If Veil Is On,Citizenship Is Off ( Canada)

[canadian]

Muslim women must show face to become Canadian citizens

December 12, 2011
Joanna Smith

"The citizenship oath is a quintessentially public act," says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney while announcing Monday the federal government will make it mandatory for anyone wanting to become a Canadian citizen to show their face when they swear the oath of citizenship.
Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA—Muslim women who wear the niqab and other face-covering garments will now have to lift or remove their veils while they take the oath of Canadian citizenship in front of a room full of people.
“This is not simply a practical measure. It is a matter of deep principle that goes to the heart of our identity and our values of openness and equality,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday as he announced the changes 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.”
The new rules require, effective immediately, anyone wishing to become a Canadian citizen to show their faces at public ceremonies as they swear the oath of citizenship, which means that Muslim women wearing a niqab or burka must remove them or else remain permanent residents.
The change came hastily as far as government policy is concerned, with none of the news releases or background material that usually accompanies such announcements.
Neither Kenney nor his department was able to provide any statistics on the number of women who have covered their faces during citizenship ceremonies, but departmental spokeswoman Nancy Caron said it used to be handled on a case-by-case basis.
It appears the issue began with four women in Mississauga.
Newly elected Conservative MP Wladyslaw Lizon (Mississauga East—Cooksville) called up Kenney a few weeks ago to tell him that he had just left a citizenship ceremony in his riding.
“Four women had taken the oath wearing full burkas and veils,” Kenney told reporters Lizon informed him. “He raised this with the citizenship judge beforehand to say, ‘Is this illicit?’ And the citizenship judge said, ‘My hands are tied. The rule is that we have to permit them to take the oath.”
Lizon confirmed the gist of the story in an emailed statement from his office.
There was more.
“(Lizon) later noted as he was leaving the ceremony that these four people and a man who was accompanying them got into a car with New York state licence plates to drive away,” said Kenney, who added that he later asked about it at a meeting of citizenship judges in Ottawa and those from large urban areas told him it happens every week.
That was enough for Kenney, but not for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), an Ottawa-based Muslim civil rights organization that accused the Conservative government of basing harmful policy on anecdotal evidence.
“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,” CAIR-CAN’s acting executive director Ihsaan Gardee said in a news release.
The Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments last week in the case of a female complaint who wants to testify against male relatives in a sexual assault case while wearing the niqab.
David Butt, the lawyer representing the unnamed woman, said that while his case pits the religious rights of his client against the rights of the defendants to face their accuser, there is not a strong enough argument against extending Charter rights to women who want to cover their faces at a citizenship ceremony.
That is because a microphone could help judges hear the woman swearing the oath and a private check of documents in the presence of a female official would be enough to verify the identity of the applicant, Butt said.
“What you have is simply an announcement that a government is going to interfere with a Charter-protected right without even anything coming close to a valid reason,” Butt said.
Liberal interim leader Bob Rae said Kenney should have waited until the Supreme Court decides on the niqab case.
“This is all about taking a decision which the minister feels will be politically popular in the short term,” Rae said. “For the long term, we would be all wiser to have a look at the Supreme Court decision and see how they balance these issues in their own mind.”
Caron said anyone wearing a full or partial face covering will be told when they check in for the ceremony that they must remove them in order to become citizens that day and then be reminded once again by the clerk before oath begins.
Candidates for citizenship will now also be informed of the new requirement during their first interview.
“While the department does not keep stats on this, the requirement for citizenship candidates to show their faces is not expected to affect a large number of people,” Caron wrote in an email Monday.(http://www.thestar.com/printarticle/1100611)

 

[canadian]

[h=1]Citizenship and bigotry[/h]Published On Mon Dec 12 2011

• http://www.siasat.pk/forum/#http://www.siasat.pk/forum/#http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php...is%20on%2Ccitizenship%20is%20off&r=all:1&tt=0http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php...is%20on%2Ccitizenship%20is%20off&r=all:1&tt=0

