:27:10.160 reaction from their parents because their parents are, uh, observant, uh, whatever Christian, uh, um,
00:27:19.840 Sikhs, Hindus, whatever. Um, and, and, and this is why teachers feel that they need to intervene,
00:27:26.080 that school should be sort of a safe space for such, uh, you know, where kids feel free to express
00:27:31.920 these things to the teachers. What do you make of this argument? And, you know, and you both have
00:27:37.680 children, I mean, what if one of your child? I, I have friends who have been through this experience.
00:27:44.880 Yeah. They, they came, their children came and talked to them and told them that, uh, I'm a gay
00:27:50.560 or I am whatsoever. Like, we are not, uh, monsters that are going to kill our own children. We understand
00:28:00.880 that this is something children are going through because of many reasons. I don't,
00:28:07.600 I don't want to elaborate on this, but we, uh, parents have the right to deal with issues regarding
00:28:16.960 their kids. If there are some exceptional cases where there are some violence or some extreme,
00:28:26.240 so this is not the role of the school. If the school want to intervene, we need to have more social
00:28:34.480 workers at school to, uh, to look into the psychological problems of the children. This is a, a, a, a complete
00:28:43.440 different story and a complete different, a problem we are having in our schools. So if you really care
00:28:50.800 about the problems, psychological problems as children are going through or any struggles, why do you put
00:29:02.320 a, a social worker at half a day for, uh, a school of thousands of, of students? Social workers are qualified
00:29:12.640 to deal with, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, situations. Uh, teachers, they need to be there to teach, not to
00:29:22.400 interfere with, uh, any kind of, uh, uh, and especially at this age, like children at, uh, at this young age,
00:29:31.600 they don't have, uh, those kind of, uh, uh, challenges. We need to love them, to care for them
00:29:38.640 and to give them the education they need. I've made this argument that, um, you know, even if, um,
00:29:44.880 devout Muslims or devout, devout Christians, any, any group, any denomination, uh, even if they didn't
00:29:51.600 accept homosexuality, um, you know, tolerated, um, you know, this, accepted it as a, as a fait accompli,
00:30:00.720 that this is it. This is, you know, we're, we're in this country. These are the values, um, of this country.
00:30:06.400 We may not necessarily agree with this, but, you know, it's, we have a live and let live approach,
00:30:12.800 essentially. Just don't, um, uh, you know, push this, you know, on us in the way that, that, that's,
00:30:20.720 that's, uh, unfolded with gender ideology. So the question really is, you know, do you, do you oppose
00:30:27.920 gay rights? Opposing gay rights? I don't know if it's, it's really opposing gay rights and stuff like
00:30:35.120 that. I think, you know, again, I worked with gay colleagues almost all my life. Um, so, you know,
00:30:42.000 to, to come out and say, oh, I oppose gay rights. I mean, it's, this is Canada. Canada is not, uh,
00:30:49.760 it's not one, uh, one, uh, doctrine. It's not Muslim. It's not Christian. It's not gay either.
00:30:56.720 Okay. So Canada, I don't think you have to worry about violence in Canada. Canadians are really,
00:31:03.120 pretty peaceful bunch. 35 million Canadians. I don't think you see, uh, gay people, uh, burned at
00:31:09.440 the stake, uh, you know, and stuff like that. So, you know, uh, I know that question often comes up.
00:31:15.440 Like I, I, I've been to nine protests in three weeks and I will say to you, I've, I've been called
00:31:21.840 terrorist. I've been called fascist. I've been called hater, murderer. And it's like, holy smokes.
00:31:27.440 I know you guys are having, and some of you guys are having some real social issues with your gender
00:31:32.960 dysphoria and I could see it on the ground. And I, you know, I'm here saying, Hey, can we send all
00:31:38.400 Canada together? Right. And so there, there's a lot of anger and distaste coming from that side.
