FEMALE MOUNTIES NOW HAVE OPTION OF WEARING A HIJAB INSTEAD OF TRADITIONAL HAT.

Female Mounties will now have the option of wearing a navy blue head scarf — or hijab — as part of their uniform, the RCMP confirmed Wednesday.

The change is meant to reflect the country’s diversity and to encourage more Muslims to join the force, officials said.

It comes as France reopens a raw wound over the head scarf with a new ban on the burkini.

“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a progressive and inclusive police service that values and respects persons of all cultural and religious backgrounds,” said Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.

But before the uniform option was approved in January, there had been concerns that head scarves could pose choking hazards.

Internal RCMP documents obtained by The Rebel media website under Access to Information laws show that three prototypes tested “very poorly” because fasteners did not open easily if the hijab was pulled against the neck.

Rather than make a public announcement about the uniform accommodation in January, the force opted instead for a “low profile internal communication.”

RCMP spokeswoman Staff Sgt. Julie Gagnon would not disclose Wednesday what specific design changes were made to overcome the safety concerns, saying only that the RCMP hijab is “designed to be unobtrusive, easily removable and present the least possible risk to the member.”

“The RCMP-issued hijab has undergone rigorous testing to ensure the design meets the highest standards of officer safety,” Gagnon said, adding that the final design was chosen in consultation with RCMP’s occupational health and safety program.

The women are still expected to wear their forage caps during regular duties and their wide-brimmed felt hats during ceremonies.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it welcomed the decision to allow Mounties to wear Islamic head scarves, noting the force’s decision in 1990 to accommodate Sgt. Baltej Singh Dhillon’s request to wear a turban.

“While in 1990 there was initial reluctance to allow Sikh RCMP officers to wear the turban as part of their uniforms, Canadians have since embraced the change and we expect that this will be the same with the decision to allow the hijab,” the statement said.

The RCMP’s embrace of the hijab is a striking contrast to what’s happening in France, where the burka is banned and skirmishes have broken out over the decision by at least a dozen towns to prohibit body-covering burkinis. The French government on Wednesday held talks with Muslim leaders after a woman in a head scarf on a Nice beach was made to remove her top in front of four policemen. She was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt or a swimsuit underneath and also had on leggings.

Other Canadian law-enforcement agencies, including the Toronto and Edmonton forces, have policies that accommodate officers who wish to wear a hijab. So do forces in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway.

According to the internal RCMP documents, the force has received about 30 requests for religious or cultural accommodations in the past two years — such as requests to grow beards or to have access to prayer rooms.

The decision to allow members to wear hijabs on duty did not come about because of a formal request, but out of a desire “to better reflect the changing diversity in the community and encourage more Muslim women to consider policing as a career option,” the documents state.

The force has been introducing measures to try to attract more people to policing careers. In May, the RCMP announced it was opening up applications to permanent residents who had lived in Canada for at least 10 years.

Doing so would improve diversity and help the force deliver “culturally sensitive policing,” according to internal briefing notes obtained by the National Post. The force has set recruitment targets of 30-per-cent women, 20-per-cent visible minority and 10-per-cent aboriginal.

The Canadian Forces will try to accommodate the religious and spiritual requirements of its members “if militarily practicable” and “based on safety and operational considerations,” spokesman Daniel Lebouthillier said Wednesday.

“For example, members who are of the Sikh religion are permitted to wear a turban, provided that the operational mission and safety are not jeopardized,” he said.