Playing politics

The Harper government seems determined to stamp on minority rights.

The most recent example came on Wednesday, when it announced it would take its battle to ban women from wearing niqabs in citizenship ceremonies to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Two courts have already declared the ban, which was introduced in 2011, to be illegal. The Federal Court overturned it in February, and the Federal Court of Appeal backed up that ruling this week. But the government won’t accept what the courts are telling it.

The whole thing smacks of political opportunism. Worse, it’s political opportunism in the middle of an election campaign, when the parties should be assuring minorities that their rights will be upheld — not undermining them. Sadly, though, it appears the Harper government is trolling for votes on the back of Toronto’s Zunera Ishaq, who has been battling the niqab ban.

Last spring, polls indicated that two-thirds of Canadians opposed allowing women to wear the veil during citizenship ceremonies. In Quebec, where the Conservatives would dearly love to make inroads, 87 per cent opposed wearing the niqab during citizenship ceremonies. But whether some, or even most, Canadians disapprove of women wearing a veil does not mean their right to do so should be taken away.

Indeed, in a measure of how strongly the three Federal Court of Appeal justices felt about Ishaq’s rights, they ruled from the bench on Tuesday, rather than making her wait for their written reasons, so she could take her oath in time to vote on Oct. 19.

Not that that moved Harper, who has said “it is offensive that someone would hide their identity at the very moment where they are committing to join the Canadian family.”

But Ishaq is not trying to hide her identity. She is happy to remove her veil in front of an officer of the citizenship court before the ceremony, but believes she should have the right to put it back on before taking the oath in public.

The courts have agreed. As Federal Court Justice Keith M. Boswell said in his decision last February: “To the extent this policy (the ban) interferes with a citizenship judge’s duty to allow candidates for citizenship the greatest possible freedom in the religious solemnization or the solemn affirmation of the oath, it is unlawful.”

He is right. The Supreme Court should refuse the government’s leave to appeal. Failing that, it should uphold the lower courts’ decisions.

Meanwhile, the Harper government should remember that this is a country built on tolerance for minority rights.