Niqab Emerges as Polarizing Issue in Canadian Election
October 3, 2015
Zunera Ishaq, 29, left, came to Ontario from Pakistan in 2008. She refused to take part in a citizenship ceremony because she would have to show her face due to a December 2011 policy requiring candidates to remove face coverings during recitation of the oath.
a million Muslim Canadians, a constituency
his party has assiduously courted in the past. Why?
In a close three-party race, socialist NDP have suffered by taking principled stand.
by Henry Makow Ph.D.
A trivial but highly charged symbolic issue has emerged as potentially decisive in the Canadian election campaign: whether Muslim women should be able to wear a face cover at Canadian citizenship ceremonies.
Last March, Prime Minister Stephen Harper cast this as a women's issue and went out of his way to insult all Muslims:
"Why would Canadians, contrary to our own values, embrace a practice at that time that is not transparent," he said,[one] "that is not open and, frankly, is rooted in a culture that is anti-women?"
Muslims reacted with outrage. Harper's statement implied they weren't welcome as citizens, and Muslim women were too stupid to know their culture was "anti-woman." Harper contradicted Canada's oft-stated protestations of "diversity" and multiculturalism.
Even though Harper pretends to be a Christian and social conservative, he seems ignorant of the religious purpose of the niqab. It's a sign of the woman's modesty and consecration to her family and religion. Would he also ban wearing the Cross or Star of David? That is where his logic leads. (In fact, the previous Quebec government tried to do just this: prevent civil servants from showing any religious affiliation.)
In the current campaign, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair was the only leader capable of recognizing the symbolism of this ban. Despite its popularity in the NDP power base of Quebec, he opposed it. It is saying in effect, you cannot become a Canadian if you wish to observe your religion. Mulcair accused Harper of "playing a very divisive game with the Niqab."
For example, in Aug. 2013, in response to Quebec's proposed "values charter," Harper said, "And our job is social inclusion. Our job is making all groups who come to this country, whatever their background, whatever their race, whatever their ethnicity, whatever their religion, feel at home in this country and be Canadians," he said. "That's our job."
(left, Stephen Harper)
What changed? Opportunism and another factor. Harper is a longtime Zionist sycophant. Divide and conquer is the time-tested tactic of the Illuminati. Clearly Harper's central banker masters have demanded he demonize Muslims in the eyes of gullible Christians. Harper staged a false flag terror event last October and is trying to shepherd an unpopular repressive new anti-terror bill through Parliament.
Harper said, "almost all Canadians
oppose the wearing of face coverings during citizenship ceremonies." He has calculated that his stand will win him more votes than not. I hope his ignorance and opportunism backfires.
By calling Muslim culture "anti women," he is guilty of hate speech. He has displayed his ignorance and damaged his dubious cause.
Related - Makow- The Truth About Diversity
Celine said (October 4, 2015):
The niqab is a personal/cultural choice and not a religious obligation. If it were an obligation, muslim women in Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, etc. would be wearing such a face cover and that is not the case. In some muslim countries, women wear the niqab not by choice, nor by religious precept, but because it is forced upon them by relatives or some religious leaders. In most of these countries, women are not allowed to decide their own future (education, work, marriage, etc.).