A Calgary-based legal defence group is coming to the aid of American human rights advocates whose ads have been stripped from Edmonton buses.
In a press release, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) announced a court action in support of the non-profit American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), whose ads encouraged Canadian Muslim women and girls to come to them for legal protection from so-called “honour killings.”
“Is your family threatening you? Is there a fatwa on your head? We can help,” the ads read, underneath photos of women murdered in high-profile honour killing cases.
One of those women is Aqsa Parvez, murdered in her own home by her brother and father in Mississauga in December 2007, over her refusal to wear the Muslim head scarf known as the hijab.
The ads then directed women to AFDI’s website, FightForFreedom.us.
The city received five complaints about the ad in the six days it was up on city buses in October 2013.
Each complaint carries a $500 fine.
Coun. Amarjeet Sohi told city officials to take down the ads because they do a disservice to organizations like the Indo-Canadian Women’s Association, which has been working to raise awareness about honour killings for years.
“Honour killings is a very serious concern in every community and we need to speak up against it, but targeting one particular group, and singling out one particular group, does not help resolve it,” Sohi said in October. “The organizations behind these ads are known for anti-Islamic rhetoric. They always look for opportunities to demean and degrade people of Islamic faith.”
“The City of Edmonton has silenced the voice of a non-profit group that wants to assist Canadian women and girls, protect them from honour killings and promote gender equality,” says JCCF president John Carpay.
The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench will hear the JCCF’s case in February 2015.