Woman wears niqab in Netherlands.
FRED ERNST/AP





Is the Canadian citizenship ceremony a place where Muslim women should show up with their faces covered to take the oath? Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government thinks not. And it’s a fair bet that a lot of Canadians would agree.
Even in the Muslim community, the niqab and burqa are controversial. Only a tiny fraction of Muslim women go about veiled. The few who do deliberately hold themselves aloof from the wider community and display beliefs that run counter to ideals about equality between men and women. These are jarring signals to be sending at the very moment when one is joining the Canadian family.
As Immigration Minister Jason Kenney sees it, the veil “reflects a certain view about women that we don’t accept in Canada. We want women to be full and equal members of Canadian society and certainly when they’re taking the citizenship oath, that’s the right place to start.” Again, most people would probably agree.
All that said, should Canada be coercing women to fit into the “mainstream,” whatever that may be in our pluralistic society, by withholding citizenship, along with the right to vote, run for public office and hold some jobs? Is the citizenship ceremony the place to demand that newcomers give up deeply held religious or cultural practices that are perfectly legal and don’t hurt anyone else? Is it the place to be telling newcomers to behave and look just like us, or pay the price?
What “matter of deep principle” is Kenney trying to affirm here? And how does it square with Canada’s vaunted image as an open, tolerant, welcoming society?
Indeed, where does the Conservative government get off by denying otherwise qualified people citizenship without benefit of a debate in Parliament and the appropriate legislation? It’s one thing to expect newcomers to speak English or French, to grasp something of our history and to respect our laws. It’s quite another to demand that they pay obeisance to mainstream cultural preferences. Where could this leave any minority?
Ironically, this comes as the Supreme Court is weighing the case of a Muslim woman who wants to wear a niqab in court as she testifies against relatives whom she says sexually assaulted her. The issues are quite different: in a courtroom, a woman’s right to cover her face must be weighed against the accused’s right to a fair trial. But the high court is rightly giving due consideration to cultural accommodation even as the immigration ministry brushes the notion aside in a situation where no one else’s rights are at stake. There’s a gaping disconnect here.
Unfortunately, the Harper government has never seen a Muslim veil that it didn’t want to ban. Kenney has also said he thinks it “reasonable” that Muslim women be forced to show their faces when they vote, even though hundreds of thousands of people have voted in past elections by mail-in ballot, sight unseen. He’d like to fix a “problem” that exists only in his mind.
The remedy, in the case of citizenship oaths, should not be hard to find. Why not have the few veiled women who want to swear the oath unveil themselves before women judges, in private, or before a male judge if they are willing? (This would also address Kenney’s unpersuasive concern that some judges find it hard to tell whether veiled women are reciting the oath.) We know of no cases in Canada where women have refused to show their faces to obtain passports, driver’s licences and other documents, or to clear security and immigration at ports of entry. Why should administering a citizenship oath be so problematic?
Unless, of course, the government is simply singling out a tiny number of women to curry favour with the majority. But that would be bigotry. Kenney believes in “full and equal” membership in society. A good place to begin would be to resist the impulse to punish those who are different – however much we disagree with their beliefs.

 

[adnan_younus]

that it 100% acceptible... u have to show yr face to teh authorities whom u are requesting a grant of citizen sip, pasport, driving license etc etc.... thats standard protoccol..... and also passports must bear full face pictures.... scarf is acceotible..

 

[Humi]

This is not unreasonable at all...Muslim women are allowed to show their faces and showing them for a few moments to identify yourself isnt the end of the world.

 

[canadian]

I really do not have enough knowledge about this.Can Qaiser Mirza or Simple_and_Peacefull throw some light on this ?

 

[aamirbelgium]

This is not unreasonable at all...Muslim women are allowed to show their faces and showing them for a few moments to identify yourself isnt the end of the world.

its not what ur thinking it is all meant to discourage islamic laws and sharia for exampel you can not wear hijab when u r in public places means schools hospitals roads parks etc etc if u wish to wear a hijab u have to stay at home. means you can not work u can do nothing if u wear hijab. if u caught in hijab in any public place you have to pay from 100 to 1000 it depends on person who controle your identity. it is totally against the basic human rights if a woman wish to wear hijab and ready to fullfill her deauties why should we stop her to do so. <on the other hand european are allowed to wear what ever they want skirts mini skirts or even in their penties they are allowed to go every where they can.
these are the doubel standrades the hipocraisy.
fortunately u people are not living in these countries the soft image of europe is on its worst levels now a days.

 

[Humi]

its not what ur thinking it is all meant to discourage islamic laws and sharia for exampel you can not wear hijab when u r in public places means schools hospitals roads parks etc etc if u wish to wear a hijab u have to stay at home. means you can not work u can do nothing if u wear hijab. if u caught in hijab in any public place you have to pay from 100€ to 1000€ it depends on person who controle your identity. it is totally against the basic human rights if a woman wish to wear hijab and ready to fullfill her deauties why should we stop her to do so. <on the other hand european are allowed to wear what ever they want skirts mini skirts or even in their penties they are allowed to go every where they can.
these are the doubel standrades the hipocraisy.
fortunately u people are not living in these countries the soft image of europe is on its worst levels now a days.

I didnt read the full article...I thought they were talking about citizenship oath only...and I do live in Canada and understand these double standards very well..

 

[malik1c]

Its so damn simple, Show your face to a Female Official. If you want to accomodate peoples faith you can, The question is do you want to or not

 

[niazi]

stupid we are not against full face picture on passport ,driving lisence etc we are against opening face in a crowd only a women from gov official can check face seperately to varify.

