Last week, Quebec MP Alexandre Boulerice told a French-language TV show that he's uncomfortable with the idea of female public service employees wearing a niqab. "It is a wall," the NDP politician said. "It is something that shocks us and with which we are totally uncomfortable."

Boulerice's comments followed weeks of debate in Ottawa about the garment, which is worn by many Muslim women. The Conservative government has appealed a federal court decision that permitted a Mississauga, Ont. woman to wear the niqab during a citizenship ceremony. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he thinks the veil is the product of an "anti-woman" culture.