Fort MacMurray celebrated World Hajib Day for the second year in a row, showing that the municipality believes in multiculturalism. This special day was initiated in 2013 in New York, and it is designed to recognize Muslim women who wear the hajib as part of their life and their religion. For many Muslim women the hajib is not something they are forced to do, it is something that is voluntary. Local women in the Fort MacMurray area were encouraged to try out a hajib Sunday at Peter Pond Mall, an there were women with hajib experience on hand to help out and to show newcomers how the garment is properly worn. The goal is to let people experience the hajib before they blindly condemn it, and to teach people about the significance of this head apparel.

In Fort MacMurray Worl Hajib Day has proven to be popular, and the hajib may be mandatory for Muslim women but many women of this religion see it as an honor and not a form of oppression. Kiran Malik-Khan, the organizer of the event and the Word Hijab ay YMM president, said “When you try it, you can speak intelligently to it. You can say, ‘I tried it and this is how I felt.“My hijab is not for discussion. This is not something you discuss; not in government, not in lunch rooms. Oppression is really a stereotype, (that) somebody’s forcing us. Is it the father, is it the husband, is it the brother? The answer is, nobody should be forcing it on us. It is by choice and it is with heart in mind.”