OTTAWA—In an election where the niqab has become a divisive symbol, Zunera Ishaq intends to cast her ballot.

Ishaq was sworn in as a Canadian citizen on Friday after a pitched legal battle with the government over her desire to wear her niqab during the citizenship ceremony.

“We can’t tell you who she’s going to vote for. I can tell you who she’s not going to vote for,” her lawyer, Lorne Waldman, said in an interview Friday.

Waldman said it was an emotional ceremony, with Ishaq first being taken into a room to be identified without her niqab before proceeding to a citizenship judge to swear her oath. Her lawyers, who were present for the ceremony, read the oath as well.

Then they all sang “O Canada.”

Ishaq was at the centre of a legal challenge over her right to wear a niqab — a garment covering her hair and face, except for her eyes — during the citizenship ceremony.

While most Canadians appear to support banning the niqab during those ceremonial events, many do so based on the mistaken assumption that it contravenes law or that the women do not identify themselves before the ceremony, according to internal government polling.

Waldman said Ishaq was troubled that her case was batted around by politicians so prominently during the election.

But the political issue didn’t end with Ishaq. Employment minister and Ottawa Conservative MP Pierre Poilieve mused that the ban might be extended to the public service — something Prime Minister Stephen Harper later said a re-elected Conservative government would consider.

On Friday, the suggestion that visitors to Parliament Hill might be required to identify themselves or remove niqabs seemed to come out of the blue with a story in the Ottawa Citizen floating the possibility.

Visitors to Parliament Hill do not have to identify themselves to take a guided tour, but all must pass through metal detectors. Visitors who carry religious symbols like the Sikh ceremonial dagger, or kirpan, are admitted after they are cleared through the security screen.

However, visitors to an MP or senator’s office are required to provide proof of their identity, and the Senate Speaker’s office says that includes removing any face veils to verify their identification.

Jacqui Delaney, a spokesperson for Senate Speaker Leo Housakos who is a Conservative appointment, said in an interview and confirmed in an email, that “individuals and/or groups visiting with parliamentarians and/or their staff are subject to security screening and identification verification, including removal of any face covering for comparison to ID being presented.”

However, according to the Star’s inquiries, it does not appear as if there has been a single instance where a veiled woman has requested permission to visit a parliamentary office.

Delaney said she was not aware of any such instance happening “or not happening.”

As to the future of Ishaq’s case, it’s not clear whether the government will appeal the matter to the Supreme Court. Conservative campaign spokesman Steven Lecce said that the government’s position has not changed.

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Waldman said whether or not the Supreme Court hears the case will likely depend on who forms government after Oct. 19.