Feminists in Canada defend the right of a person testifying in a trial to hide her face behind a niqab; Muslims in Canada oppose the feminists.

A precedent-setting case that could determine whether a woman can wear a niqab while testifying in Canadian courts has a leading feminist group and a national Muslim organization on opposite sides of the contentious debate. But their respective positions, outlined in written arguments filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal, may come as a surprise.

The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is arguing that an alleged victim of sexual assault must be permitted to wear the Muslim veil if it is part of her religion.

… Requiring a Muslim woman to remove her veil while testifying “could very well be seen and experienced as an act of racial, religious and gendered domination,” [said LEAF].

Before we hear what the Muslim organization has to say, let’s stop there for a moment. Listen to what LEAF is saying. Asking a woman to show her face, even for a few minutes while testifying in a trial, is a form of domination over her.

In contrast, the Muslim Canadian Congress maintains that religious freedoms are not absolute and must be balanced against the long-standing right of a criminal defendant to see his accuser in court and assess demeanour. As well, the Muslim group argues that … “The covered female face is a reminder to the wearer that she is not free and to the observer that she is a possession…”

The founder of the organization, Tarek Fatah, said yesterday that it is not trying to make it more difficult for Muslim women to testify in sexual assault cases. “They should be treated like any other woman and receive the same protections,” he said. (The Criminal Code provides for witnesses to testify by closed circuit television or behind a screen where they can be seen, but they cannot see the accused).

… LEAF counters that fair trial rights are being used as an excuse to justify stereotypes. “In the current political climate of fear and distrust of veiled Muslim women, courts and juries need to be alert to existing prejudices that a Muslim woman who covers her face cannot be believed,” writes [a lawyer representing] LEAF.

******************************

UPDATE: Doublespeak.

According to written arguments filed by one of her lawyers, she is on par with female heroes of the civil rights movement: “Henrietta Muir Edwards just wanted to sit in the [Canadian] Senate. Rosa Parks just wanted to sit at the front [of the bus]. N.S. just wants to sit in the witness box wearing her niqab.”

Comparing N.S. to Ms. Edwards, Ms. Parks or any women who fought for sexual or racial equality takes us to heights of doublespeak. These women struggled to escape the shackles of discriminatory laws that kept them out of their chosen professions, restricted their ability to vote, forbade them from owning property, or banned them from even drinking at the same water fountain. Now, a woman who wants to cover herself from head to toe in a manner that excludes her from the mainstream of society is striking a blow for women’s equality?

Worse yet is the logic employed by the feminist legal advocates LEAF (the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund), which is intervening in this matter in support of N.S. Because she is Muslim, they question the entire value of her “demeanour evidence” (the usual in-person testimony which allows the court to judge a witness’s body language and facial expressions). LEAF submitted that “In this case, the sexual assault complainant is a woman of colour from a stigmatized racial/religious minority. The value of her demeanour evidence, already deeply suspect as a sexual assault complainant, is thrown into further question by the inevitable influence of prejudices (whether overt or hidden) relating to these additional markers of discrimination.”

By this logic, why should any woman have to testify in person in a rape case, particularly if she isn’t white or Christian? Why not put all women in a niqab so that their demeanour won’t be held against them in court?

Tasha Kheiriddin
National Post