Whitby woman speaks out after allegedly being confronted over her hijab

[Charlemagne]

August 2, 2018 2:59 pm Updated: August 2, 2018 7:24 pm

Whitby woman speaks out after allegedly being confronted over her human

By Jasmine Pazzano
Video Journalist Global News

A mother of four from Whitby, Ont., says a complete stranger hurled insults at her for wearing a hijab, an alleged incident that is now at the centre of a Durham police investigation.

Sara Moumani, 31, says that she was approached by a man on Tuesday morning while she was with her five-year-old son, Yasseen.

“He said, ‘You f**-ing terrorist,'” said 31-year-old Sara Moumani, a mother of four. “‘You deserve to die.'”

Investigators say Moumani returned to her car and drove past the man, warning him she was going to call the police.

Moumani alleges that the man insulted her religion. “I shrugged my shoulders, and I said, ‘You know what? Well, that’s good for you.’ And then…when he saw me say that, he got really upset and he said to me, ‘You’d better take that scarf off your head before I rip it off.'”

Canadian-born Moumani says her son was confused by the incident. “He [has] been questioning me…’Why is he saying that? Why is he saying stuff like that, mamma?'”

Police are still looking for the suspect, who is described as white, about 50 years old, with a short stocky build and brown hair.

Dave Selby, a spokesperson with Durham police, says it is too early on in the investigation to know which charges will be laid. But, he says to report to police anyone who is threatening or asking someone to remove a religious symbol. “Everyone benefits from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that protects your ability to worship who you want to worship and to wear what you want to wear and to believe what you want to believe,” he said. “As a police service, we reinforce those rights.”

The alleged Whitby encounter is just one of the latest in a string of suspected incidents against Muslims across the Greater Toronto Area.

“What we’re seeing really concerns us,” said Leila Nasr of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. “We’ve had nine hate crimes or hate incidents reported to us in the month of July across the country. Six of those occurred just in the GTA and surrounding areas.”

This includes the confrontation at the Toronto Island Ferry Terminal in July. Toronto police have since arrested and charged 50-year-old Lombray Ball with two counts of assault and threatening death.

In another recent encounter, 38-year-old Muslim father Muhammed Abu Marzouk was viciously beaten, allegedly by two brothers, in Mississauga, Ont. Peel police say it was a hate-motivated crime, and they have charged 19-year-old Janis Corhamzic and 27-year-old Adem Corhanzic, both of Brampton, Ont., with assault.

Moumani says she will not stand down if she is confronted again. “The piece of cloth on my head doesn’t really make me any different,” she said.

Anyone with information, video or pictures related to the alleged Whitby incident is asked to contact police.

— With files from The Canadian Press

© 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4367924/durham-police-hijab-confronted/

 

[richaceg]

described as white, about 50 years old, with a short stocky build and brown hair.
that really narrows it down....

 

[bver_hunter]

These jobless idiots have nothing to do but just harass others getting on with their lives.
Apparently, he spoke with an accent.

 

[Crimson Mire]

Systemic racism at its worst. Unfortunately by the time racism against PoC is eliminated in this society is when pigs fly. Schools need to do a better job educating people about systemic racism and we need to create more safe spaces for PoC in case tragedies like this occurs.

 

[HEYHEY]

Trudeau is on his way to apologize and offer 10 million dollars

 

[Charlemagne]

Trudeau is on his way to apologize and offer 10 million dollars

Most redneck losers say this on comment sections.

 

[Charlemagne]

Yeah!!
No redneck losers, ban all redneck losers, Ban all losers, in fact ban everyone thats not supportive of Charlemagne.

Actually it's hot to stand up and protest anything think Ill just hurl insults from my keyboard.

If you support the idea that The PM will give 10 million and apologize for this, you're an idiot. I know it's a reference to Khadr. I see lots of comments from small town folks not only on this board but on other sites, they don't seem to know anything more than what Sun Media tells them especially when it comes to minorities or foreign affairs.

 

[PornAddict]

Trudeau is on his way to apologize and offer 10 million dollars

Poltical correctness buy a lots of future votes!! Polticians are like salesman they will sell their soul for votes just like saleman selling their soul for completion of sales.

 

[bver_hunter]

Most redneck losers say this on comment sections.

