Montreal City Hall removing welcome sign with hijab sends wrong message: Muslim group

A national Muslim advocacy group says Montreal is sending the wrong message by removing a welcome sign at city hall that had on it a woman wearing a hijab.

Stephen Brown, chief executive of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says his organization was surprised and disappointed by the city’s decision.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told a television talk show that the artwork depicting a woman wearing a headscarf would be removed in the name of secularism, adding that it made some people feel uncomfortable.

The image, in the style of a pencil sketch, shows the woman standing between two men — a younger man wearing a baseball cap and an older man with his hands crossed — with the words “Welcome to Montreal City Hall!” in French above them.

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Since city hall reopened after renovations in the spring, the new sign has sparked criticism from secular and women’s rights groups, who have said the image is insulting to women and promotes religion in the public space.

Brown says the poster is representative of Montreal society, and that the city shouldn’t “remove people” because of the way they look.

Plante told reporters Wednesday that she doesn’t want anyone to feel erased because in Montreal “everyone has their place.”

She also expanded on her earlier comments about removing the artwork, explaining that the sign is part of a rotating exhibit and would eventually have been replaced with something new. “For me to say that it will be changed, is something that we would have done anyway.”