RE: Citizenship veil ban coerces women to fit into the 'mainstream'

(Unabridged version of the letter published in the Toronto Star [http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/1102908--veiled-intentions])

I have to hand it to the federal Conservatives, they are the masters of such sophistry by distracting a lot of people by hitting at peripheral matters. These are indeed political points that the Conservatives have scored because they know that this is in tune with the “feelings” of most probably the majority of people towards face veiled persons.

This is where the Conservatives’ priorities lie – in restricting the freedoms of a very tiny minority of veiled women. I guess this matter is so much more important to them than addressing matters such as child poverty (over 200,000 children use food banks every year in Canada), or lack of public housing for fellow Canadians, etc.

Zeshan Shahbaz