 

[AsifAmeer]

There was a case similar to this against a School girl wearing a Hijab and the School objected to it stating that she was not complying to the School dress code and she was expelled. Guess what.. She gets a call from the White House. And White House registered a case against her School and ofcourse the court ruled in favor of the girl. This was under the Bush administration here in the US.

 

[niazi]

Assalamu alaikum,
The Immigration minister has announced a ban on face veils during the Oath ceremony. The following link is of the CBC poll regarding this issue. And votes in favor of this ban are about 10x more than votes against it. Please vote and have your voice heard and forward this to as many people as you can.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/12/should-veils-be-banned-during-oaths-of-citizenship.html
JazakAllah

 

[||columbus||]

It is in the public.. just showing the authorities for identification.. no muslim women has a problem with that.. but in public where 100 other people are taking oath.. is not something necessary.. some of the judges are women who take the oath.. and also other officials at the canadian office.. but when taking the oath they want to see the face.. in public.. that dosent make sense.. but if that is the law from now on muslim women who wear niqab would have to accept it..this is just the beginning.. there will be other instances.. u probably saw the case of a niqabi women being attacked by a non muslim women infront of her kids and her niqab was snatched in public..
and in quebec i think its not allowed to wear niqab..but this law will only effect women who want to become citzen... not who are already.. so the laws are there.. all the new women becoming citzen know the law.. and they have to obey the law i guess.. or wont get ctizenship..

This is not unreasonable at all...Muslim women are allowed to show their faces and showing them for a few moments to identify yourself isnt the end of the world.

 

[adnan_younus]

how do the oath ceremony leader identofy the person taking oath is the same person...????? i even go beyond that... one shudnt wear burqa while driving.... that shud be banned as well.... cuz how du u identify teh person if an during the act of accident..... if it was scarf then 100% wrong... they are only against hiding of the FACIAL IDENTITY.... and waise bhi.. canda europe mein itni hot babes hoti hein.. i dnt think any one will be keenly looking upon the desi ones in scarfs..... [hilar][hilar][hilar][hilar][hilar]

It is in the public.. just showing the authorities for identification.. no muslim women has a problem with that.. but in public where 100 other people are taking oath.. is not something necessary.. some of the judges are women who take the oath.. and also other officials at the canadian office.. but when taking the oath they want to see the face.. in public.. that dosent make sense.. but if that is the law from now on muslim women who wear niqab would have to accept it..this is just the beginning.. there will be other instances.. u probably saw the case of a niqabi women being attacked by a non muslim women infront of her kids and her niqab was snatched in public..
and in quebec i think its not allowed to wear niqab..but this law will only effect women who want to become citzen... not who are already.. so the laws are there.. all the new women becoming citzen know the law.. and they have to obey the law i guess.. or wont get ctizenship..

 

[freshnkool]

many ullmah including dr. zakir naik say that covering face is not menedatory so even muslim socholars are divided on it. so its not a big issue, i think as long as they allow head covering it should be fine.

 

[sirfsach]

Should veils be banned during oaths of citizenship?

[h=2]Should veils be banned during oaths of citizenship?[/h]

• December 12, 2011 11:29 AM | Read 176 comments176
• By Community Team

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has announced a ban on face coverings, such as niqabs, for people swearing their oath of citizenship.

A Muslim woman wearing a niqab attends a protest against islamophobia in Bern on Oct. 29. (Michael Buholzer/Reuters)The ban, announced Monday, is effective immediately.

As a result, Muslim women will have to remove their niqabs or any other face-covering garments, such as burkas, before they can recite the oath of citizenship to become Canadians.

Kenney said he's had complaints from MPs and citizenship court judges that it's hard to tell whether people with their faces covered are actually reciting the oath of citizenship, which he says is a requirement to become Canadian.

"We cannot have two classes of citizenship ceremonies. Canadian citizenship is not just about the right to carry a passport and to vote," Kenney said.

Do you agree with the ban on veils for citizenship oaths? Let us know in the comments below.

 

[Muslimonly]

Re: Should veils be banned during oaths of citizenship?

Please click here and vote

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/12/pol-kenney-citizenship-rules.html

 

[||columbus||]

there are other ways.. there is not even one person a week that would become a citzen for the citenship wearing a niqab.. there judges or security personal which are mostly women could easily check if the person taking the oath is the same.. once a month would someone with a niqab come on.. so they can surely accomodate that as they claim to be the champions of freedom of religion.. and culture and beliefs.. its not about if someone will look at them.. its about them believe its against Allahs laws.. that is why they wear niqab..
and go ahead ban women from driving with niqab.. thats what saudi are doing.. ban women from driving and that is what u want.. the only difference is that it is for different reasons.. but u both want the same..go ahead do whatever u like.. lolll

how do the oath ceremony leader identofy the person taking oath is the same person...????? i even go beyond that... one shudnt wear burqa while driving.... that shud be banned as well.... cuz how du u identify teh person if an during the act of accident..... if it was scarf then 100% wrong... they are only against hiding of the FACIAL IDENTITY.... and waise bhi.. canda europe mein itni hot babes hoti hein.. i dnt think any one will be keenly looking upon the desi ones in scarfs..... [hilar][hilar][hilar][hilar][hilar]

