Justin Trudeau visits gender-segregated mosque, Eiynah calls him out

September 14, 2016 • 10:45 am

According to the Toronto Sun, on Monday Canadian PM Justin Trudeau visited the mosque of the Ottawa Muslim Association, where men are segregated from women—who listen from the back of the bus. The Sun also reports that the imam of the mosque has connections to a group identified by the UAE as a terrorist organization.

I don’t know much about the imam, Samy Metwally, but I do object to Trudeau giving his imprimatur to this type of gender segregation, nor would I approve of his visiting an orthodox Jewish temple that had the same type of segregation. Remember, Trudeau appointed Canada’s first cabinet that consisted of at least 50% women, and yet here he endorsed, even implicitly, the subjugation of women.

Listen to ex-Muslim Eiynah “Nice Mangos” take apart Trudeau (and gender segregation in mosques) in this 12½-minute podcast. Click on the screenshot below to listen.

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Here’s Trudeau at the mosque. Note that, as reader Taz mentions in the comments below,

Three female MPs accompanied Trudeau during his brief remarks, though they had to arrive by a side door and stand with their heads covered.

Is this the most Canadian photo ever?

August 23, 2016 • 8:15 am

Even if it’s missing Tim Hortons coffee, I can’t imagine a cuter “Canadian” photo. From CBC News, thanks to reader Taskin, we have a wonderful short article called “Mountie + baby beaver = most Canadian photo ever?” The photo isn’t really staged, but grew out of a real encounter. As the CBC describes,

Sure enough, it happened recently at Regina’s Salthaven West wildlife rehabilitation centre.

The centre helps injured and abandoned birds and wild animals, and in May received four beaver kits whose mother had been killed near Fort Qu’Appelle.

Jason Pinder, who has volunteered his time with Salthaven for the past five years, works a day job as an RCMP corporal.

When he stopped by the centre a few days ago wearing his red serge uniform, staff couldn’t resist getting a shot with him and one of the furry critters.

The result: an iconic shot for the ages that delighted Salthaven’s Facebook followers.

Most Canadian photo ever? Many agreed.

“Just missing a double-double!” Kimberley Belhumeur said in the comments.

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Photo: Megan Lawrence/Salthaven West

Well, when I posted it on Facebook some of my FB friends thought it was missing more than a double double (BTW, if you don’t know that term, read this explanation). Here’s my thread this morning (another comment just added by reader daveau: “I hope that beaver is bilingual.”) But as far as I know, beavers have only one tongue!

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