New Democratic Party: National Med

Reasonable Accommodation Dept: What was H rouxville like? H rouxville showed me those different sides to Quebecers' personality that I already knew about - their beauty, their vulnerability, their fear. When we arrived there, people were waving to us and shouting, "Allo! Bienvenue chez nous!" I feel sorry for the way people in H rouxville were portrayed. Most of the people there are very nice. There was one moment the media didn't get to see - it was when we met privately with a group of their women. When we came together, we just all started crying. It was this moment of suffering, of women discovering how they had been caught up in this whole debate over reasonable accommodation, according to Montreal Gazette. How do you see this election, and which of the parties do you like? I listen to how the politicians speak. I listen to see who is denigrating others. I listen for inclusive language. I already had a problem with Stephen Harper and the Conservatives for the way they supported the methods that Israel had used in the 2006 war against Hezbollah. And there is still something about the Bloc Qu b cois's position on immigration that isn't clear to me. I still have fears the party could come under the control of anti-immigration extremists. So that leaves the Liberals and the New Democratic Party. Our community is split between the two. However, I'm starting to see videos on social media suggesting the Liberals are changing their positions on the Middle East to look more pro-Israel. This, obviously, is in response to the Conservatives. But my preference is the NDP. I like Jack Layton. There's something fresh and inclusive about the way he speaks and what he has to say and a Shiite Muslim, Elsy Fneiche was born in Lebanon and came to Canada when she was 2 years old. In 2007, she was one of nine hijab-wearing women from Montreal who drove up to H rouxville, in the Mauricie region, to talk with local residents about their town's controversial anti-immigration manifesto. The visit was closely covered by the national media in Canada. Fneiche, now 24, is currently doing a master's degree in psychoeducation at the Universit de Montr al. How did H rouxville affect you? When I first heard about what was going on there, I felt I had a nonreligious point about Islam that I wanted to make. So I phoned up Denis L vesque, the talk-show host on LCN, and I was on his show. And that's what started it. Then the Association des jeunes libanais musulmans of Montreal contacted me, and the trip to H rouxville was organized. There were some women who didn't want me to come with them if I wore makeup. They just wanted to present this one image of Islam. But I insisted, they relented, and I wore makeup. To me, it was very important that I was able to show my full femininity. As reported in the news.
@t shiite muslim, montreal gazette