School apologizes over Muslim praying

Published: May 8, 2008 at 4:53 PM

GATINEAU, Quebec, May 8 (UPI) -- A private language school in Gatineau, Quebec, has apologized to a Muslim teacher who thought he had been fired for his prayer practices at work.

Last week, French instructor Mohamed Ismael stopped working after being told he couldn't pray in a classroom at the Ecole de langues de l'Estrie, which opened three weeks ago across the Ottawa River from Ottawa.

However, school founder Louise Charest said there had been a misunderstanding and Ismael returned to work Wednesday.

"Our rooms are occupied or under construction so he had to make a decision on what he would do," Charest said. "He was in a room that we were painting. That was the problem."

Ismael told the Ottawa Citizen he believes he'll be allowed to pray inside the school but wouldn't say anything more as he wants to keep his job.

Charest ruled out creating a separate prayer room for him.

"I cannot provide a room for him because if I did that, I would have to provide rooms for every other faith," she said.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
Wickmayer discusses doping suspension (9 min)
CDC estimates 22M had H1N1, 3,900 died (54 min)
New Orleans Hornets fire Coach Byron Scott
Chicago students arrested after food fight
Intel to pay AMD $1.25B settlement
UPI NewsTrack Business
Crude oil prices slide hard Thursday
fark
If there are aliens on other worlds, did Jesus die for their sins, too? After all, every Gelgamek...
Murder suspect tells jury he has the cure for global warming, knows how to win in Afghanistan, and...
...and when they covered the Jews' cars in sticky-notes I said nothing, because I was not a Jew
Photoshop this barrier balancer
You can make your very own Tamiflu at home. I'm sure this will end well
Ohio couple married 61 years and died one day apart. There is no escape. Did you hear me? NO ESCAPE...