We begin in la belle province, where headscarves and soccer don’t mix:
But it didn’t stop there. Briefly:
Five young teams from across Canada walked out of a Quebec soccer tournament Sunday because a young Muslim girl was ejected for wearing a hijab.
Curiously, the ref claims that headscarves are banned for safety reasons, while the tournament organizers claim that “The wearing of the Islamic veil or any other religious item is not permitted”. Both would have more credibility if they could pick a story and stick to it.
So far, so good, right? The issue here is where we should draw the line between religious freedom (freedom to wear headscarves, even if they might catch on something and strangle you) and organizational freedom (freedom to make your own rules for your own organization, even if they offend people). In the case of the Quebec Soccer Association, these two freedoms are in conflict. (Hey, nobody said liberty would be easy.) Both sides are debating it in the media, the QSA lost five teams from their tournament (and presumably lost both money and credibility as a consequence)… society marches on.
But that’s not enough, is it? Not for Canadians: here, government’s gotta get involved.
I suppose one could attribute Charest’s interest to his reëlection campaign — it’s reasonable for politicians running for office to tell us where they stand on the issues of the day — but, in principle, I’m annoyed that the Premier is immediately jumping into the fray, as if we simple peasants can’t be trusted to resolve the issue ourselves without the help of the Nanny State.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that the QSA is itself an organ of the nanny state (or rather, the nanny province). In that case, it’s perfectly expected for the provincial government to explain their decision — they owe it to their citizens — but leading off with a sound bite from the Premier seems a bit theatrical.
More ominous is what Charest has to say: it’s okay, they were playing by the rules.
“One of the practices of soccer is not only the sport itself on the field, but also the behaviour of the players, and how they are expected to behave towards each other, and the rules around how they are dressed,” the premier said Monday while campaigning for the Quebec provincial election. “My understanding is that the referee applied the rules of the soccer federation.”
Now, maybe I’m being a bit too cynical here, but it strikes me that the head of the provincial government — the body which makes the rules — has a vested interest in promoting unquestioning adherence to the rules (any rules) as The Right Thing To Do. After all, if people started questioning the QSA’s rules and getting away with it (damn uppidy peasants!), they might graduate to questioning the province’s rules.
And who knows where that might lead?
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