A controversial Quebec bill to ban women wearing niqabs and burkas from offering or receiving public services was voted into law Wednesday. Members of the national assembly voted 66-51 in favour of the idea that the best way to stop women from being forced to wear a particular garment is to force women to not wear that garment. Bill 62, labelled as “an act to foster adherence to state religious neutrality,” is the face of contemporary dog whistle anti-Islamic politics couched as a unique commitment to secularism. Just leave that crucifix hanging on the wall behind the Quebec parliamentary speaker’s chair, please. That’s historical.The bill came complete with the thinnest plausible deniability — the law would also apply to masked protesters, Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée has said. The bill is also supposed to set vaguely defined limits to religious accommodation. If governments don’t belong in people’s bedrooms, they certainly don’t belong in women’s closets. We know this. On Tuesday, an Ontario MPP tabled a motion asking workplaces to butt out of those wardrobes. Liberal MPP Christina Martens tabled a private member’s bill to ban all workplaces from requiring women to wear high heels to work — not just industrial facilities or health-care facilities and such. Bill 62 should have been rejected for the same reason anti-abortionism would be. They are both anti-choice. A bill that legislates clothing ends up linking emancipation of women to how little or how much they wear. In doing so, it works against choice.If you, like me, don’t wear any kind of face covering, this battle isn’t about us. It is, however, about defending the rights of the tiny number of women in Quebec who cover their faces even if you can’t defend their practice.To be clear, I have no patience for the imposition of modesty on women, especially if those standards of modesty differ significantly ...
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