VIA Rail Canada has issued an apology after one of its staff members told a Muslim man he couldn’t pray inside a station because it was “bothering other customers.”
A video of the incident has made the rounds online and shows an employee going back and forth with a man on why he couldn’t pray indoors.
The employee goes as far as to tell the man he should take his worship outside, despite the cold weather.
This happened on Mar. 20 at the company’s train station in Ottawa.
On Tuesday, the National Council of Canadian Muslims posted the video to Twitter, which has already racked up more than 85,000 views as of Wednesday morning.
“First and foremost, we want to apologize unreservedly to the individuals involved and to the entire Muslim community,” VIA Rail Canada said in a press release issued Monday.
“Freedom of religion, including the ability to worship, is a human right and is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. VIA Rail strongly condemns and will not tolerate any form of discriminatory behaviour,” it added.
VIA Rail also said it is taking the situation very seriously and is investigating the incident in order to take appropriate action.
There have been mixed reactions online with users outraged and saddened by the incident, while others say the use of public space for personal expressions of worship should be banned altogether.
This comes as millions of Muslims around the world gear up to fast during the holy month of Ramadan and will no doubt have to pray in public spaces.
Additionally, according to Islamic law, prayers are to be performed at set times each day and as a result, many worshipers find themselves having to make do with their surroundings at any given time.