00:31:46.480 Us as, as Muslims, I will tell you in Islam, it is forbidden. It's a, it's a forbidden sexual, uh, uh,
00:31:55.600 uh, sexual misconduct. Like the Dalai Lama said, he said that, uh, in an interview, uh, but again,
00:32:02.480 who am I to judge? You want to be gay. This is Canada. You go do whatever you like. And if you
00:32:08.240 want to be a drag queen, I don't think anybody had a problem with you. I mean,
00:32:12.880 I disagree with it. I'll tell you that. But when you were in the strip club stripping for other men,
00:32:18.000 I don't think anybody came near you. The problem is you came and in a, in a drag queen event in
00:32:25.040 Toronto, you stripped in front of kids and your genitalia fell out. That's where the problem lies
00:32:30.160 for us. So it's, it does seem like, Oh, you know what? We're here to take your rights away. It's not
00:32:35.680 about that at all. I don't care what you think you can go and, and, and identify as a space martian
00:32:44.160 and, you know, ask Elon Musk to take you to space with them. Go do whatever you want. Who am I to tell
00:32:49.520 you what to do? But in the end, when it comes and it infringes on my kids, my society, my ideals,
00:32:57.840 that's where we draw the line. So gay rights, gay rights in Canada, you know, came about,
00:33:03.360 what is that 10, 15 years ago? Now you can, you can get married. You can, you can do whatever you
00:33:09.360 want. Like, I, I don't know, even, even in conversations at work, we're not talking about
00:33:15.040 my gay colleague. I'm actually talking to them about a public relations thing that we need to
00:33:20.080 get done. And the deadline is on Monday. So I don't care what your personal life is. And again,
00:33:27.520 this is Canada. This is not someplace in the world where people get burned at the stake.
00:33:34.240 Okay. And let's, let's, let's validate that. And that rhetoric, that aggressive rhetoric,
00:33:40.560 I don't think should, it should be had anywhere in our narratives. Let's talk about where you
00:33:46.640 infringed on Muslims and Christians and Hindus and Sikhs and Buddhists. Okay. Because you're telling them,
00:33:54.800 this is the way to be Canadian. This way. That's it. Drag queens, pedophilia to kids,
00:33:59.760 four-year-old gender hormone therapy. And we're going to use they, they, them pronouns.
00:34:07.120 Wait a sec here. That's your ideology. It's like me saying, I won't talk to you, Rupa,
00:34:13.120 unless you fast 30 days of Ramadan. Then we can talk. Or I won't talk to you, Rupa,
00:34:19.120 unless you pray five times a day, disregarding what you believe, Rupa. So that's where it doesn't
00:34:24.560 make sense to us. Yeah. Yeah. Bahira, do you want to take, what is your, where do you stand on this?
00:34:33.200 Yeah, definitely. I, I agree about that. We are in Canada. We believe that everybody, they,
00:34:43.360 we are not aiming or hoping to change Canada to be an Islamic country.
00:34:51.920 Islamic state or fatwa or apply the Sharia law. Yeah. And I've heard that a lot in the protest.
00:35:00.640 Thank you. Yeah. There is another flag for those who are calling for Sharia law. We were carrying
00:35:06.480 Canadian flags. Canadian flags. We have a Muslim flag, by the way. Yeah. We have one with a large.
00:35:11.200 I don't think you see that in any of our protests.
00:35:12.640 We are raising this black flag. This means that, oh, those guys are, are going, they are calling for,
00:35:22.000 like, I promise you, you, you should be alarmed at this time, but we are not, we are not actually,
00:35:29.440 yeah, we are, uh, um, we are respectful for the law, for the constitution of Canada. And, uh, uh,
00:35:38.560 personally, I have been working with some of the leaders in the LGBT community, uh, in, in politics.
00:35:47.520 I have been helping them and I didn't care. I don't care really who, what you, uh, your, uh, what
00:35:57.520 you are doing at home. This is your own business. This is not my business, right? What we are, uh, uh,
00:36:03.680 uh, uh, uh, the, the, the problem starts to happen when it is touching the education of our children
00:36:12.720 at school and when the opt out option even is not allowed. And when our, and, and, and by the way,
00:36:22.400 there are, uh, uh, the flag and the signs and this, uh, psychological, uh, like, uh,
00:36:32.160 indoctrination. Yeah, it is, it is affecting the kids for sure. Yeah. So we, we are in a country
00:36:39.760 that is, uh, uh, like, it, that doesn't have any, uh, influence of religion or ideology at school. So
00:36:47.920 this is what we really need. Yeah. And here's a, I'll, I'll give you a Quran, a quote, uh, to, to,
00:36:54.560 to, to, to make the equilibrium between me, my comments and Bahira's. There's no compulsion in religion.
