Dr. Sima Goel

Canada must show resolve against Iran or children will continue to be slaughtered

By Dr. Sima Goel on February 20, 2018

In Shiraz of 1978 when I was 13 and used to slip out of my house to protest the Shah’s corrupt government, I was never arrested nor hurt. Flash forward to January 2, 2018, an 11 –year- old boy participates in government protests in the small town of Khomeinishahr: he dies as a result. Nearly half a century later, and Iranian children still feel they have to march to get their leaders to listen to the people.
Iranians hoped that when President Obama lifted economic sanctions against Iran, inflation rates would drop, employment would rise and foreign investment and tourists would return to this country so wealthy in natural resources and potential; but under Rouhani’s government, the expected gains have not materialized.

Are you supporting the "Hijab Day” at Ottawa's City Hall?

By Dr. Sima Goel on February 22, 2016

The City for All Women Initiative (CAWI) is asking Canadian women in the nation’s capital to offer support for the Hijab, the head covering worn by many Muslim women. It is their belief that in order to eliminate hatred and Islamophobia, all non–Muslim women should unit and wear the hijab on February 25th at Ottawa city hall.
Although not all Muslim women wear the Hijab, those who wear it, do so as a religious obligation. I have yet to meet a non-Muslim woman who wears the Hijab as a form of cultural expression. However, I have met many devout followers of Islam, who say that the Hijab is not a required tenet of faith.

On the Syrian refugee issue

By Dr. Sima Goel on November 25, 2015

In light of Prime Minister Trudeau’s recent announcement that Canada will integrate over 25,000 Syrian refugees into our democratic and free country, I, a former political refugee have a message that I would wish to share.
In 1983 as an 18 year old I found asylum in Canada. I endured a harrowing escape from Iran and many months of life as a refugee in Pakistan. I was scarred by a lifetime of racism and political instability. I was obliged to go into hiding when I was sixteen, after a series of seemingly unrelated events brought me to the attention of the Islamic Revolutionary government, with the result that my name was put on a blacklist. My crime?