The comment comes following a CBC News report Thursday that Judge Eliana Marengo told a woman in a Montreal courtroom she would not hear her case until she removed her hijab.
Source/Credit: CBC News
By CBC News | February 27, 2015
Quebec Judge Eliana Marengo's refusal to hear case of woman wearing headscarf sparks widespread debate
Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't agree with a Quebec Court judge's controversial decision to refuse to hear a woman's case because she was wearing a hijab, a spokesman says.
"If someone is not covering their face, we believe they should be allowed to testify," Harper spokesman Stephen Lecce said in a one-line statement.
The comment comes following a CBC News report Thursday that Judge Eliana Marengo told a woman in a Montreal courtroom she would not hear her case until she removed her hijab.
Rania El-Alloul was in court Tuesday to apply to get her car back after it was seized by Quebec's automobile insurance board, the SAAQ, because her son had been driving with a suspended licence.
The incident has sparked widespread discussion across Canada and especially in Quebec, where the province has had a heated debate about secularism and the limits of reasonable accommodation.
On Friday, Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair said El-Alloul should have been allowed to plead her case while wearing a headscarf.
"It's a simple matter of that person's rights as a Canadian," he said.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau also weighed in, describing the incident as "just plain wrong."
The National Council of Canadian Muslims, meanwhile, called on the Court of Quebec and the Attorney-General of Quebec to reaffirm the right of all Canadians to exercise their religious freedom in a courtroom.
"The judge's refusal to hear this woman's case because she wore a headscarf is contrary to the established constitutional rights of Canadians," Ihsaan Gardee, the group's executive director, said in a statement.
Read original post here: Hijab-wearing woman should be allowed to testify, Harper spokesman says
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