the Canadian government Monday decreed that it is requiring all women taking part in citizenship ceremonies to do so with bare faces.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said he had received complaints from citizenship judges and parliamentarians about veiled women taking the oath to formally become Canadian.
“Requiring that all candidates show their faces while re- citing the oath allows judges and everyone present to share in the ceremony,” Kenney said in a speech in Montreal.
“The citizenship oath is a quintessentially public act. It is a public declaration that you are joining the Canadian family and it must be taken freely and openly.”
He said the new rule took effect with his announcement. Kenney’s announcement will affect women wearing the niqab, a face veil with an eye opening, or the burqa, which drapes over the entire body with a mesh area to allow vision. It does not impact the Iranian chador. The niqab is worn by some tribes in southern Iran. The burqa is virtually un- known in Iran.
The move might well trigger a court challenge from those who say the restriction violates freedom of religion guarantees under Canada’s Charter of Rights.
The most recent figure from Statistics Canada shows around 2 percent of the population was Muslim in 2001.
The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations said Kenney’s move questioned the sincerity and good faith of some citizenship applicants and not others.
“This decision will have a damaging effect on our democracy because it forces those who wear the niqab to choose between their religious convictions and adopting Canadian citizenship,” said Ihsaan Gardee, the council’s acting executive director.
In the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, where tension over the assimilation of immigrants is rising, the provincial government said last year it planned to ban Muslim women from receiving any official services if they have their faces covered. However, the provincial government hasn’t yet introduced that bill in the legislature.
France, Belgium and several German states have varying kinds of restrictions on the headscarf and face coverings. In the United States, the issue has arisen periodically in state government sover headscarves in photos for drivers’ licenses. Most states now allow headscarves.
In recent years, the issue has arisen in some banks that forbid and kind of head covering. That arose when there was a rash of bank coverings by men wearing hooded jackets so security cam- eras would not identify them.
The pronouncement from Kenney was not a proposal that will go Parliament for an up-or- down vote. It was an order, effective immediately, that is not subject to debate, review or further consideration.
