Gilles Duceppe favours notwithstanding clause to ban niqab at citizenship ceremonies

Bloc Qubcois Leader Gilles Duceppe says he'd be in favour of invoking the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to buttress legislation banning niqabs at citizenship ceremonies.

"I'd be for introducing the clause if ever such a lawwas found to contravene the charter," he saidTuesday.

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The constitutional measure was put in place"precisely forthis kind of situation," he added.

When the Conservatives tabled legislation last June to ban thewearing ofniqabsat citizenship ceremonies, they said it respected the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Thatlegislation ultimately died on the order paper after the federal election was called,butthe Conservatives have promisedif re-electedthey wouldintroduce and adopt legislation banning face coverings during citizenship oaths within the first 100 days.

A Federal Court of Appealruled last weekthat a woman could wear aniqabwhile swearing the oath.

The federal government is currently seeking a stay of thatcourtdecision.

'Politics of fear and division'

Duceppe's positioncomes after the sovereigntist party faced criticism for an online ad it posted, which showedoil leaking from a pipeline then morphinginto a niqab.

In the ad, released last Friday, the Blocwarnsanew pipeline is coming "even if we don't want it," if TomMulcair's NDP wins the election.

The ad also says Mulcair has no problem with a niqab being worn during a citizenship ceremony.

It is not the first time the party has tried to make the niqaba wedge issue for the NDP with Quebec voters. In a similar campaign ad, released in February, a narrator asked in French: "Should you have to hide your face to vote NDP?"

The text is superimposed on an image of the House of Commons through the eyeholes of a black niqab.

The Bloc is trying to claw its way back into the race in Quebecwhere the New Democrats are ascendant by painting Mulcair as out of touch with Quebecerson issues of religious accommodation.

Mulcair, for his part, said Monday that niqabs should be allowed at the public citizenship ceremony, but that women should be required to identify themselves without the veil at some point in the process.

Tom Mulcair says the courts have ruled about niqabs

9 years ago

Duration 1:24

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says the courts have already ruled about niqabs being allowed at citizenship ceremonies.

"The courts have spoken in this case, and I think that everybody in Canada has to understand that you do indeed have to identify yourself, and I agree with that.

"ButI'm not about the politics of fear and division. Mr. Harper is going to always go after that. If he senses that there's something there, that can divide Canadians one against the other, he'll do it. He talks about 'old stock' Canadians. That's a code word. He knows what he's doing when he does that."

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said the government would appeal theFederal Court of Appeal rulingthat would allowZunera Ishaq to wear a niqab while swearingthe oath of citizenship.

The governmentsaid it would ask for the ruling to be deferred while theissue is before the Supreme Court.

Should that happen, it is unlikely Ishaq would become a citizenin time to vote in theOct. 19federal election.