What’s Religious Freedom Got to Do With It?

On the Niqab Affair in Canadian Politics

Abstract

This essay considers the recent controversy in Canadian politics over the practice of wearing the niqab. Sheedy shows how the lines of social, political, and religious legitimacy can shift dramatically over a single symbol—in this case, a garment worn by some Muslim women—and can itself become “all things to all people” depending on the cultural context in which it is presented.