PERSONAL CHOICE, PUBLIC DEBATE
Should a niqab be allowed during the Canadian citizenship ceremony?
There are a few things Zunera Ishaq wants to set straight about the veil she wears in public.
Nobody is forcing her to cover up, she says. It is a “personal choice” and a way to assert her identity and show her devotion to her Muslim faith.
There is nothing oppressive, either, about wearing a niqab. If anything, it is a “symbol of empowerment.”
This conviction emboldened the former high school teacher from Pakistan to postpone attending her citizenship ceremony last year and go toe-to-toe with the Harper government over its policy forbidding the wearing of facial coverings during the swearing-in part of the ceremony.
“I gathered the courage and decided to speak out,” said the 29-year-old Mississauga, Ont., resident. “I decided to raise my voice so that I can challenge this policy, which was a personal attack on me and Muslim women like me.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that the policy — introduced in 2011 by then-immigration minister Jason Kenney — is unlawful. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to appeal the ruling, saying it was “offensive” that someone would “hide their identity” at the point they are being sworn in. “It is not how we do things here,” he said.
Ishaq, who has made it clear she has no problem unveiling herself in a private room to confirm her identity, said she was shocked and upset over the prime minister’s remarks.
She said she is determined to keep fighting the policy because she worries it could lead to restrictions on other “distinguishing cultural practices,” such as forcing Sikhs to remove their turbans. It is not just a matter of religious freedom but basic human rights, she said.
“This is the beautiful part of Canada — every person here is free to live in a way in which he or she feels it is right or not,” she said. “It’s my personal faith so let me do what I wish to do.”
Ishaq says she and her husband were drawn to Canada in 2008 by its diversity and safe neighbourhoods.
While Ishaq knows some Muslim women who stopped wearing veils after moving to Canada, she said she saw no need to stop the practice. She acknowledges that some wives and daughters are forced by their families to wear a niqab, but it has always been a personal decision for her going back to when she was 15.
Natasha Bakht, a law professor at the University of Ottawa accused the government of perpetuating a “moral panic” over the niqab issue, and says its stance runs contrary to Canada’s values of accommodation and diversity. “The government should never be in the business of telling women what to wear,” she said.