Canada Drops Niqab Appeal

During the election, the Conservatives chose to fight a Federal Court of Appeal ruling.

Wilson-Raybould was also asked on Monday about the threat posed by the Islamic State, seeing as Canada was named directly on multiple occasions by the terror group, and backlash against Muslim-Canadians, after an Ontario mosque was torched following the attacks in Paris.

The Conservatives sought leave to appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada during the recent federal election campaign.

The federal government has formally withdrawn a request for an appeal of a court decision allowing women to wear face veils such as the niqab at Canadian citizenship ceremonies.

The Conservative government expressed its intention to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision about a month before the election.

“Our government takes the perspective that we embrace diversity and respect the fundamental freedoms of all Canadians and this is the start of the work that we’re going to do as a government in terms of ensuring those values are protected”, Wilson-Raybould told reporters Monday.

Both the Liberals and New Democrats opposed the ban, and with Justin Trudeau’s victory on October 19, it was virtually certain the new Liberal government would drop the Conservatives’ legal appeal. With that deadline now expired, Wilson-Raybould announced the government has abandoned the case. She said there are other ways for new… But it was quashed by a lower court in September.

In a joint statement, Immigration Minister John McCallum and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said: “On November 16, 2015, the Attorney General of Canada notified the Supreme Court of Canada that it has discontinued its application for leave to appeal in the case of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration v. Ishaq“.