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Constrained speech in Canada…

… became a thing recently for a lot of people inside and outside that country because of a University of Toronto professor’s refusal to cooperate with a new regime under which his very pronoun use was subject to sanctions.

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Now there’s poor Frank Bauer, who comes from the Netherlands, where burqas have of course been banned for years. Head of a refugee assistance group in Alberta, Bauer finds himself part of a strange new world, within whose boundaries even an expression of discomfort with the burqa gets you labeled “racist, Islamophobic and misogynistic.”

What precisely did Bauer write in a social media post?

“I am a strong advocate for being welcoming, inclusive and respecting all cultures and religions, however find full face covering in public a notch too far,” Bauer wrote on Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership’s Facebook page in a discussion about religious accommodation.

“I would not feel comfortable in conversations no matter what the topic is, and believe this is an area where newcomers need to respect and adapt themselves to the Canadian culture and norms.”

Hiding behind a symbolic burqa, anonymous members of the organization’s staff filed a grievance against this bad bad man.

Bauer’s abject apology would have fit right in at a Stalin show trial.

Margaret Soltan, February 4, 2019 10:32AM
Posted in: end the erasure of women

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