This teacher's career ended when she chose to keep her hijab. Now, she's advocating for an end to Quebec's Bill 21.
Last week, headlines in Quebec were dominated by accounts from a Montreal elementary school where 11 teachers were suspended for allegedly creating a toxic work environment. Speaking to reporters, Quebec Premier François Legault described the situation as a group of teachers trying to “introduce Islamic religious concepts” into a public school. Naturally, the news set off heated conversations about the role of religion in the secular school system and the merits of Quebec’s controversial Bill 21, which bans public servants in positions of authority—teachers, police officers, doctors and judges—from wearing religious symbols such as Christian crosses, Muslim hijabs, Sikh dastars and Jewish kippahs. Fatemeh Anvari, an English teacher from Tehran with a master’s in education from the University of Ottawa, wrote about her experience with Bill 21 for Maclean’s.She describes how she was happily teaching a Grade 3 class in Gatineau in 2023 when her school’s principal pulled her aside and told her she had to stop wearing her hijab in the classroom. Anvari refused and was sent home that very day. “I haven’t returned to teaching,” she writes. “I won’t stop advocating for the repeal of Bill 21. The fight isn’t just for Muslim women but for everyone—Sikhs, Jews, Christians. All of us are affected by this law, and all of us deserve better.” —Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief |
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When fighting broke out in Sudan last April, Rida Elmahdi and his family escaped with only a plastic bag of their belongings. By May, they’d landed in a pest-infested city-run refugee shelter in Toronto. The adjustment to their new life has been difficult, but he hopes his daughters and his wife will have a better future here. |
Around 2010, Calgary-born pop duo and identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin discovered that another doppelgänger existed in the digital world. The imposter, known as “Fegan” (a portmanteau of “fake” and “Tegan”), wasn’t just posing as Tegan. They also hacked personal information and passports, leaked unreleased demos and even made vulgar sexual advances toward fans. Now, more than 15 years later, director Erin Lee Carr—best known for her hit 2021 doc Britney vs Spears—sets out to unmask the catfisher. The resulting film explores the devastation it caused to the Quin twins, their befuddled team and too-trusting fans, turning internet fandom into a chilling cautionary tale. —Rosemary Counter |
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