 

[adnan_younus]

sorry man... laws are laws.... and they are not based on some ones personal religious beliefs while many otehrs say face covering is not mandatory ... so the protocol is to show yr face while u r taking oath.. i personally wont like to talk to any one with face covered in my day to day office life.... cuz 60% of teh communicaion is thru body language... rest is words and tone.....

and naqab is not a must.. now i dont wan tto argue cuz thats my perosnal beleiev and u may beleive wht ever u want to..... but covering ones face and drivign is a big NO NO.... imagine woman drivign wearing a shuttle cork.... i wud be staying away from that car....

there are other ways.. there is not even one person a week that would become a citzen for the citenship wearing a niqab.. there judges or security personal which are mostly women could easily check if the person taking the oath is the same.. once a month would someone with a niqab come on.. so they can surely accomodate that as they claim to be the champions of freedom of religion.. and culture and beliefs.. its not about if someone will look at them.. its about them believe its against Allahs laws.. that is why they wear niqab..
and go ahead ban women from driving with niqab.. thats what saudi are doing.. ban women from driving and that is what u want.. the only difference is that it is for different reasons.. but u both want the same..go ahead do whatever u like.. lolll

 

[canadian]

Canada Muslims Decry Citizenship Niqab Law

• Tuesday, 13 December 2011 09:26
  
  Muslims decried new rules forcing women who don a face-covering, like the niqab, to remove it before taking the oath of citizenship.
  
  
  CAIRO – New rules requiring Muslim women to remove their full face veil or niqab while they take the oath of Canadian citizenship were widely criticized as forcing them to choose between their religious convictions and adopting Canadian citizenship.
  “It was really depressing to hear this news,” Zaheera Tariq, president of the Islamic Association of Canadian Women, told Calgary Herald on Tuesday, December 13.
  “If a woman wants citizenship she must take off her niqab— but if she takes off her niqab, she is violating her beliefs.”
  Tariq, a South African-born mother of three, still recalls with pride the happy and joyful day she became a Canadian citizen.
  Preserving those feeling for years, she was shocked to hear the news about new rules to force Muslim women who don a face-covering, like the niqab, to remove it before taking the oath of citizenship.
  These rules were announced on Monday, December 12, by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, a Calgary MP.
  Kenney said the move follows complaints from citizenship judges, MPs and others who’ve participated in citizenship ceremonies and said it’s hard to tell whether veiled individuals are actually reciting the oath.
  “Requiring that all candidates show their faces while reciting the oath allows judges, and everyone present to share in the ceremony, to ensure that all citizenship candidates are, in fact, taking the oath as required by law,” he said.
  “This is not simply a practical measure, it is a matter of deep principle that goes to the heart of our identity and our values of openness and equality.”
  Though Tariq herself wears the hijab, a head scarf which doesn’t hide the face, she supports women who make the choice to wear full face niqab.
  “When I go outdoors I don’t care if I’m in a bikini or a burka because in Canada I’m free to do what I want, as long as (it’s) not against the law,” said Tariq.
  “I think we should just honor and respect each other’s choices.”
  Muslims make around 1.9 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the Roman Catholic country.
  While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face veil, or niqab, but believe that it is up to women to decide whether to cover her face.
  Accommodations
  The new rules were also criticized by the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), accusing the Conservative government of basing harmful policy on unreliable evidence.
  “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,” CAIR-CAN’s acting executive director Ihsaan Gardee said in a news release cited by Toronto Star on Tuesday.
  The hot issue about niqab was raised last week at the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of a female complaint who wants to testify against male relatives in a sexual assault case while wearing the niqab.
  David Butt, the lawyer representing the unnamed woman, said that other methods could have been used by the judge at the swearing in ceremony to confirm that the veiled woman was taking the oath such as a microphone.
  He also suggested that a private check of documents in the presence of a female official would be enough to verify the identity of the applicant.
  “What you have is simply an announcement that a government is going to interfere with a Charter-protected right without even anything coming close to a valid reason,” Butt said.
  Reasonable accommodations for Muslim women donning niqab were also urged by Calgary Imam Fayaz Tilly, Calgary Herald reported.
  The imam suggested that Muslim women be allowed to take the oath in a more private setting.
  “There’s always a way around that would allow them to (take the oath) within parameters which would still allow a Muslim, or a Sikh, Hindu or Christian to observe their religious practices,” said Tilly.(http://www.onislam.net/english/news/americas/454988-canada-muslims-decry-citizenship-niqab-law.html)

 

[mustafvi]