The Quebec Human Rights Comission has ruled that Muslim women who wear veils must show their faces when applying for health cards in the province.
Additionally, Muslim women may not demand to be served by women at provincial health insurance board offices, the commission said in a decision released in mid-March.
The rulings are the latest to attempt to balance the rights of minorities with religious rights and gender equality, and they have sparked vigorous debate across the country.
Quebec’s health insurance board had previously accommodated such special requests but asked the human rights commission for an opinion on the matters.
Between 2008 and 2009, only 10 out of 146,000 applicants for health card photo identification asked for special accommodation because they wore a niqab, a face veil that has a slit for the eyes, or burqa, a full-body veil with a screen for the eyes.
The rights commission ruled that asking a woman to unveil to confirm her identity did not violate her freedom of religion. It added that the health insurance board is not obligated to provide a woman employee to serve a woman wearing a niqab or burqa. — ENI
