Women Use #DressCodePM To Ridicule Prime Minister's Anti-Niqab Comments

gerryh

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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mentalfloss said:
Why I intend to wear a niqab at my citizenship ceremony

Zunera Ishaq, the woman at the centre of a debate over whether the niqab should be allowed at citizenship ceremonies, explains why she wears one, regardless of what Stephen Harper think

I am Zunera Ishaq. I am a mother. I am university educated. I believe that the environment needs saving and I try to do my part by joining campaigns to plant trees. Chasing my boys in the snow is one of the things I love most about winter. I believe we should strive to give back to others, and for me that means volunteering: at women’s shelters, for political candidates or at schools.

I also wear a niqab. And according to my prime minister, that is all you need to know about me to know that I am oppressed.

It’s precisely because I won’t listen to how other people want me to live my life that I wear a niqab. Some of my own family members have asked me to remove it. I have told them that I prefer to think for myself.

My desire to live on my own terms is also why I have chosen to challenge the government’s decision to deny me citizenship unless I take off my niqab at my oath ceremony. I have taken my niqab off for security and identity reasons in every case where that’s been required of me, such as when I have taken a driver’s license photo or gone through airport security.

I will take my niqab off again before the oath ceremony without protest so I can be properly identified. I will not take my niqab off at that same ceremony for the sole reason that someone else doesn’t like it, even if that person happens to be Stephen Harper.

I am not looking for Mr. Harper to approve my life choices or dress. I am certainly not looking for him to speak on my behalf and “save” me from oppression, without even ever having bothered to reach out to me and speak with me.

And by the way, if he had bothered to ask me why I wear a niqab instead of making assumptions, I would have told him that it was a decision I took very seriously after I had looked into the matter thoroughly. I would tell him that aside from the religious aspect, I like how it makes me feel: like people have to look beyond what I look like to get to know me. That I don’t have to worry about my physical appearance and can concentrate on my inner self. That it empowers me in this regard.

While I recognize that it’s not for everyone, it is for me. To me, the most important Canadian value is the freedom to be the person of my own choosing. To me, that’s more indicative of what it means to be Canadian than what I wear.

I am looking, however, for Mr. Harper to govern according to the law of Canada and not according his own personal preference. That is why I was very happy when the Federal Court ruled in my favour and found that the policy was not in line with the government’s own Citizenship Act.

And now that Mr. Harper is so busy speaking about me in public, I am looking for him to include me in the discussion.

Zunera Ishaq has been a permanent resident of Canada since 2008. She has put her citizenship ceremony on hold since last year, in order to ask the Federal Court to judge the legality of the 2012 Conservative policy requiring her to remove her niqab for that purpose. The Federal Court found that the policy was illegal and ordered that it be struck down.

http://m.thestar.com/#/article/opin...qab-at-my-citizenship-ceremony.html?referrer=
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In other words, it has Nothing to do with her religion.
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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gerryh said:
The left has been saying this is a religious thing. From her rant, it obviously isn't about religion at all. Therefore, she has no "right\" to wear it.
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As long as she were to claim it was a religious garment during the ceremony she would have the right to wear it. That's how it has been recognized according to the existing legislation.

skookumchuck said:
All i saw in her rant was .....I, Me,My. Flossie found a bird of a feather.
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All I see in your rant is
 
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Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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mentalfloss said:
It's not a democratic issue.
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I hear that Harpo has declaired that wearing a Guy Fox mask at protests is illegal, so why would someone be allowed to wear a mask for photo ID, while testifying in court and swearing allegiance? Seems a bit of a double standard
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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Sal said:
do you believe a burqa should be allowed because it's a religious freedom?
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I think anything should be allowed as long as it isn't a threat to safety or compromises the ability to recite or hear the oath.

I personally don't give two ****s about the oath either, but that's another issue. To me it's comical how much people are against this but they feel placing your hand on a bible before a testimony or judges wearing victorian wigs really means anything.
 
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Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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mentalfloss said:
I think anything should be allowed as long as it isn't a threat to safety.
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and therein lies the problem with your argument for me

a burqa is a threat to everyone's safety and as such has no place in our country

if a human being is about equality, and freedom and embracing our country as their home they shouldn't be covered head to toe with only their eyes visible...and there are many reasons for that but just one is that a part of communication is reading the whole face along with body language not just your gd eyes

while I am all about individual rights, we are a whole group and your right as an individual can not take from my right as an individual

remove the damn garment as a show of faith and co-operation to us as a people

mentalfloss said:
I personally don't give two ****s about the oath either, but that's another issue. To me it's comical how much people are against this but they feel placing your hand on a bible before a testimony or judges wearing victorian wigs really means anything.
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it means as much as the person thinks it means and that is why it is important

and that is why she has to take off the gd costume
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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A burqa is not a threat to safety.

I feel no more or less secure or human conversing with someone wearing a burka or a niqab.

It's really sad that people are so afraid of a garment.
 
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Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
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mentalfloss said:
A burqa is not a threat to safety.
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She might have a bomb vest under there or it might actually be a man with a bomb vest under there. I think everybody should be naked in public so we can all feel safe. Probably would reduce a lot of our sexual hang ups and perversions too.
 
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Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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Cliffy said:
She might have a bomb vest under there or it might actually be a man with a bomb vest under there. I think everybody should be naked in public so we can all feel safe. Probably would reduce a lot of our sexual hang ups and perversions too.
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all of us women have a bomb under our clothes and it has controlled men for years, we are not about to display it, there's more power in your imagination than in our bombs.
 
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