Muslim Council of Montreal thanks Minister of Education for balanced remarks

December 6, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, Quebec, December 6th, 2010- The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) thanks Ms. Line Beauchamp, Quebec Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports, for her objective and balanced statements regarding the government subsidies given to Dar Al Iman School, a private Islamic school in Ville St-Laurent.

“Dar Al Iman is a school run by professional, mainstream Canadian Muslims and it was the target of unfair accusations,” stated Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM. “We commend Ms. Beauchamp for representing all Quebec citizens equally and safeguarding their rights to due process and equal access to government subsidies. Such statements and actions show true leadership qualities and are to be applauded.”

MCM calls on all elected officials and members of the National Assembly of Quebec to respect the values of equality, freedom of religion and freedom of expression and refrain from unfairly attacking one part of society, without first having substantial evidence to back their claims.

“The attack against the school is based on the emotional rhetoric of those with a specific agenda to marginalize the Muslim community and negate its contribution to the wider Quebec society,” Elmenyawi stated. “The school has nothing to hide and is open to a transparent and balanced assessment, should Ms. Monique Richard wish to explore the issue properly. Such an approach to investigating the facts is more productive than the haphazard use of labels and fixing blame based on guilt with supposed association.”

The Dar Al Iman School follows the curriculum set by the Quebec Ministry of Education, with the addition of Arabic language, morality and religious studies lessons, and has been eligible for state funding since the 2006-07 academic year.

CONTACT:

Salam Elmenyawi

Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM)

Ph.: (514) 748-8427

E-mail: info@muslimcouncil.org

Website: http://www.muslimcouncil.org

 

The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is an umbrella organization representing a number of Islamic institutions in the Montreal region. There are over 225,000 Muslims in Montreal, about 1,000,000 in Canada and 1.7 billion worldwide.

 

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