Canada: Niqabs, burkas must be removed during citizenship ceremonies: Jason Kenney

“When Muslim women do the hajj to Mecca as part of their Koranic obligation of pilgrimage to the holy sites, they are required not to wear a veil. They are required to show their face.”

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By Tobi Cohen | December 12, 2011

New Canadians will now have to show their faces when swearing the oath of citizenship, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Monday.

“Starting today, any individual will have to show his or her face when taking the oath of citizenship,” Kenney said in Montreal.

The new rule means Muslim women will now have to remove their niqabs, burkas and other veils before crossing that final hurdle toward becoming a Canadian citizen.

“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.

Kenney claimed the move follows complaints from citizenship judges, MPs and others who’ve participated in citizenship ceremonies who have argued it’s hard to tell whether veiled individuals are actually reciting the oath.


“Every week, in every region of the country, we’re dealing with situations where applicants arrive with a veil on”.

“Frankly, I found it bizarre that the rules allowed people to take the oath with a veil,” he said.

Kenney claimed the oath was a “public declaration that you are joining the Canadian family and it must be taken freely and openly.”

“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.”

Kenney said he believed veils were not always a religious requirement for Muslim women.

“When Muslim women do the hajj to Mecca as part of their Koranic obligation of pilgrimage to the holy sites, they are required not to wear a veil. They are required to show their face,” Kenney claimed.

Minister Kenney is to be applauded for this new regulation, as much for its symbolic value as for its common sense. Taking the oath of citizenship should not be an empty formality. It should be a pledge of loyalty to one’s newly-adopted home, and a declaration, uttered in good faith, that Canada’s democratic values will henceforth be those of the new citizen.

Barbara Kay
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The new requirement is certain to raise controversy, though it’s not the first time face coverings have been debated for official venues.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the case of a Muslim sexual assault victim who wanted to testify against her alleged assailants from behind her niqab.

A decision in the case has not yet been rendered but critics argued forcing Muslim women to show their faces on the witness stand would keep people from coming forward and reporting crimes in the future.

The case, which pits the woman’s freedom of religion against the right to a fair trial for the accused, will have national significance for Muslim women in the Canadian justice system.

Joanna Birenbaum, of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, said the case will have important repercussions throughout Canada because “if the court requires women who wear the niqab to remove them to testify . . . the result will be that niqab-wearing women will not report sexual assaults at all, and the message is that they can be raped with impunity.”

N.S. — whose identity is protected by a publication ban — was ordered during a preliminary hearing in Ontario court to remove her niqab, a Muslim head and face covering which leaves only a slit for her eyes. She refused and, after making its way through the Ontario court system, her precedent-setting case is now at this country’s top court.

Lawyers for the accused argue that, if N.S. is allowed to testify with her face covered, the judge will not be able to determine the truth of her testimony.

However, David Butt, the woman’s lawyer, said the benefits of including people of the Muslim faith who wear a niqab, outweigh the negative aspects of the face covering, which he says are fairly minor.

Canada has a total Muslim population of around 500,000 people.

With files from Teresa Smith

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