Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
A family tragedy has temporarily forced NDP Cree candidate Romeo Saganash from his riding, APTN National News has learned.
Saganash is currently in Quebec City dealing with the family tragedy which led to a hospitalization. The tragedy forced him to miss a local candidates debate held by Radio-Canada Thursday morning.
APTN tried to reach Saganash through the NDP campaign Wednesday to get a comment after he became entangled in the niqab controversy. NDP campaign officials could not reach Saganash. APTN also tried to reach Saganash directly, but he has not returned calls.
APTN has since learned that Saganash is currently focusing on his family, following a tragedy that occurred last week.
Saganash became entangled in the niqab controversy during a recent debate in his northern Quebec riding. During the debate Saganash said he believed the niqab was oppressive to women. He also said that much like French settlers adopted some Indigenous values, newcomers should also adopt Canadian ways, according to a recording posted by Radio-Canada.
Saganash’s statement was immediately interpreted as being at odds with NDP leader Tom Mulcair’s position on allowing women to wear the niqab during public citizenship swearing-in ceremonies.
Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau are both against a ban on the use of the niqab during the ceremonies.
While the debate over the niqab and so-called reasonable accommodation has raged for in Quebec for nearly a decade, Conservative leader Stephen Harper has pounced on it to both hold or grow support in Quebec and use it as a wedge issue in the rest of Canada.
The Conservatives are currently trying to force women who wear niqabs to remove the face covering during citizenship ceremonies. The party has gone to the Supreme Court to overturn a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that struck down the Harper government’s ban on niqab-wearing during debates.
A niqab covers a woman’s face except for a slit at eye-level. The covering is used by conservative Muslim women.
Stand behind your convictions Saganash , not run away.
please educate us all on the process of the swearing in ceremony, when writing an article such as this. This is missing the information regarding the process of the woman going into an office before the swearing in ceremony and showing her papers, id and removing her facial cover to 2 people in the room, All the paper work is approved and then she can go into the larger room where everyone is sitting and gets sworn in with the rest of the people. Like we have seen on TV news.. Harper controlling the masses, once again fear? this is how your ancestors’ were isn’t it time to make a change
The part you forgot is that the people who get sworn in have to show their face so the immigration officers can see them recite the Oath……this is a requirement for anybody who wants to become Canadian, so why are these women treated differently?
I was told by a women who just became a citizen this yr, that the process was what I mentioned..es and I did ask her why she thought that she should get special treatment and she said to her this was Canada’s way of showing acceptant for differences.. laugh. Lol she bought into the BS