Canadian airline under fire after Muslim woman told to remove hijab

HAMILTON, Canada

A Canadian airline is under fire after a Muslim woman was allegedly forced to remove her hijab, or headscarf, in public at Toronto Pearson Airport on June 20 before boarding a flight to Winnipeg.

Afsara Raidah, the woman's daughter, shared the incident on social media, saying her mother was "humiliated" by "a Flair Airlines employee" at the gate for flight F8641.

"Flair Airlines, you violated my mother's rights and humiliated her at Toronto Pearson Airport today. We will not stay silent," she wrote.

"This was Islamophobia. This was a violation of my mother's religious freedom and basic human rights. It happened in Canada, a country that claims to value diversity, inclusion, and respect," she said.

Raidah also said the employee insisted that her mother remove her hijab because her passport photo was taken before she began wearing it, even though her face was fully visible.

When her father objected, the staff member allegedly replied: "Well, you should've updated your passport picture."

Transport Canada rules state that religious head coverings such as the hijab do not need to be removed as long as the person's face is visible.

In a statement to Anadolu, Flair Airlines said Tuesday that the staff member works for AGI, its ground handling partner.

"While the individual involved is employed by AGI, our ground handling partner, not Flair Airlines directly, we expect all service partners to uphold the same standards of respect, professionalism, and non-discrimination that we require of our own team," said Flair CEO Maciej Wilk.

Flair said AGI issued a formal apology and placed the employee on leave.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) in a statement announced Tuesday that its legal team is involved and added: "There is no room for Islamophobia in Canada's airports or airlines, period."

"We are very concerned that such an alleged incident took place within an airport and flight service, where so many of us depend on the professionalism of the staff for basic safety," NCCM noted.