00:37:02.320 That's, that's a Quran, a quote. So we can't compel anybody to do anything against their will.
00:37:08.880 Now, unfortunately, the media likes to spin that and, and, and use what is convenient in terms of
00:37:16.400 rhetoric to silence people. Just like you would go to a, a white Canadian good Christian person
00:37:23.360 that's a law abiding citizen, doesn't have a, uh, uh, a criminal record telling them,
00:37:29.200 Oh, you're white. You're often misogynist. You're the fringe. You know, that's how you silence them.
00:37:34.160 You see, you do the same thing, uh, with Muslims, right? Uh, and then you do that with every other
00:37:38.560 creed. You can pinpoint anything to silence anybody. Right. And that's, that's where the problem lies.
00:37:44.480 Yeah. And, uh, uh, just, uh, I wanted to comment about the different, uh, people who approached me
00:37:52.560 saying, telling me, Bahira, we are with you. We support you. And, uh, even atheist,
00:37:58.880 atheist who have, have no religion. They told me, Bahira, don't forget us. We are also with you.
00:38:05.280 I got that too. And they're on my team. They're on my planning teams. So amazing. Yeah. No, this is,
00:38:13.120 this is, I mean, it's, it's, it's so heartening and also funny at the same time. Uh, uh, it really
00:38:19.120 is quite surreal. Um, we're running out of time, but I really want to get, uh, get this question to
00:38:24.800 the two of you. Um, you know, since 2015, when Trudeau was first elected, um, uh, you know,
00:38:30.720 it's well known that the liberals, um, get, you know, uh, view the Muslim, uh, Muslim Canadian
00:38:37.440 constituency as an important one, uh, as does the NDP. Do you think that pushing on this gender
00:38:44.560 ideology issue as aggressively as they have Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh, you think they've lost the Muslim
00:38:51.520 vote and, and, and, and Muslims could possibly be seen as voting conservative because of this issue?
00:38:57.440 Here's what's happening. Um, obviously this campaign is very nonpartisan. We're putting
00:39:03.600 pressure on all political parties because all political parties are, you know, some kind of
00:39:08.400 using that political rhetoric to get the votes. Now, obviously Muslims, if you look at, uh, uh,
00:39:15.200 the past, uh, I would say 40 or 50 years, generally Muslims voted NDP and liberal. You're right.
00:39:21.760 Now in the past five or six, I'll be honest with you. I see a lot of Muslims voting
00:39:26.960 conservative PPC and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, I guess, I guess what I should say is,
00:39:33.040 yeah, you're, you're right. At this point, Trudeau has lost the Muslim vote. Uh, does that mean all
00:39:39.440 liberals don't get voted in? No, there are, there are some good liberal candidate candidates and, and,
00:39:44.800 and some of them are close friends of mine. Um, it's not about that. It's about, wait a sec here.
00:39:50.880 All you parties are just, uh, banking on a vote. Oh, we'll have the Muslim vote. We'll say this,
00:39:56.320 we'll say that. And we'll say this and we'll just get in. No, no, no. You're taking us for granted
00:40:00.080 here. We're going to hold you all up to a standard to represent all Canadians fairly. And then we're
00:40:06.560 going to vote accordingly. So the Muslim, uh, uh, vote Muslims are very, very well educated individuals.
00:40:16.080 Obviously they're concerned with their motherlands wars and whatever, depending on where they came
00:40:20.480 from, but they love Canada. They embrace the nation. Uh, they identify as Canadian, right?
