Muslim mom, girl kicked out of Mississauga pool
Staff apologize, deny racism at play
By Jenny Yuen, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 10:26 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 10:31 PM EDT
The City of Mississauga is apologizing to a Muslim woman after she and her 11-year-old autistic daughter were asked to leave a public outdoor swimming pool.
Shazia Dawood said she was standing at the edge of the Applewood Heights pool — in the Dundas St. E. and Tomken Rd. area — on Friday around 3 p.m. supervising her daughter Birra Alyas, who was in the shallow end. A female lifeguard approached the girl and told her she wasn’t allowed in the deep end because she didn’t pass a swim test, and then ordered her out of the pool.
Dawood says the lifeguard told her she had to get into the water to supervise. The mom refused because she didn’t have a swimsuit and also for religious reasons, as there were men and boys in the pool.
“Another lifeguard started yelling at me, ‘You have to leave,’” Dawood recalled from her Mississauga home Tuesday. “I saw tears in my daughter’s eyes. I asked, ‘What was I doing?’ I said I wasn’t doing vandalism and not scolding. And I saw (one of the lifeguards) laughing at me. Security said I had to go because (the lifeguard) said so.”
Dawood, 43, said she received an apology from the aquatics supervisor Monday. But her family feels this was an act of discrimination and racism.
“She was being harassed because the whole time they were laughing at them and smiling when security was called,” Dawood’s 19-year-old daughter, Muntaha, said.
City recreation manager Jodi Robillos said the department is following up with staff and “taking appropriate action,” but denies the incident stemmed from discrimination.
“Our staff did not quote the admission standards correctly in this instance,” Robillos said.
“Staff were concerned for the child’s safety and swimming ability as she was moving into deeper water and appeared to be struggling. We have met with staff to reinforce better ways to communicate with our customers and other strategies to ensure safety in the water.”
The aquatics admission standards on the city’s website says children nine and younger must be supervised within the pool enclosure by an adult. The city told the family afterwards the lifeguards may have thought her daughter was eight. But Dawood said that before and at the time of the incident, she showed pool staff her daughter’s identification card that indicates her date of birth.
The city says it plans to meet with the family Wednesday.
“We strive to ensure all of our facilities are inclusive and welcoming to all residents and take all complaints very seriously,” Robillos said.
Regardless of the apology, Dawood said she and her family won’t be making any more splashes at Applewood Heights.
“They humiliated us in front of everybody,” she said. “My daughter is so scared to go there. She broke down several times about (lifeguards), saying they were mean to her.”
jyuen@postmedia.com
Birra Alyas, 11, and her mother Shazia Dawood at their home in Mississauga on Tuesday July 19, 2016. (Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun)
Muslim mom, girl kicked out of Mississauga pool | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto
Staff apologize, deny racism at play
By Jenny Yuen, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 10:26 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 10:31 PM EDT
The City of Mississauga is apologizing to a Muslim woman after she and her 11-year-old autistic daughter were asked to leave a public outdoor swimming pool.
Shazia Dawood said she was standing at the edge of the Applewood Heights pool — in the Dundas St. E. and Tomken Rd. area — on Friday around 3 p.m. supervising her daughter Birra Alyas, who was in the shallow end. A female lifeguard approached the girl and told her she wasn’t allowed in the deep end because she didn’t pass a swim test, and then ordered her out of the pool.
Dawood says the lifeguard told her she had to get into the water to supervise. The mom refused because she didn’t have a swimsuit and also for religious reasons, as there were men and boys in the pool.
“Another lifeguard started yelling at me, ‘You have to leave,’” Dawood recalled from her Mississauga home Tuesday. “I saw tears in my daughter’s eyes. I asked, ‘What was I doing?’ I said I wasn’t doing vandalism and not scolding. And I saw (one of the lifeguards) laughing at me. Security said I had to go because (the lifeguard) said so.”
Dawood, 43, said she received an apology from the aquatics supervisor Monday. But her family feels this was an act of discrimination and racism.
“She was being harassed because the whole time they were laughing at them and smiling when security was called,” Dawood’s 19-year-old daughter, Muntaha, said.
City recreation manager Jodi Robillos said the department is following up with staff and “taking appropriate action,” but denies the incident stemmed from discrimination.
“Our staff did not quote the admission standards correctly in this instance,” Robillos said.
“Staff were concerned for the child’s safety and swimming ability as she was moving into deeper water and appeared to be struggling. We have met with staff to reinforce better ways to communicate with our customers and other strategies to ensure safety in the water.”
The aquatics admission standards on the city’s website says children nine and younger must be supervised within the pool enclosure by an adult. The city told the family afterwards the lifeguards may have thought her daughter was eight. But Dawood said that before and at the time of the incident, she showed pool staff her daughter’s identification card that indicates her date of birth.
The city says it plans to meet with the family Wednesday.
“We strive to ensure all of our facilities are inclusive and welcoming to all residents and take all complaints very seriously,” Robillos said.
Regardless of the apology, Dawood said she and her family won’t be making any more splashes at Applewood Heights.
“They humiliated us in front of everybody,” she said. “My daughter is so scared to go there. She broke down several times about (lifeguards), saying they were mean to her.”
jyuen@postmedia.com
Birra Alyas, 11, and her mother Shazia Dawood at their home in Mississauga on Tuesday July 19, 2016. (Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun)
Muslim mom, girl kicked out of Mississauga pool | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto
