Canadian Politician's Photo With Malala Yousafzai Sparks Criticism

Ottawa: Jean-Francois Roberge, the Education Minister of Canada's Quebec province, is being criticized and accused of hypocrisy after tweeting a picture of himself with Nobel Prize-winning human rights activist Malala Yousafzai.

Social media was quick to highlight the Minister's "shameful hypocrisy", less than two weeks after his Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government adopted a law that bans public sector employees in positions of authority, including teachers, police officers and judges, from wearing religious symbols at work. Roberge and Malala were in France, where they discussed "access to education and international development".

Numerous responses on Roberge's Friday Twitter post pointed out that Yousafzai - who opposed the Taliban's efforts to ban schooling for girls in her native Pakistan - wouldn't be legally permitted to teach in Quebec schools while wearing a headscarf under his government's "Bill 21". "Did you tell her that in Quebec, women dressed like Malala do not have access to certain jobs in the public service? Thanks to your government," one Twitter user said. (IANS)

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