Amid niqab controversy, women ask Harper if they meet dress code

Some of these are quite funny, and a good reminder of the power of humour and parody to make a point:

For Farrah Khan, a counsellor at a Toronto clinic for women experiencing violence, the last several months have signalled a growing sentiment of Islamophobia in Parliament, and across Canada. The government’s anti-terror and “barbaric cultural practices” bills haven’t helped, she says, and she’s seeing more Muslim women come into the clinic saying they’re being violently attacked on the subway and at school. Even a senior Conservative senator, Marjory Lebreton, acknowledged this week that the party needs to “work harder” so that Muslims don’t feel alienated. And Stephen Harper’s Tuesday comments about women wearing niqabs during their Canadian citizenship ceremonies made things seem worse.

“Why would Canadians, contrary to our own values, embrace a practice at that time that is not transparent, that is not open, and frankly is rooted in a culture that is anti-women?” he told the House of Commons.

Khan says these sort of comments deflect from acts of violence against women the government should be speaking out about. “We should be addressing the more than 1,000 missing and murdered indigenous women,” she said in a phone interview with Maclean’s. “As a feminist and as a Muslim woman, it’s difficult for me to see that Muslim women’s bodies are being used as a battleground. It’s anti-women to dictate what women should and shouldn’t wear.”

That’s why she was thrilled to see her frustration shared by hundreds of people using the hashtag #DressCodePM, an attempt to criticize and parody the government’s stance on the niqab.

Amid niqab controversy, women ask Harper if they meet dress code.