Canada – Orthodox Jews Challenge Quebec Niqab Ban

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    Photo illustrationCanada – Quebec’s Orthodox Jewish community appeared for the first time on Wednesday before a National Assembly committee, taking up an unexpected cause – fighting a bill that would ban the wearing of the Muslim niqab when receiving government services.

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    The Jewish Orthodox Council for Community Relations said by placing gender rights above religious rights, the bill would create a hierarchy of individual rights and freedoms that would be challenged before the courts. The group warned the government against adopting “hard and fast rules” that could exacerbate social tensions surrounding religious minorities.

    “The government’s interpretation comes in conflict with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both the Canadian Charter and the Quebec Charter,” said the group’s legal counsel, Lionel Perez. “It will lead to court challenges, and if it leads to court challenges there will be more media coverage. If there is more media coverage, it will lead to more scrutiny … and it will exacerbate the social tensions.”

    Hearings resumed Tuesday on the government’s proposed legislation that prohibits the wearing of the Islamic face veil, the niqab, when receiving or delivering government services. However, the bill stops short of barring public servants from wearing all other religious symbols.

    The legislation stems from a long debate in Quebec on reasonable accommodation of religious groups. While the bill focuses on the controversy over the wearing of the niqab by Islamic women, Montreal’s Orthodox Jewish leaders expressed fear their community may also be targeted eventually. For instance, they are concerned that the accommodation allowed to Orthodox Jewish women to have a female examiner during drivers’ tests could be revoked.

    The community became part of the controversy over reasonable accommodation in 2006, when it requested that a Montreal YMCA install frosted windows on its building. The Hasidic Jewish Congregation Yetev Lev wanted to prevent young boys and teenagers studying at the synagogue just across the street from the gym from having a full view of the women exercising.

    The media coverage of the incident, along with that of controversies involving Islamic groups, created an outcry that led to public hearings on reasonable accommodation known as the Bouchard-Taylor commission, which tabled a report in 2008. It was followed by the tabling of a bill last spring.

    “The Jewish Orthodox community has been implicated through different accommodations or lack thereof,” Mr. Perez explained. “Because of the mediatisation and the impact it will have on Quebeckers, we felt compelled to be able to respond and express our point of view.”

    The group contends that the government is going about dealing with reasonable accommodation in the wrong way by targeting a specific group – fundamentalist Islamic women who wear the veil.

    Mr. Perez, who is also a Montreal city councillor, said there is no simple solution. The ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal stating that a victim of an alleged sexual assault could wear her niqab in court if it didn’t impede the holding of a fair trial was an example of how each situation needed to be treated differently, he said.

    “It comes to demonstrate that you can’t have hard and fast rules when it comes to individual rights and freedoms. It has to be really looked at on the circumstances,” Mr. Perez argued.

    He said the government was taking a step in the right direction by underscoring the “religious neutrality of the state.” But the boundaries of state secularism need to be clearly defined, Mr. Perez added; otherwise, it could impede religious freedom.

    “The government has to be equal towards its citizens, meaning that it doesn’t distinguish between religions. And it has to ensure that it does not impose its view, whether religious or secular,” Mr. Perez said.

    The council’s arguments clashed with groups demanding a much tougher bill that would underscore Quebec’s values as a pluralistic and secular society.

    Former Montreal Bar Association president Julie Latour, who appeared before the committee Tuesday on behalf of the Intellectuels pour la laïcité, called on the government to strike a balance between individual rights and the civic responsibilities of citizens. In so doing, government should impose its neutrality by prohibiting all civil servants from displaying religious symbols.

    According to Ms. Latour, the government has a duty to protect collective values such as gender equality or sexual orientation against restrictions made by certain religious rules.

    “The neutrality of the state and the separation between the state and the church should be stated clearly to make sure that this remains as a principle,” she said.


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    10 Comments
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    charliehall
    charliehall
    13 years ago

    If someone wants to wear a veil, what business is it of mine or the government’s?

    noahz6
    noahz6
    13 years ago

    criminal could hide under these veils

    The-Macher
    The-Macher
    13 years ago

    They make the wearer impossible to identify, allowing for all sorts of fraud and criminal behavior when applying for and receiving benefits.

    mnmys1987
    mnmys1987
    13 years ago

    “criminal could hide under these veils”

    The article is not about the burqa (which hide the face) but the niqab (a veil which only cover the hair but doesn’t hide the face). If a muslim woman wants to wear a veil to hide her hair, what’s the problem? If a married jewish woman wants to cover her hair with a tichel, what’s the government’s problem? After that, they will forbide men to wear a yarmulke!

    People should remember that untill the mid 40’s, just before the war, it was common for women from all religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) to cover their hair once married. It was a sign that they weren’t single and that men shouldn’t gaze at her. So, how is it that nowadays, to cover one’s hair has become a crime? Once again, we’re not talking about the burqa (that some men wear in Afghanistan to commit undetected suicide attacks) but the niqab which poses no security problem because you are identifiable.

    kollelfaker
    kollelfaker
    13 years ago

    every country has a right to set its own rules and regulations immegrants that dont agree need not come this is a priviledge as for our getting involved why how this benefit us as jews…… it doesnt on a personnel note when you are covered head to toe we have no idea who u r or what u r and rthat presents a clear danger to society

    FinVeeNemtMenSeichel
    FinVeeNemtMenSeichel
    13 years ago

    Once again Jews identifying with this contingent of murderers and barbarians. We are so stupid politically, it’s embarrassing.

    ALLAN
    ALLAN
    13 years ago

    Religious rights..all for them. Security of people just going about their lives…should trump religious rights. Argue all you want …the Muslim extremists have brought this upon their own women. We fear who we cannot see clearly.

    marcia
    marcia
    13 years ago

    This is more than what a person wears, more than what a person eats, or works, or lives. This is about creeping shariah, infiltrating cultures everywhere and using political agendas and funding to take a stronghold. Similar to the Juan Williams case, people feel a certain way when they are in certain situations, that’s human nature, this is way more!