00:40:26.080 They love the Canadian flag, love the Canadian values and stuff like that. They might complain
00:40:30.240 about the weather a bit, but that's, that's pretty much it. Um, yeah, they want to see Canada prosper
00:40:36.400 and, and that diversity. Like, I mean, Trudeau, uh, he, he won Muslim hearts in 2015 when he said,
00:40:44.080 a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. And then we're, we've come together based on our commonalities
00:40:50.880 while respecting our differences. Oh, you know what? I think you made a mistake there because
00:40:56.320 now you're not respecting differences and you're not coming on our commonalities. You're just taking
00:41:01.920 one distinct group and you're pushing it all on, on other groups and you're demonizing the,
00:41:08.000 the groups that dare to question and say, Hey, this is not a fair game you're playing.
00:41:14.080 Right. And, and he openly goes out there and, and, and, and puts pressure, uh, and, and just hypes,
00:41:22.160 you know, the visible minority community, which is the pride community. So it's kind of like causing
00:41:26.880 a friction of some sort, which is, which wasn't there before. And I don't think Muslims are a very
00:41:33.760 compassionate bunch. They're very humble, no matter how educated or how much accolades they get,
00:41:40.480 they still got to prostrate, put their head on the ground and be reminded that they're, that they're
00:41:45.120 a human being going back to dust. Right. So they're compassionate. And the Canada that Muslims want
00:41:51.680 to see is we're going to hold all politicians accountable. And the, the politician that best
00:41:57.680 represents all Canadians fairly is the one that we're going to vote for. Okay. Bahira, what about you?
00:42:03.760 Uh, well, I see that, uh, uh, like, uh, lots of Muslims have been supporting the liberal party for
00:42:15.200 the same reason. I'm one of them. I have been supporting the liberals for volunteering with them
00:42:20.160 for a, a very long time. And, uh, um, even before I, I, I was a Canadian before getting my citizens,
00:42:30.160 because really, I believe in the importance of political, uh, involvement and, uh, being active.
00:42:39.520 And I, I believe that the liberals were the best party to represent me, uh, to give the rights for each
00:42:48.720 group. Um, however, um, uh, uh, the moment, uh, like, um, uh, I have seen a lot of my friends,
00:42:58.800 Muslim friends, they are turning to be conservative, supporting the conservative party because of the
00:43:04.880 LGBT agenda. I've seen that too. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of them. And, uh, uh, like every party, they have their
00:43:14.800 own, uh, like, uh, shortfalls and they, their, uh, points of strength. And, uh, but, uh, when it comes
00:43:23.360 to a critical point like this, uh, when we don't get, uh, the support, we, when we don't find, uh,
00:43:31.040 ourselves valued and having the rights like everyone else, I will, uh, I will not be, uh, really
00:43:38.560 supporting, uh, the liberal party. I will, uh, uh, and, uh, uh, I was, uh, so much, uh, shocked by the, uh,
00:43:48.240 the, uh, post, uh, the tweet of, uh, uh, the mayor of Mississauga. And, uh, I believe that, uh, when,
00:43:58.160 when she wrote, uh, in a negative way about the protest that, uh, we did this incited more hate
00:44:06.000 between people. And, and this is the role of leader. The leader should be there and should
00:44:12.320 be very sensitive to what they are saying. So it should calm everybody down too, because it's a
00:44:18.240 very intense issue. People are stressed out. Parents, mothers, like what is a woman? Now we're
00:44:24.800 asking what a woman is persons with the ability of, of carrying a baby. Really? Okay. So these are,
00:44:31.760 these are the challenges that we're facing right now. It's stressful times and leaders have to be
00:44:36.800 leaders by bringing people together and, and asking for calm. What's happening is, wait a sec,
00:44:42.480 I'm going to pick this and I'm going to bet all my bar marbles on this group. And then obviously hate
00:44:47.680 comes back and forth and that's what's happening in the political climate. Yeah. I, I think they,