When you get dumb and dumber comments from the right wingers, you know that the bar is set so low, thanks to that nutcase of a POTUS that they adore.

 

[Charlemagne]

When you get dumb and dumber comments from the right wingers, you know that the bar is set so low, thanks to that nutcase of a POTUS that they adore.

A lot of these people are on our side of the border as well.
I keep seeing that joke of Trudeau giving 10 Million dollars away whenever a Muslim is a victim of a hate crime. It's usually from a certain demographic as well.

 

[Smallcock]

Systemic racism at its worst.

What makes the incident systemic?

 

[bver_hunter]

This incident occurred in a quiet little town called Brooklin. There were other similar incidents of a Muslim woman being harassed while walking her children to the local school. So it was great to see the local residents getting together to support the diversity cause, thanks to the Rotary Club and a Good Samaritan efforts:

We had an incident in Brooklin with a Muslim mother walking her kids to school and there was a period of about a year (where she) had been harassed by her neighbour and when she approached the school to see if they could do something about it, they told her, ‘We can’t get involved,’” she explained.

As a longtime Brooklin resident, Bowness said she felt compelled to bring the issue up to her fellow Rotarians after hearing about it through social media.

“I brought it to the club to say hey, you know, not in our town — this is not what we’re about and we need to do something proactive.”

https://www.durhamregion.com/commun...ts-embrace-colours-and-cultures-of-community/

Obviously, such systemic incidents are on the rise.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

This incident occurred in a quiet little town called Brooklin. There were other similar incidents of a Muslim woman being harassed while walking her children to the local school. So it was great to see the local residents getting together to support the diversity cause, thanks to the Rotary Club and a Good Samaritan efforts:

We had an incident in Brooklin with a Muslim mother walking her kids to school and there was a period of about a year (where she) had been harassed by her neighbour and when she approached the school to see if they could do something about it, they told her, ‘We can’t get involved,’” she explained.

As a longtime Brooklin resident, Bowness said she felt compelled to bring the issue up to her fellow Rotarians after hearing about it through social media.

“I brought it to the club to say hey, you know, not in our town — this is not what we’re about and we need to do something proactive.”

https://www.durhamregion.com/commun...ts-embrace-colours-and-cultures-of-community/

Obviously, such systemic incidents are on the rise.

I could certainly see the some of the "Brooklin Moms" and their hubbies having feelings like this expressed here.

 

[Nesbot]

Only racist cowards do this. Notice it would never happen if say the mother was with her husband? Because racists are cowards and without backup they know they'd get their faces caved in. The only thing these idiots understand are hard consequences. The political climate down south has given rise to every racist piece of crap with a keyboard too. Which is why most message boards are overrun with racists as well. It has now become "cool" to be a racist. What is the world coming to.

 

[Darts]

Unlike former Premier Wynne and Prime Minister Trudeau, I'll wait until the police finish their investigation before making any comments about the alleged incident.

Surprised there is no videos with all the cellphones and cameras around.

 

[mandrill]

Trudeau is on his way to apologize and offer 10 million dollars

why? Did the person who was insulted about her hijab get tortured in Guantanamo Bay for 5 years with the cooperation of Harper? That's why the $10 million in the Khadr case. I'm not seeing the parallel. Can you explain?

 

[Ref]

If you support the idea that The PM will give 10 million and apologize for this, you're an idiot. I know it's a reference to Khadr. I see lots of comments from small town folks not only on this board but on other sites, they don't seem to know anything more than what Sun Media tells them especially when it comes to minorities or foreign affairs.

Nice of you to paint millions of folks with your elitist brush. You need to step down from your high horse and realize that you are as much of the problem as you feel the "rednecks" are.

Most people understand that this type of behavior is wrong and should not be accepted and they decide not to voice out against it on this forum because there will always be the two extremists on both sides of the equation that will battle it out for the cause and leave common sense as an afterthought.

The more you insult and demean people with your words, the more you come across as no better than the people you are attacking.

Canadian society is changing and it is changing must faster than we think. There are much more mixed marriages (which have resulted in mixed race children), there is much more acceptance of cultural rituals, and these freedoms are not only in the big cities, but they are spreading very rapidly across small town Ontario.

We are only a generation or two away from massive changes in society and the extremists on each side of the issue are the ones will be left behind fighting battles that no longer exist - except among themselves.