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A second Muslim woman is challenging a government policy that prohibits people from covering their faces while swearing the oath of citizenship.

In a complaint filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Maiia Mykolayivna Zaafrane says she was discriminated against on the basis of religion when she was not allowed to participate in a citizenship ceremony because she refused to remove her niqab, a garment that covers her head and face, except her eyes.

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The niqab ban became a major political flashpoint this year after another Muslim woman, Zunera Ishaq, challenged the policy in Federal Court. A judge ruled in February that the policy was unlawful because it violated federal regulations requiring citizenship judges to allow would-be citizens the “greatest possible freedom in the religious solemnization or the solemn affirmation of the oath.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper immediately vowed to appeal, saying it was “offensive” that newcomers would hide their faces at the moment they are joining the “Canadian family.” The Conservatives also promised that, if re-elected this fall, they would bring in legislation entrenching the no-face-cover policy into law.