CAIRO – Local residents in Fort McMurray city in the Canadian western province of Alberta will have a chance to learn about Islamic headscarf, or hijab, as a right for Muslim women during an event marking World Hijab Day second anniversary next Saturday.

“We want everyone to come and try on a hijab,” Kiran Malik-Khan, the organizer of the event, said in a release cited by Fort McMurray Today on Wednesday, January 29.

The event, planned at Peter Pond Mall next Saturday, February 1, was organized as part of plans to mark World Hijab Day.

The second anniversary of the event comes as Canadians remain occupied with debated about Quebec’s Bill 60; or Quebec Charter of Values.

The new charter of values was unveiled by Bernard Drainville, the province’s Minister for Democratic Institutions from the governing Parti Quebecois (PQ), last September 10th.

The Minister argued that preventing public servants from exercising religious freedom at work is part of a broader secularism or “state neutrality.”

The proposed Charter of Values would prohibit public servants from wearing conspicuous religious symbols, including hijabs, turbans, yarmulkes and larger-than-average crucifixes.

Earlier in January, public hearings on the controversial charter were launched at Quebec’s national assembly.

The hearings are expected to extend until April, with more than 250 registrations from individuals and organizations.

The organizers of Saturday’s event hope to help attendance recognize Muslim women right to choose to wear the hijab.

“The biggest stereotype out there is that Muslim women are forced to wear a hijab, which isn’t true,” Malik-Khan said.

“The hijab is an emblem of our modesty, honour and beauty. We wear it because we embrace it with pride.”

During the event, attendants will have the chance to try hijab and learn more about Islam.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

Muslims are the fastest growing religious community in Canada, according to the country’s statistical agency, Statistics Canada.

Canada’s Muslim population increased by 82 per cent over the past decade — from about 579,000 in 2001 to more than 1 million in 2011.

The survey of almost three million people showed that Muslims now represent 3.2 percent of Canada’s total population, up from 2.0 percent recorded in the 2001 Census.