Canadians who want to think through the niqab debate will need to avoid the temptation to ponder only surface arguments, ones that miss subterranean societal tensions.
Some argue that the Conservative government’s attempt to require that prospective citizens show their faces is an affront to religious rights. Others claim that proof of a basic commitment to Canada and her principles is revealed in an open affirmation at the time a citizenship oath is taken: so no veiled faces.