Muslim Canadian Congress accuses Harper of tarnishing Canadian record on human rights

The Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) today said that Stephen Harper’s regressive, exclusionary position on equal marriage will be a blight on Canada’s record on human rights.

“Thousands of new Canadians choose this country as their home every year because of our human rights record,” said Tarek Fatah, a member of the MCC and host of the CTS-TV show, The Muslim Chronicle. “By not supporting the equal marriage legislation - by excluding gay and lesbian people from this fundamental human right - Mr. Harper is turning back the clock on Canadian human rights.”

“This legislation is not about religion; it is about fundamental and universal human rights that are a guarantee that all Canadians, irrespective of their religious or ethnic background, feel part of the same family,” the MMC earlier stated. “It is incumbent upon us, as a minority, to stand up in solidarity with Canada’s gays and lesbians despite the fact that many in our community believe our religion does not condone homosexuality.”

The MCC also accused the Conservative Party leader of bigotry for suggesting that all ethnic minorities share the same views on issues including equal marriage.

The accusation was prompted by Mr. Harper’s speech on same-sex marriage in the House of Commons yesterday when he said - several times - that “new Canadians” share the identical view that marriage is “a child-centred the union of one man and one woman whether Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh or Muslim.”

“How dare Mr. Harper assume that just because someone came here from another country that we share the exact same thoughts and feelings - that’s bigotry,” Mr. Fatah said.

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