Letters to the Editor
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Veiled women should not be allowed to vote
unless they remove their veils and prove their identity like the rest of us.
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I'm not Canadian
Doesn't matter to me in the least. Have fun with that one though.
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Non-visual ID
Of course veiled women should be allowed to vote. But I'm always thinking things are no-brainers and end up surprised....
To say veiled women can't vote is as good as saying that women who hold any religious belief requiring veiling can't vote. Seems like a redundant spoonerism, but it's religious discrimination, plain and simple, if women of a certain faith cannot both sincerely uphold the practice that their faith requires AND participate meaningfully in democratic government.
And what does it say to radical Islamic leaders if one of the world's leading stable democracies legislates that one cannot both freely practice her faith and have a say in her own government?
Furthermore, in the States at least, ANYONE can prove their identity non-visually, with other pieces of non-photographic documentation: leases, phone bills, Social Security cards, letters from school officials, etc. I have never had to show photo ID to vote. Why shouldn't conservative Muslim women have the same options regarding non-visual ID as everyone else?
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Perhaps a relatively simple solution ?
Have a female poll worker view the veiled woman with picture documentation behind an appropriate curtained space.
Probably little/no cost (most of poll workers in my area are female) and a comfort level for everyone involved with basically no cost.
Sounds reasonable to me....
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Real Canadian (Muslim) Women
Well, all the leadership of various Canadian Islamic Women's groups have been pretty unanimous in coming out and saying, pretty much, 1) we didn't ask for this, it is someone else's idea entirely, and 2) it is totally reasonable for a woman to unveil in order to vote and we are just fine with that.
So this is just a fight between various brands of mainstream Western political correctnesses, and has nothing to do with anything Canadian women who happen to be Muslim actually want.
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How about thumb prints?
Of have they cut off all their hands already? I mean for every hoop the Religion of Peace wants to toss us we can probably find a work around.
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Dicrimination
What if I was a veiled male atheist? Could I vote?
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: )
Very good, ChillyDogg.
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Non-photo ID
Under current Canadian election law, you can in fact prove your identity without photo ID. You need two documents with your name, one of which contains your address. So you can show up with your birth certificate and your phone bill, and you're good.
http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=med&document=jul2607&dir=pre&lang=e&textonly=false
The whole veil thing is a red herring, and I have no idea why they're making such a big deal of it all the sudden.
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OT: But very serious stuff
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc
Leave Britney Alone!
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Same old story... why do people believe this stuff?
If it's legal to "prove" your identity without a photo ID, then I guess it's legal for them to vote. But all this would go away if they would just leave the Dark Ages. It's unfathomable.
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Veiled threat
It's bitter to contemplate how many centuries and how many blood-soaked battlefields it took the Western world to realize the notion of free men and women voting for their leaders, and then to see the achievement mocked by the medieval costumes of a dubious cult of obedience.
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a complete non-issue
Dear Editor,
As an earlier reader pointed out (Canuckistan Bob, I believe) this is a non-issue. Muslim women have not asked for this "special consideration" and veiled Muslim women are used to unveiling to prove their identity to officials, to get passport photos taken, etc. Moreover, as Mayrand pointed out, voters who cast their ballots by mail never have to show picture ID. One can question if the existing system is secure enough, but that is a different issue that has nothing to do with veiled, Muslim women.
The more interesting question is why this is such an emotional issue to so many "ordinary" Canadians. The unfortunate answer, I think, is that it is outright bigotry at work. Many Canadians are simply afraid of Muslims and the values/ideas that they imagine the veil to represent. These same people are often resentful of "political correctness" and their inability to verbalize their fears and prejudices without being called on the carpet. So, this manufactured non-issue has become a convenient way to get those feelings out in the open as part of a mob and with the figleaf of a certain kind of respectability. After all, it's about fighting against unreasonable, special treatment, right? Except, of course, that it's not.
Sincerely,
Shaun Narine
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Of course women should be allowed to vote in their veils
If their husband permits it. If he doesn't, maybe a good beating is in store. I think Muslim religious authorities have made this clear repeatedly...
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re: If their husband permits it. If he doesn't, maybe a good beating is in store. I think Muslim religious authorities have made this clear repeatedly...
or their fathers.
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if i were a muslim...
Wearing a veil isn't only a sign of submission, it's also visible assertion of Muslim identity. If I happened to be a Muslim, I'd be tempted to wear a veil just to prove that I wasn't ashamed of my heritage, to flip the bird to all the pseudo-tolerant Islamophobes trying to tell me what I should believe and how I should behave.
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Save the drama for your mamma
This is another example of people taking a hypothetical situation and using it to create a pseudo-clash of civilizations scenario. There is no greater way to villify an entire class of Canadians than to imply that one group doesn't have to follow the same rules as the majority. I can cast a ballot through the mail, if I want. And the Chief Electoral Officer? He's no Anti-Harperist, he's just responding to the exact wording of the legislation. He's a lawyer, he's just giving an accurate analysis of what the law says (as per his mandate). Harper is just trying to turn this into a law and order issue because he's in campaign mode. He just loves to come out as a "take no rubbish" leader, a non-ditherer, but this debate is all about creating a conflict when there really is none.
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Question...
Why don't they just mail in their ballots?
It seems to me that the fundamentalists women are just using the voting rights issue as a way to press for further acceptance of Sharia law and custom in Quebec. This doesn't seem to me to be about civil rights, but rather religious warfare.