Twice now, the New Democrats have tried to reverse the Ontario legislature’s keffiyeh ban — and twice, a few Progressive Conservatives have stopped them.
The latest attempt came on Tuesday, when NDP leader Marit Stiles sought unanimous consent to reverse Speaker Ted Arnott’s ban of the garment. Her motion was defeated by the PCs, despite Premier Doug Ford’s opposition to the ban and his call to reverse it. Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie and Green leader Mike Schreiner also oppose the ban. Still, Ford allowed his members a free vote on the motion.
The keffiyeh is both cultural and political, a regional garment that is now worn around the world. In some contexts, it is a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. It has other dimensions, too: like many garments and symbols, it’s more complicated than those who’d like to ban or otherwise hide it from public view would have you believe. But Ontario’s ban flattens the keffiyeh and treats those who wear it as a racial, cultural, and political monolith. That is racist, and accordingly, the ban is unjust.
When members of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association visited Queen’s Park to meet with Stiles, they wore keffiyehs. As Global’s Colin D’Mello reports, they were banned from entering the legislature while wearing the garment and met with the NDP leader on the lawn instead. Who’s served by denying a handful of lawyers entry to the building in these circumstances? Why them and not, say, someone wearing a pin with a Ukrainian flag on it? What’s different here?
It’s immoral to follow unjust rules. Independent MPP Sarah Jama sat in the legislature on Tuesday wearing a keffiyeh in defiance of Arnott. The opposition parties should follow her lead and refuse to obey the ban. They ought to wear keffiyehs in the chamber and outside it. If the Speaker and the sergeant-at-arms don’t like it, they’re welcome to drag members out of the legislature. Let them show their true colours while members of the Ford government look on, sat firmly on the wrong side of the issue.
Proponents of the ban cite rules about “props,” suggesting that MPPs should debate with their words, not garments or anything else that could be construed as political. This is an absolute canard.
PC MPP Robin Martin says the rules “are clear that props and clothing that makes a political statement cannot be worn in the chamber.” Martin voted against the unanimous-consent motion to end the ban, and yet she wore a “bring them home” dog tag necklace in the legislature. Is that political? Is that a prop? Is a cross? Is a symbol of Ukrainian heritage? What about an Israeli one, as Martin’s necklace could be taken for?
Never mind that saying “no politics in the legislature” is like saying “no fighting in the War Room” — the uneven application of the “props” rule enforces an intolerable double standard that MPPs ought to oppose. I’d call the ban a majoritarian attack on a minority, but it seems as if the majority may, in fact, oppose it. Rather, it’s a handful of PC MPPs who are fouling up the legislature for everyone else. Shame on them.
The keffiyeh may be cultural or political or both depending on who’s wearing it and why, but it isn’t the business of the Ontario legislature to decide that. It’s way out of bounds for a minority of MPPs to dictate whether its presence is acceptable at Queen’s Park. More than unacceptable, it’s racist and wrong. Until the ban is lifted, opposition MPPs — and, hell, PC MPPs, if they’ve got the guts — ought to show up wearing a keffiyeh in solidarity with those who’ve been banned from doing so. If they must grind the business of the legislature to a halt to do what’s right, so be it.
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