An advertisement from HEC Montreal showing a woman who wears the hijab and denounced by ex-politician Jean-François Lisée continued to generate many reactions on Tuesday.
While two lawyers of the Muslim faith testified in our pages to their disagreement with the position of Mr. Lisée, who considers that the advertisement presents a “misogynistic religious sign”, the president of the Rassemblement pour la laïcité, Nadia El-Mabrouk, rather agrees in the direction of the ex-politician and denounces the publicity.
“It’s not neutral to do that. It comes with a vision of the diversity and representativeness of religious signs, ”she pleads in a telephone interview. The Tunisian-born Quebecer, who is also a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operational Research at the University of Montreal, believes that “we don’t have to represent all ideas” in advertising campaigns. ” [Montrer le voile dans la publicité], it is a point of view favorable to fundamentalist Islam, it is to put forward fundamentalist practices, she asserts. When women say “it’s my choice” [de porter le voile], it does not answer the question “why is it my choice?” »
In interview with The duty the day before, trained lawyer and author Dania Suleman argued that “some women wear the hijab by choice, and it makes them feel much more free”. She also considered Mr. Lisée’s position “discouraging”, judging that it “continues to alienate women who wear the veil”.
Mme El-Mabrouk, author of the book our secularism, released in 2019, strongly disagrees. “You can’t take a clear symbol of Islamism and pretend that it says the exact opposite,” she argues.
On social networks
Many citizens were outraged at the tweet of Jean-François Lisée, while many lent their support, including Ensaf Haidar, ex-candidate of the Bloc Québécois in Sherbrooke and wife of blogger Raif Badawi. “As a peaceful Muslim, I insist that the veil does not come from Islam and is a symbol of slavery and the oppression of women. Stop abusing women with such dumb ads,” she wrote. on Twitter.
The NDP MP for Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Alexandre Boulerice, was nevertheless very critical of Mr. Lisée’s position. “So science and Islam are incompatible?” So science and no apparent religious sign of Christianity would be correct? » he asked. Mr. Lise replied “Do you believe that the Koran is based on science? The Bible? The Torah? That an institution of high scientific knowledge should promote their symbols? »
By email, HEC Montréal’s senior media relations advisor, Émilie Novales, confirmed that the woman in advertising is a “student with an international background” and that the institution welcomes “an increasing number of international students” every year. “We want all members of our student community to be showcased on our platforms, reflecting all of our diversity,” she adds.