School CANCELS event with ISIS survivor saying would offend Muslims

A Canadian school has cancelled an event with ISIS survivor Nadia Murad, saying her visit would be offensive to Muslims and foster 'Islamophobia'.

Murad was scheduled to sit down with students from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) - the largest school Board in Canada with nearly 600 schools - to discuss her book The Last Girl: My Story Of Captivity in February 2022.

Murad's graphic exposé detailed how she escaped the Islamic State, where she was ripped from her home and sold into sexual slavery aged just 14 years old, according to The Telegraph.

She uses the book to talk about how she was raped and tortured before finding her way to a refugee camp in Durhok, in northern Iraq, and then to Germany where she now lives.

But before the event could happen the superintendent of the Board Helen Fisher said that her students would not participate.

She has since issued an apology but refused to allow her students to attend.

Fisher expressed that she believed the book would 'promote Islamophobia' and cited how offensive the book was to her Muslim students as her reason for cancelling the event.

The decision enraged TDSB parent Tanya Lee, who wrote an email to the superintendent about the decision.

Lee also founded the book club - called A Room Of Your Own Book Club - which allows teen girls aged 13 to 18 from secondary schools around the country to hear from female authors, and was hosting the event set to feature Murad.

'This is what the Islamic State means. It is a terrorist organization. It has nothing to do with ordinary Muslims. The Toronto school board should be aware of the difference,' she wrote, as reported by The Telegraph.

The next day Lee told the news site that Fisher sent her a copy of the school board's policy on selecting fair, culturally-relevant reading materials, which a TDSB spokesperson said was 'a misunderstanding'.

'The equity department does not review and approve books for book clubs,' they added.

The Board later issued a statement stating they 'wanted to provide some clarification'.

'An opinion that did no... (Read more)

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