Here, on how we should call out the Cons' bigotry surrounding the niqab for its own ill intent as well as for its effect of distracting from more substantive election issues.
For further reading...
- The Supreme Court of Canada's decision confirming that the niqab is a matter of religious freedom protected by the Charter is found here. And the Federal Court trial court and appeal decisions involving Zunera Ishaq are here and here, respectively.
- CBC reports on just how few people are being singled out for deliberate and gratuitous discrimination, while also providing some background on the issue.
- Finally, Kirby writes that the Cons' niqab ban is a classic matter of stoking fear of an "other", while Dr. Dawg likewise recognizes both the political implications and the prejudice behind the ban.
Has Canada no real Culture worth defending. The Niqab is a cultural adaptation to a religious belief much as ladies wore headscarves on their heads going to church as in the early 1950's. So it is not religious discrimination to deny use of a niqab. Seiks won the right to use turbans as RCMP and the turban is a proper religious artifact - is it too far fetched to think that in like fashion one might one day be stopped by a RCMP officer wearing a mask? oh niqab..... Or a Police Officer stopping a niqab wearing driver asks for the driving licence -- ah who are you and how can you prove it? flash your pearly whites to the officer or keep driving on someone elses driving license?
ReplyDeleteThe principle of accommodation ensures that rights are infringed upon only where reasonably necessary. Identification can fit the bill so long as the intrusion is minimized; "I don't like your different clothes" isn't a valid reason.
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