00:44:53.520 uh, they, uh, they miss, uh, calculated, uh, how, uh, uh, uh, the effect of, uh, what they are doing
00:45:02.960 or those policies on the Muslim community, uh, and, uh, how offensive, uh, those, uh, comments or those
00:45:11.840 policies are, uh, uh, uh, are, uh, right now. So, um, I feel that, um, they are losing, uh, a lot and,
00:45:23.520 uh, um, it, uh, uh, and definitely many people, uh, maybe will be voting for other parties because
00:45:32.880 unless that we see real change, like if. Yes. Let me add. Yeah. Sorry. Let me add something to
00:45:41.760 that. But here, you said something very important and, uh, let me give you an example of, of what
00:45:46.400 happened when, when, uh, uh, Rupa was asking the conservative question, like in Ontario, for example,
00:45:52.800 obviously, uh, you know, Muslims voted for Trudeau, uh, at the federal level, then, uh, you know,
00:45:57.360 voted in Doug Ford at the conservative level, uh, because they, they Muslims ousted Kathleen Wynne
00:46:04.880 for bringing in the pedophile books into the school. And Doug Ford promised a conservative
00:46:10.320 Doug Ford promised that he'll take those books out yet. The agenda is going forward. So let's,
00:46:16.320 let's be, let's be honest here. Conservatives and liberals have been guilty of, of this, uh,
00:46:22.320 indoctrination all across the board. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Kamal, just to quickly jump in and,
00:46:28.080 you know, we're really running out of time. Uh, but, uh, on that, I mean, it's a very important point.
00:46:33.360 The conservative party of Canada, the federal conservatives have, have not exactly waded into
00:46:38.720 this completely, you know, they've kind of been on the sidelines and I, you know, I have criticized them
00:46:46.160 in, you know, in, in, in, you know, in various places for not, you know, for not taking this, um,
00:46:52.480 seriously enough to actually take a position on it. Um, what, what would you like to see from Pierre
00:46:58.320 Polyevre and the, and the, and the conservative party, uh, regarding, uh, a gender ideology and,
00:47:04.160 and, and, and yeah, he did mention a few words in the Calgary stampede. Again, I'm watching all
00:47:10.640 politicians with a magnifying glass and I'm, I'm an upset and concerned Canadian for, for the nation
00:47:16.320 and its prosperity moving forward. So Pierre Polyevre, uh, you know, I know he's trying to get more
00:47:22.080 votes and, and he's, he's slowly, you know, uh, capitalizing on some of these and he's saying,
00:47:28.720 uh, Mr. Trudeau hands off the provinces type thing and stuff like that. So we heard that, but again,
00:47:34.720 I mean, people see the flip flop back and forth. Do you really want to run this country?
00:47:41.440 Uh, stand for principles and stand stern. Okay. Uh, you know, indoctrination, let consent be for the
00:47:48.640 parents. If you're under 18, you must have parent consent, hands off the kids. You want,
00:47:55.600 you want to be a transgender at 18, you go right ahead, do whatever, uh, whatever you like. You're
00:48:01.520 in Canada. Nobody's going to hold you to the stake. Okay. But again, what's happening today,
00:48:07.840 the pornography in the schools, uh, um, I have two cases that came to me.
00:48:14.000 One, uh, Muslim lady from, from Toronto came to a protest in Ottawa that the one that we had
00:48:19.520 thousands on parliament Hill. She told me a drag queen and a teacher sexually harassed her son,
00:48:25.760 a five-year-old kid. Another one, uh, from Montreal, her son, uh, also got raped. So there are,
00:48:34.720 there are issues like this now these, and these are both Muslim mums. I had a, uh, a Christian girl,
00:48:42.240 33 years old say, thank you for, for doing this beautiful campaign. She's crying to me. I didn't
00:48:48.320 know why she was crying. I had to actually go to the side and talk to her. She said, I was raped as
00:48:52.560 a kid and I see this as liberating for me. So those are the people that I think about when we're going
00:48:59.040 into these protests where we're also not, you know, like trying to get back what Canada stood for.
