Water park owner apologizes for burkini incident

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This article was published 21/08/2022 (759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The owner of a Manitoba water park has apologized to a Muslim woman for taking issue with the full-body swimwear she and her daughter wore on Friday.

Halima Jelloul and her family were approached by the owner of Lilac Resort near Ste. Anne, who expressed concern their burkinis were a safety hazard on the slides.

After a conversation between the owner and a health inspector, the family was allowed to stay at the resort. Instead, Jelloul’s family decided to drive to Gimli for the day because they were upset.

“I am very proud that this incident had resulted in burkini being allowed in the private water park. I hope that no family will ever had to experience what my family went through,” Jelloul wrote in a facebook post about the incident.

Dan Manaigre, owner of Lilac Resort, who said he had received aggressive messages about the incident, said the resort refunded the family after they chose to leave.

Following the interaction, he sent a memo to staff, stating that burkinis and other forms of modest swimwear would be permitted.

Manaigre told CTV News the incident was a misunderstanding because he didn’t know about burkinis and thought it was streetwear.

“I want to apologize to the family because I just didn’t know,” he is quoted as saying.

A burkini is a full-body swimsuit designed to accommodate religious dress code. The Swimming Pool and Other Water Regulations Act, which applies to public and semi-public pools in Manitoba does not outline swimwear regulations.

Christopher Love, the water smart and safety management co-ordinator at Lifesaving Society Manitoba, said that waterslide and pool facilities are governed by the same provincial safety regulations. The Lifesaving Society provides three bathing attire standards to operators but does not enforce it.

“Number one is that it’s clean…two that it is only used for bathing/swimming, and three that it is made in such a way that it will not create a safety hazard in terms of entanglement or other hazards while a person is engaged in swimming,” Love said.

If properly constructed, Love said there are no safety concerns with burkinis, as they are made with the same fabric as bathing suits. At the same time, he said businesses are allowed to set their own swimwear policies.

“The regulations that are set by the province of Manitoba basically say that swimmers have to be in swimming attire, and that is left without definition,” Love said.

Jelloul hopes her story will prevent other cases.

“We will continue educating, raising awareness and talking this talk. I am very positive that there is lots of learning both ways and I am glad I had the support of the community,” Jelloul wrote.

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca