Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Afghan women in Canada and around the world are posing in colourful traditional dresses online to hit back against the Taliban’s strict new clothing requirements for women in schools.
Based on their interpretation of sharia law, the Taliban has recently ordered all classrooms to be segregated based on gender, and mandated that all female students and teachers wear hijabs. On Saturday, photos on social media even showed a group of female students covered entirely in long black robes and waving Taliban flags in the government-run university in Kabul.
But many with Afghan heritage in Canada say their own traditional clothing looks nothing like that.
“That’s not who we are,” Neelo Mansuri, an Afghan-Canadian activist and law student in Toronto, said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca.
“The people in the Taliban regime have taken religion and exported it into something that is completely despicable,” she said. “Afghanistan is a country of colour. Not this long, black, grim Dementor-like clothing, if I can make a Harry Potter reference.”
Mansuri is among thousands of Afghans who are sharing photos of themselves in vibrant, multi-coloured ceremonial clothing, using the hashtags #DoNotTouchMyClothes and #AfghanistanCulture.
While every tribe and region are unique, traditional attire is known for its intricate, hand-stitched embroidery; detailed headpieces; long pleated skirts; and fabric lined with bells, beads and tiny mirrors -- all of which stand out when people twirl in a traditional dance called the “attan.”
“Black shrouds do not represent Afghan culture,” Dr. Fatima Kakkar, who teaches pediatrics at the University of Montreal, said in an email to CTVNews.ca. She wore a lime green dress with an embroiled purple top in her tweeted photo.
“It’s important the world sees what traditional Afghan clothes really are. Their beauty, the workmanship, the vibrant colors represent the country and its heritage,” said Kakkar. “Every Afghan woman I know cherishes their traditional Afghan dress and wears it with pride. So it was important to reinforce that that visually.”
Mansuri explained that a lot of traditional clothing people in diaspora wear comes directly from female embroiderers in Afghanistan. She called the social media campaign a small but public way to “stand in solidarity” with the women facing oppression and growing restrictions in Afghanistan.
The online avalanche of photos began on Saturday when Bahar Jalali, a former history professor at the American University in Afghanistan, tweeted a photo of herself in a bright, green Afghan dress with flowers embroidered onto a red backdrop.
She posted it used the hashtag #AfghanistanCulture, and the next day, she used #DoNotTouchMyClothes for another photo of herself. “We will not let our culture to be appropriated by those who want to erase us,” she wrote.
In the days that followed, many Afghans, mostly women, followed her lead on Twitter and Instagram.
“This campaign reflects resilience, identity and defiance against an unelected, imposed rule,” Toronto-area based Afghan activist Mina Sharif told CTVNews.ca in an email.
“Clothes are not a priority in a country facing what Afghanistan is at the risk of experiencing, but they are a universal symbol of expression and we deserve to reflect our identity.”
Sharif was raised in Canada but started a girl's mentorship program in Afghanistan and worked with women-led radio stations from 2005 to 2019.
“I met strong powerful women urban and rural communities -- modestly, colourfully dressed women in a variety of culturally diverse designs,” she said. In the past 20 years, aspects of more ceremonial attire have ended up in light headscarves, jeans and everyday clothing of women going to work in offices or schools.
“We ask the world to remember we are a people who deserve to live on our own terms and speak for ourselves.”
“There’s an apparent ethnic and cultural cleansing that's taking place in Afghanistan right now,” Tahmina Aziz, an Victoria-based journalist and member of the Canadian Campaign for Afghan Peace (CCAP), told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
“The beautiful, diverse tapestry that we had is disappearing day by day,” she said. “Afghanistan is known for its poetry, for its food, its sport, its art, and music… and we've seen these heartbreaking images of instruments being destroyed and woman being partially banned from sports.”
Aziz posted a photo of herself in a white and red embroidered dress to help bring attention to the work she and advocates have been doing for months.
She and CCAP have been pushing the Canadian government to broaden the special immigration program to help resettle more Afghans, provide more immediate humanitarian aid, and advocate for protecting the rights of women and ethnic and religious minorities.
In recent weeks, political science experts and Afghan families in Canada have also noted that many ethnic minorities, particularly Hazara Afghans and Sikh and Hindu populations, are at risk of persecution and even death if they remain in Afghanistan. Some have attempted to flee but many remain trapped in the country.
Although federal party leaders in Canada have made various pledges regarding Afghanistan, Mansuri hopes campaigns like #DoNotTouchMyClothes help keep Afghanistan top of mind well after the election.
“Afghan people today have made so many contributions to the social fabric of Canada, whether it be through education, work or otherwise,” she said.
“So it's not just a crisis for the Afghan people, but it's a crisis for everybody around the world.”
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.