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BC opponents slam gov't ban on veils at citizenship ceremonies

A B.C.-based organization for members of the South Asian diaspora that promotes secularism and democracy has attacked a recent ruling by federal Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney.

On Monday, Dec. 12, Minister Kenney announced that Muslim women who wear veils that obscure their faces will be required to remove them when they take the oath of Canadian citizenship. Citing complaints from citizenship judges, Kenney defended his ruling. 

"It is happening pretty much every week around the country," Kenney told CBC News in a TV interview. "My view is that this is a public act of testimony in front of your fellow citizens -- it's a legal requirement -- and it's ridiculous that you should be doing so with your face covered."

Retired SFU English instructor Chin Banerjee, a long time social justice and anti-racism activist in B.C., is one of the organizers of the South Asian Network of Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD).

"This ruling is a ham-handed act of oppression against Muslim women who either choose to or are forced to wear the veil," Banerjee told The Tyee. "If the veil is her choice, it should be respected. If it has been imposed on her by men within her community, the minister's ruling again victimizes a woman who has already been victimized."

The organization issued a stinging rebuke to the minister's ruling in a statement released on Dec. 14. It read, in part:

"This coercive demand to strip a particular Muslim woman of her identity in order to make her 'freely and openly' affirm 'our' identity as a community of 'openness' and 'cohesion' is outrageous in its self-contradiction and arrogance. We deplore this in the name of secularism, democracy, and human rights, the principles on the basis of which we, South Asians living in Canada, are organized in SANSAD."

Across Canada, voices within the Muslim community spoke out against the minister's decision.

Salam Elmenyawi, head of the Muslim Council of Montreal, told the Montreal Gazette that the ban is an attempt by the Conservative government to divide Canadian Muslims. He estimated that perhaps two dozen Muslim women in Quebec, and a few hundred across Canada, wear face coverings.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations told the CBC the group was floored by the announcement.

"I thought it was absurd from beginning to end," said Julia Williams, the human rights and civil liberties officer for CAIR-Can. She said Kenney's argument that Islam does not require women to wear the niqab defies their Charter rights.

"In Canada, we also have religious freedom which is enshrined in the Charter, and so long as she is not harming someone by her actions, she should be allowed to dress as she sees fit," Williams said.

Tom Sandborn covers labour and health policy beats for the Tyee. He welcomes your feedback and story tips here.


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