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Canadian PM Stephen Harper’s Controversial Vow to Ban the Niqab During Citizenship Ceremonies

The head covering is worn by a tiny minority of Canadian women, but it could become an issue in this fall's federal election

A woman wears a niqab in Marrakesh. Photo via Flickr user Jean-Louis Potier.

This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has received a vote of confidence from an outspoken critic of Islam for his government's plan to ban the niqab for women reciting the oath of allegiance during citizenship ceremonies in Canada.

"I do know that there's this split loyalty that is being demonstrated by people who are taking the oath of citizenship of the countries that their parents or they have migrated to, but at the same time their heart and loyalty lies with a competing set of ideologies, " Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, told the CBC in an interview Friday.

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It isn't quite the same reason that Harper cited earlier this year when he made his position known—that the niqab is "rooted in a culture that is anti-women." While most Canadians do agree with Harper on the issue, the debate is hardly over and will likely be decided by the courts.

Despite a federal court deeming the ban unlawful, the Harper government quietly reintroduced a policy requiring that the niqab be removed during citizenship ceremonies pending a Federal Court of Appeal hearing. With the hearing expected in September that could mean a showdown over a divisive swing issue just in time for this fall's federal election.

But after a glimmer of hope this February when a Federal Court ruled that candidates could perform the citizenship oath while veiled—something that Harper vowed to appeal—oath-takers will now once again be required to remove their facial coverings during the swearing-in ceremony and to choose between what they see as a part of their religious identity and becoming a Canadian citizen.

The policy was announced in a program update on Citizenship and Immigration Canada's website on April 23. It comes after the Federal Court of Appeal stayed a February judgement that deemed the ban against wearing the niqab during the oath-taking ceremony "unlawful." A federal judge ruled then that the ban goes against Canada's own immigration law and "interferes with a citizenship judge's duty to allow candidates for citizenship the greatest possible freedom in the religious solemnization or the solemn affirmation of the oath."

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Doubts about legal validity
At the center of the debate is Zunera Ishaq, a Pakistani woman who has delayed her citizenship ceremony since 2013, arguing that the requirement to remove her veil during the oath violates her rights under the Canadian charter. The reinstated policy means that unless she does so, she'll now have to wait until at least the fall for a chance to become a Canadian citizen—that is, if the case doesn't end up at the Supreme Court.

"From my point of view it's problematic because there is a judge in the federal court who has found the policy to be illegal. And while a stay means that the judgement does not come into effect, I think it casts doubt on the legal validity of the policy," says Ishaq's lawyer Lorne Waldman.

Currently a female citizenship official can confirm the identity of a female citizenship candidate in private. But once verified, the candidate must also remove her veil during the oath ceremony in front of a room full of others. If she doesn't, she cannot receive her citizenship.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesman Remi Lariviere says the policy will remain in place pending the outcome of the appeal. "Given the enormous rights and privileges that come with being a Canadian citizen, it is reasonable for a citizenship judge to be able to see and hear a citizenship candidate affirm the Oath of Citizenship," he wrote in an email.

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The appeal court must decide if a government policy can limit a citizenship judge's power to decide how far to accommodate a candidate's religious needs.

Related: The Soundtrack of Canada's Complicated Aboriginal History

"Un-Canadian"
On the day of her citizenship ceremony, Zakira Jogiat, 29, knew she was fortunate to be becoming Canadian. Jogiat came here from South Africa in 2005 and became a Canadian citizen in 2010. But it wasn't until a year later—when then immigration minister Jason Kenney introduced a ban against wearing the niqab while performing the citizenship oath—that she realized just how lucky she was.

Jogiat was one of the last women in Canada to take the oath while wearing her facial veil before the new rule—something that now seems like a distant possibility.

"Prior to the ban, I never had to choose between my religious obligations [or] choices and my identity as a Canadian. That is not a choice anyone should be forced to make," she says.

Jogiat says that for the government to implement a policy based on what some within it deems offensive is itself "un-Canadian."

"It's like there's this long checklist; that in order to be Canadian you have to dress in a certain way and if you don't meet these requirements, no citizenship for you," she says.

For Mohammed Ayub Khan, a political science researcher at McMaster University, one thing is for sure: The niqab debate will only grow louder ahead of the federal election. He suggests it will likely force all of Canada's major political parties to take a clear position on just what it means to be Canadian.

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"Multiculturalism itself might be redefined as a result of these debates," Khan says.

Championing fear
But exactly why the niqab—worn by only a tiny minority of Canadian women—has attracted such widespread attention is raising questions.

"Somehow, all of a sudden, this is a priority for Stephen Harper," says the Liberal candidate for Mississauga Centre, Omar Alghabra.

"This is part of an attempt at tapping into a suspicion and the discomfort that some people may have and embellishing them and pretending to be a champion of their fear," he says.

Whether the Appeal Court will rule to uphold or overturn Ishaq's February win is anyone's guess. But her lawyer isn't ruling out any options. He says it's quite possible that September's expected hearing won't be the last we hear about the niqab and that the unsuccessful party might appeal further.

"This is the type of case that might end up at the Supreme Court for sure," Waldman says.

In the meantime, despite the misconceptions that Jogiat says remain about the niqab, she's glad to see Ishaq isn't backing down from the chance to wear her veil when she becomes Canadian.

Ironically, she says, the very act of doing so has given Ishaq a face. "Because of this people have now started to see her as a human being."

Follow Shanifa Nasser on Twitter.