After Toronto police concluded that an 11-year-old girl in a hijab was never attacked by a stranger wielding scissors, critics are questioning her school’s decision to hold a news conference where she told reporters her story.
Surrounded by her family, the Grade 6 student appeared in front of TV cameras and answered questions from a throng of reporters at Pauline Johnson Public School in Scarborough late last Friday, hours after she claimed the incident occurred, and after the Toronto District School Board contacted police and her family.
Police initially announced they were investigating the incident as a hate crime, sparking outrage in Canada and abroad as several political figures weighed in, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who declared: “That is not what Canada is.”