Women who wear the niqab—full face-veil—must uncover their faces when applying for a medicare card in Quebec in order to ascertain their identity, the province’s human rights commission has said.
Niqab-wearing women also do not have the right to insist on being served by a female employee, the commission said in an opinion last week.
Asking a woman to uncover her face “in a neutral and administrative framework in a short period of time” does not infringe on the freedom of religion guaranteed in Quebec’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said the ruling.
The decision comes as the Quebec government is preparing new guidelines on the wearing of religious symbols for those using public services after a woman wearing a niqab was expelled from two separate government-funded language classes in Montreal. Read more.
Niqab-wearing women also do not have the right to insist on being served by a female employee, the commission said in an opinion last week.
Asking a woman to uncover her face “in a neutral and administrative framework in a short period of time” does not infringe on the freedom of religion guaranteed in Quebec’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said the ruling.
The decision comes as the Quebec government is preparing new guidelines on the wearing of religious symbols for those using public services after a woman wearing a niqab was expelled from two separate government-funded language classes in Montreal. Read more.