Article content continued

This begs the question of why someone in such an influential position would be squeamish about condemning a practice in parliament that is so obviously detrimental to an individual’s physical and psychological well-being. The disastrous effects of the practice are widely known.

But the answers to this question too may be obvious.

The minister is worried about angering the Islamist lobby that comprises quite a slice of the Liberal government’s vote bank. The reluctance to condemn such practices is obviously a political move.

Canada’s citizenship guide is meant to educate potential Canadians about what Canada stands for. It is about respecting everyone’s rights, including the rights of children, none of whom should be subjected to cultural practices that are beyond their control and cause them tremendous harm.

The new citizenship guide has allegedly removed references to “barbaric cultural practices.” The reason that the government is unwilling to condemn the practice of female genital mutilation, along with other barbaric cultural practices, is for fear of offending the sizeable voting bloc of religious bigots and fundamentalists.

But Islamists themselves ought to condemn the practice. They claim they base their lives on religious pretexts. However, mutilating young girls has no basis in the religion to which they profess allegiance.

Like the burka and niqab, it is not rooted in the Quranic text but based more on a rather flimsy reference to the practice in sharia law’s secondary source, the hadith — or dicta of the prophet Mohammad.