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How has the niqab — the full-face covering worn by some Muslim women — suddenly emerged as the driving issue in the run-up to the 2015 Canadian federal election? It’s a curious thing, particularly given that the numbers of women who actually wear them in Canada appear to be so minuscule.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s speech in Toronto last week, in which he charged Stephen Harper’s Conservative government with anti-Muslim fearmongering, firmly repositioned the niqab at the centre of Canadian political debate on current issues of justice, security and how we balance these with our rights and freedoms as Canadians.

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He drew on the case of Zunera Ishaq. Ishaq, a Sunni Muslim, passed her citizenship test in 2013, but didn’t attend her swearing-in ceremony after being informed that she would have to remove her niqab during the public oath-taking. She sued the minister of citizenship and immigration, claiming the government’s policy on veils violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In January, a federal judge ruled in her favour. Earlier this month, the government followed through on Harper’s promise to launch an appeal of the federal court ruling. “I believe, and I think most Canadians believe that it is offensive that someone would hide their identity at the very moment where they are committing to join the Canadian family,” Harper told a crowd in Victoriaville back in February.