Women who wear the niqab must uncover their face when applying for a medicare card in Quebec in order to ascertain their identity, the province’s human rights commission has said.
Niqab-wearing women also do not have the right to insist on being served by a female employee, the commission said in an opinion last week.
Asking a woman to uncover her face “in a neutral and administrative framework in a short period of time” does not infringe on the freedom of religion guaranteed in Quebec’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the commission said.
The decision comes as the Quebec government is preparing new guidelines on the wearing of religious symbols for those using public services after a woman wearing a niqab was expelled from two separate government-funded language classes in Montreal.
Naema Ahmed, a 29-year-old Egyptian pharmacist, was accepted into a French course while wearing the niqab—a style of headwear that leaves only the eyes exposed. When Ahmed, who sat in the front row, was asked to make an oral presentation facing the class, she refused because there were male students in the classroom.
She was expelled from that class and enrolled in another at a community centre for immigrants where she was asked to remove her niqab for part of the class. Ahmed, who says she wears the garment for religious reasons, refused and was again expelled.
Quebec Immigration Minister Yolande James has said that French immersion courses have to be taken with the face exposed in order to meet certain “pedagogical objectives.”
Premier Jean Charest also defended the school’s decision, saying that people who avail of public services must show their face.
Ban the burqa?
Several commentators and some Muslim groups have expressed support for the government’s position, including Raheel Raza, adviser on women’s affairs for the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC).
Raza, a Muslim, says that despite what many believe, covering the face is not a religious requirement in Islam but rather a cultural or tribal practice from Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
The MCC has called on Ottawa to ban the public wearing of the niqab and burqa, calling the garments “political symbols of Saudi-inspired Islamic extremism” that go against gender equality. The burqa covers the whole body, with a mesh-like panel over the face.
The organization says that since there is nothing in the Qaran or other primary Islamic religious texts that oblige women to cover their faces, the practice is not protected by the Charter’s guarantee of religious freedom.
“When we take religion out of the whole ethos then what is left is a cultural practice,” says Raza. “The question we have to ask ourselves is, ‘When we come to Canada, how many different cultures and tribal customs is it going to support?’”
Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar University and Egypt’s foremost spiritual authority, was instrumental in having a ban placed on the wearing of face-covering garments at any schools affiliated to al-Azhar, the world’s top Sunni Islam institution.
According to media reports, Tantawi said the niqab “is a tradition, it has no connection with religion.”
A ban on the full Islamic veil is being studied in several European countries, including the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Austria. French president Nicholas Sarkozy has condemned the burqa as a tool of oppression against Muslim women.
In response to calls for a ban in Canada, a coalition of mainstream Muslim organizations and Islamic scholars have issued a statement saying banning the garments would contravene the fundamental principles of the country’s democratic society.
“All Canadians, whether Muslim or not, are guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms the freedom of religion and conscience,” the statement said.
“Therefore, if a segment of Canadian Muslim women believe that wearing the niqab is part of their religious practice, then they must be allowed to freely do so. The principle must be extended to all religious practices, provided the practice does not infringe upon the fundamental rights of others.”
‘Islamaphobic sentiment’
Ahmed has filed a complaint with Quebec’s human rights commission, which will study the case in the coming months.
In the meantime, the Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) has called for a “quiet and reasonable discussion” rather than a return to the debate around reasonable accommodations for minorities in Quebec.
“It is unfortunate that the Minister of Immigration herself had to get involved in this issue,” Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM, said in a statement.
“It would have been better for all parties if the issue was resolved by means of an evenhanded compromise between the student and the school administration, without the need of mediation from the human rights commission and the Muslim religious authorities.”
Samer Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, said that by supporting the school’s decision to expel Ahmed, the Quebec government is displaying “Islamaphobic sentiment against Canadian Muslims and immigrants in general.”
“To see big-name politicians getting involved in this issue has created this Islamaphobic sentiment,” Majzoub told CBC’s the Current.
MCM says the expulsion has denied Ahmed the opportunity to learn the French language in order to fully integrate and become a productive member of society. Immigrants should feel a sense of belonging in their new home as opposed to feeling alienated, the statement said.
Raza however believes the niqab and burqa act not only as a barrier to communication but actually pose an obstacle to getting a job and integrating into Canadian society.
“This is something that will marginalize women and isolate them instead of helping them become part of mainstream society, because are they going to get jobs as school teachers or bank tellers? I don’t think so.”
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