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Friday March 13, 2015

Friday March 13, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 13, 2015

Niqab debate important for Canadians, religious freedoms, ambassador says

Canada’s ambassador for religious freedoms says he thinks it’s important that Canadians are having a debate about the place of the niqab in society.

Andrew Bennett says his office doesn’t get involved in domestic political issues; its mandate is to advocate for religious freedoms abroad.

But Bennett says he’s aware how fraught the issue of the niqab can be and that it’s important for Canadians to have a say.

The Conservative government’s decision to appeal a Federal Court ruling allowing a woman to have her face covered by a niqab while reciting the oath of citizenship has sparked a heated debate about religious rights in Canada.

The government argues Canadian values are at stake while the opposition says to ban the niqab goes against those very same values.

Bennett says he thinks the fact that Parliament is having what he calls a robust debate on the subject is wonderful and proof Canadian institutions are functioning.

Wednesday March 11, 2015Bennett spoke to The Canadian Press on Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference on religious freedoms in Ottawa. That same day, federal Conservatives were scrambling to clarify that their aversion to Muslim women wearing the niqab applies strictly to citizenship ceremonies.

But they struggled to explain why wearing the face-covering veil is no big deal in other spheres of life, including the federal public service, if — as Prime Minister Stephen Harper maintains — it’s contrary to Canadian values and “rooted in a culture that is anti-women.”

“That is what the prime minister said and that is a point of view that one can hold,” said Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who is responsible for federal civil service. (Source: Globe & Mail)

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Posted (with much negative reaction) at Yahoo News Canada.

 

 

 

Wednesday November 14, 2001

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 14, 2001

The Fall of Kabul

Afghans brought their radios out of hiding and played music in the streets, savoring the end of five years of harsh Taliban rule as the northern alliance marched triumphantly into Afghanistan’s capital Tuesday. Diplomats sought U.N. help in fashioning a government for the shattered country.

American jets still prowled the skies in the south, seeking out convoys of Taliban fighters retreating toward Kandahar, the Islamic militants’ last major stronghold. Strikes also targeted caves where members of terror suspect Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network were thought to be hiding

Alliance troops celebrated the capture of the prize they had been fighting for since they were driven out by the Taliban in 1996. A small number of U.S. troops were on hand to advise them.

The dizzying cascade of events in Afghanistan turned the opposition into the country’s chief power overnight – and brought to the forefront the issue of ensuring that it shares power. The United States and its allies want a government that includes groups the ethnic minorities that make up the alliance and the Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group.

The alliance leaders said they had deployed 3,000 security troops across Kabul to bring order – not to occupy it – and insisted they were committed to a broad-based goverment. (Hamilton Spectator)