Mrs. Haider is known for her struggle for the release of her husband, Raif Badawi, a blogger imprisoned for nine years in Saudi Arabia for his advocacy of liberal values.
She has lived in Sherbrooke with her three children since December 2013 after she was granted political asylum in Canada, but she is, however, not sure whether she will be able to run for the constituency deputy position.
She is likely to win her place as a candidate in the Nominating Association, after the bloc’s candidate was defeated in the last elections in 2019, Claude Forges, after he had already expressed his intention to run for re-election.
Ensaf Haidar explains that she chose to wear the Bloc Québécois colors because it is Love Quebec
.
Quebec helped me a lot. He supported me a lot
as you say.
She asserts that she is very grateful to the Quebec Bloc, which has supported her for years in her fight for her husband’s release and has particularly succeeded in adopting a unanimous proposal in the House of Commons in January calling for her to be granted. Canadian nationality for Mr. Badawi.
It also claims to acknowledge itself in the Quebeco Bloc’s sovereign speech.
I see Quebec as a country. Because when I got out, when I traveled to Ottawa or Ontario, I found it was like getting out of the country. Quebec is big enough to be a country. He has his culture. He has his tongue
She thinks.
Haidar’s supporters also share some common values with the Bloc party, which testified in favor of secularism last November during the trial aimed at nullifying the state secularism law, which was adopted by Parliament in June 2019.
Hijab is not a religion. […] I left [l’Arabie saoudite] Because it is difficult for a woman to lead a normal life there. I am Muslim, but religion is personal
Among other things, Ensaf Haidar was declared before the Supreme Court of Quebec.
Perhaps the downside in her candidacy is that Mrs. Haidar speaks difficult French, an element that she herself does not consider an obstacle.
When people talk to me, I understand everything
And stresses that she can count on the ability to prepare her speeches. Sure, that’s what it would be like for me. I will not speak without preparation
, Emphasizes.
Mrs. Haider was courted by the Quebeco Bloc in 2019 during the last elections. But she withdrew explaining that her children, already deprived of their father, could not do without their mother, and that she considered it best to use her energy to free her husband.
Badawi, who was sentenced to ten years in prison, is expected to be released in 2022.
