Ontario school board promotes “Islamic Apparel Store” on staff portal
The Waterloo Region District School Board has launched a new “Islamic Apparel Store” on its staff website, promoting shirts designed to celebrate Islamic Heritage Month.
The Waterloo Region District School Board has launched a new “Islamic Apparel Store” on its staff website, promoting shirts designed to celebrate Islamic Heritage Month under the slogan “One Ummah, One Love.”
A source at the board who shared the screenshots told True North that no other faith-based clothing was available on the staff portal. “There were no Christian, Jewish, Sikh, or Hindu items offered,” the source said.
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The items available on the staff portal only, describes the initiative as a “mechanism of funding student-led initiatives” and invites staff, students, and families to purchase the apparel currently unavailable on their public website.
The design is said to reflect “the multiplicity of Muslim identities and communities.” The Arabic word “ummah” translates to “community,” but in contemporary Islamist and pan-Islamist thought, ummah is sometimes invoked to imply a unified Muslim polity or “Islamic nation,” which overlaps with the idea of a caliphate.
Searches of board websites and school spirit-wear pages show no evidence of apparel connected to other religions, only school-logo items, Pink Shirt Day, and Orange Shirt Day.
Public records show the board has previously promoted “Black Brilliance” apparel through a school-based campaign at Glenview Park Secondary School. That initiative was described as a fundraiser for student equity projects and was open to the public.
True North asked the board whether any other religious apparel has been offered in the last five years, why the apparel was offered on the staff portal only, and whether comparable opportunities exist for other faith groups. The board has not responded.
WRDSB policy states that all faith groups must be treated equally and that no religion should have primacy over another. The board also allows students and staff to wear personal religious symbols and clothing.
At this time, the Islamic apparel appears to be the only faith-related clothing offered or promoted by the Waterloo Region District School Board.
Muslim dress is mostly about the subjugation of women and should have no place in Canadian society. This store is another step in Muslim substantiation in the Canadian scene. A bad move ideologically.
If you want to buy/sell Islamic articles go live in an Arab Muslim society, otherwise shove that crap where the sun don’t shine.