Of Burqas, Balaclavas and Leftist Balderdash

An Ottawa Citizen editorial tut-tuts Jason Kenney's new measure compelling a Muslim chick to remove her face mask while reciting the Oath of citizenship. The paper claims that these women are well within their rights to insist on remaining covered, and doesn't buy the rationales being offered (that if her face is covered, how can we tell if she's really reciting the Oath, or, for that matter, that she is who she says she is?) to defend the move:

But this isn’t really about any practical imperative. It’s about making a statement about Canadian values, and Canadian values, in Jason Kenney’s mind, don’t include niqabs. If that’s so, why not go as France is going, and ban them altogether? Of course, this being a cold country, we’d have to distinguish between acceptable motivations for covering one’s face and unacceptable ones. Good old boys in balaclavas are fine, of course.

Of course. Though, as far as I know, not while reciting the Oath of citizenship. And while both balaclavas and burqas have been used as disguises by robbers, I doubt that anyone would wear a burqa--as they would a balaclava--merely to keep warm.

Canadian artist Charles Pachter's rendering of burqas 'n' balaclavas