"The burka has absolutely no place in Canada," said Farzana Hassan, of the Muslim Canadian Congress. "In Canada we recognize the equality of men and women. We want to recognize gender equality as an absolute. The burka marginalizes women."
The proposal calls for the banning of "masks, niqabs and burkas." A niqab covers the face but allows the eyes to be seen; a burka covers the entire body and the eyes are obscured by a mesh covering.
The fact is, not everyone agrees...
Wahida Valiante, chairwoman of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said the right to wear a burka is absolutely covered by the Charter and no one can dictate what constitutes proper religious practice.
A READER WRITES:"Enforcement? I dunno, unless we go Ataturk on women who dress as shadows. Will the CHRC get involved? Probably."
Perhaps though, we should ask the man who is, arguably, Toronto's most famous, or
infamous Muslim...
"People feel it's part of their identity, people feel it's part of their culture," Elmasry said. "It's not for you and me to decide."
Of course, Elmo also said...
"I don't want the public to think that this is really an Islamic issue or an immigrant issue," said Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress. "It is a teenager issue."
The thing is, perhaps the whole point will
soon be moot anyway...
The data also showed that there were more Muslims in Germany than in Lebanon, and more in Russia than in Jordan and Libya together.
Senior researcher Brian Grim told CNN that the overall figure was a surprise and said: "Overall, the number is higher than I expected."
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