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Article by Rebel News staff

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Rebel News reporter Alexandra Lavoie spoke with protesters who questioned why shoppers may not know whether meat was produced according to halal requirements. In Canada, products marketed as halal must meet labelling rules, but there is no general requirement to identify every halal product as such.

Mandana Javan, an Iranian activist, called that lack of information “catastrophic” and “scandalous.” 

Another said, “I have trouble finding chicken and meat that isn’t halal when I go to the grocery store.”

The debate extended beyond the grocery aisle. 

Javan, who is Muslim herself, argued that halal branding now reaches cosmetics, dating sites, taxis and clothing. She alleged that Islamist movements seek to use the market to expand their influence, while stressing that “not all Muslims subscribe to it, either.”

Lavoie also raised Ottawa’s support for halal and kosher production in the meat industry. One protester questioned that spending when people cannot afford enough food: “Couldn’t that money have been used to help people who can’t afford to eat, instead of putting it into a market that is already very, very established?”

Two Muslim men who were passing by were not in agreement that halal is being imposed. One rejected that premise: “I don’t think institutions are imposing halal eating on the population.”

For the demonstrators, the issue now reaches Quebec’s election campaign. One urged party leaders to defend secularism: “Secularism must be preserved, strengthened, and we must not back down.”

Their demand is for political leaders to examine where accommodation ends and a broader change in the marketplace begins.