Judge can order veil removed

A little sanity from Canada's supreme court. However, I think the ruling has left a loop hole. The Toronto Star

A judge at a preliminary hearing has the authority to order a complainant in a sexual assault case to remove her veil while testifying if he or she believes it's not being worn for religious reasons, a just-released court ruling says.

Last fall, Ontario Court Justice Norris Weisman ordered a Muslim woman to testify with her face bared after finding her "religious belief is not that strong . . . and that it is, as she says, a matter of comfort."[...]

However, Marrocco refused to grant the woman's order permitting her to wear her niqab while testifying once the preliminary hearing resumes.

Instead, Marrocco says Weisman will have to conduct another hearing about the issue since he didn't explore it far enough before making his decision.

"The failure to explore the limits and exceptions of the applicant's professed religious belief may have resulted in the preliminary inquiry judge mischaracterizing the applicant's evidence as an assertion that wearing the veil was a matter of comfort," Marrocco wrote.

So, in other words if the religious belief of the person is strong enough then the judge will not have authority to order the niqab removed.