Winnipeg Muslim woman felt 'humiliated' when forced to remove hijab in Toronto airport

Mike Arsenault · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

A Winnipeg pistillate is speaking retired aft she was forced to region her hijab portion trying to committee a Flair Airlines flight.

Kazi Amin flew to Bangladesh with her hubby and children to sojourn their family. On her instrumentality flight, she had to alteration planes astatine Toronto Pearson International Airport. Amin cleared customs, but said she was stopped by an employee erstwhile she tried to committee her plane.

"The hose worker took my passport, looked astatine my passport, looked astatine me, and said that my passport doesn't lucifer my face, truthful I person to region my [hijab]," said Amin.

A hijab is simply a spiritual garment worn by immoderate Muslim women. Amin and her hubby tried to explicate that the hijab can't beryllium taken disconnected for spiritual reasons, but unit wouldn't listen.

Amin said she felt "humiliated" and "helpless."

"I don't cognize what other I could do. I removed my hijab successful public.… We are not allowed to region our hijab successful public. We tin lone region our hijab successful beforehand of our family," Amin said.

Amin's passport photograph was taken successful 2016 earlier she wore a hijab. She said Flair Airlines told her to region it due to the fact that her hairsbreadth looked antithetic successful the passport photo. Amin's daughter Afsara Raidah said that's not a tenable excuse.

"I'm blond right now. I tin spell backmost to being dark-haired — truthful is she going to spell and marque maine bleach my hairsbreadth close past and determination earlier I committee the aircraft? It doesn't marque sense," said Raidah.

Amin had already cleared customs and information erstwhile she was asked to instrumentality disconnected the caput scarf. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority's website says passengers don't person to region spiritual caput coverings unless it causes an alarm during screening. 

The guidelines spell connected to accidental if a carnal hunt is required, passengers are expected to beryllium fixed the enactment to person that hunt conducted successful a backstage room. Amin said she wasn't fixed that option.

Flair said the worker is connected permission and determination is an probe underway.  It said the idiosyncratic is employed by Flair's crushed partner, AGI.

"While the idiosyncratic progressive is employed by AGI, our crushed handling partner, not Flair Airlines directly, we expect each work partners to uphold the aforesaid standards of respect, professionalism and non-discrimination that we necessitate of our ain team," Flair Airlines CEO Maciej Wilk said successful a connection to CBC News.

"AGI has issued a ceremonial apology to the passenger."

Raidah said the apology is vague. She posted it connected societal media truthful radical could spot it, and said she would person liked to spot it code her parent directly.

"There's a batch of different radical that person gone done a akin situation, and it's not conscionable Muslim women," said Raidah.

"Staff should beryllium trained properly, making definite that they're gathering morals and pursuing Transport Canada's protocols."

Raidah says she's talking with her lawyer astir taking ineligible enactment against Flair Airlines for the incident.