00:49:05.440 We're also kind of inspiring lives and giving people hope. So what I'd like to see from the
00:49:10.720 Conservative Party, just, Pierre Poliev himself said, listen to Canadians. Go down there and listen
00:49:18.800 and don't just look at polls and stuff like that. Be genuine about it. People see that
00:49:24.240 and people are watching. That's a, that's a very good point. Uh, just last question to you,
00:49:29.920 um, Kamal, uh, I want to, uh, uh, just, and very quickly tell us about this march that you're
00:49:35.920 organizing in the fall. Um, and, uh, you know, what do you, um, you know, when is that happening?
00:49:42.320 How, you know, and, um, uh, do you expect it to be as big as you, that, the, uh, that, that it,
00:49:48.800 that you hope it would be, uh, in, I believe it's going to happen in September, just real quick.
00:49:53.440 Yeah. So it's a fall. Um, so, so here's, what's been happening. Um, I'm not organizing the march and
00:49:59.440 saying it's in this area and that area. What's happening is my phone has blown up. I got people
00:50:07.040 from Calgary saying, Camille, we're going to go down. And then I see thousands. And then I see,
00:50:11.520 I get my phone, I get calls from Toronto and Mississauga telling me, Camille, we're going down.
00:50:16.800 I say, Hey, kudos to you. And then I see thousands of protests there. Then I get Montreal. I've been
00:50:22.720 doing interviews in Arabic overseas and Lebanon and Iraq and stuff like that. So, um, what's
00:50:29.280 happening is people like, you see, but here, I just met be here. Things are happening organically.
00:50:36.480 I've met you organically. People are coming together. It's, it's a protest that's going
00:50:42.080 to merge several protests. Uh, I just talked to billboard Chris himself, and he said, I'm
00:50:48.320 organizing a protest in Toronto on September 22nd. Well, guess what? This 1 million people
00:50:54.400 March that we've been compiling based on data and based on, uh, our team. Uh, I have people telling
00:51:02.640 me, and this is just the Muslim schools in Ottawa, Ontario, that, that area, 30% of the schools are
00:51:09.280 Muslim and they're committed to walking out along with their parents. One of the schools in Ottawa has
00:51:15.680 70 to 75% Muslims. So, and this is just talking the Muslim demographic, but then you get somebody like,
00:51:24.720 Dana, uh, Metcalf with project indigo, who, uh, who's a good friend of mine today that I also met
00:51:32.240 organically. And Chandra, I haven't met yet in Niagara Falls, uh, taking back the rainbow. They had
00:51:38.160 thousands of Christians, uh, protest and say, hands off the kids and everybody is on the same team. So
00:51:45.360 what I've, what I've been put into is as a, as a dad coming in, I came, I didn't even organize any of
00:51:53.360 the protests. I, I came in and I was asked, you know, we need you to speak. We need you to do this.
00:51:58.080 And organically all this came together. And now all of a sudden we have chapters throughout the
00:52:03.920 country. So 1 million people, I think at times it also feels like an under estimate. Uh, I think,
00:52:12.800 I think we're going to have a lot of people come down just like you would see pride hundreds of
00:52:17.600 thousands come down and they're a minority in Canada. Well, the heterosexual populace,
00:52:23.920 you know, that's, uh, over 97 to 99%. That's, I mean, 1 million out of the 35 million,
00:52:33.360 that's a minority, I would say. So I'm just making it easier. And I'm just saying,
00:52:37.520 1 million people March in September, it's on and it's on from coast to coast.
00:52:43.120 Okay. Well, um, on that note, I'm going to have to sadly, um, you know, um, bring this to a close,
00:52:50.240 uh, but I really want to thank you both Bahira and Kamal for joining, uh, me and, uh, for, for,
00:52:57.360 for this great conversation and, uh, best of luck to the two of you with everything that you're doing.
00:53:02.320 And I'm sure I'm going to have you guys back, uh, uh, perhaps in September before the million,
00:53:09.280 million March. Um, and, uh, which, which, which probably will end up giving both Trudeau and
00:53:15.200 Singh more nightmares than, than they hope for. But, uh, but yeah, good luck to the two of you and,
00:53:21.440 um, and yeah, uh, and I hope to have you again soon. Thank you so much.
00:53:25.680 Thank you very much. Thank you for doing this.
00:53:32.320 Thank you.