Niqab position of NDP and Liberals not shared by some Quebec candidates

The NDP and Liberal parties' position that Muslim women should be allowed to wear the niqab during citizenship ceremonies might not be universally shared by all their party members, if statements made by several Quebec candidates this week are anything to go by.

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Both parties have saidMuslim women should be allowed to wear what they want during citizenship ceremonieswhile the Conservatives and the Bloc Qubcoiswould like to see face coverings banned during the ceremonies.

On Monday, Romeo Saganash, the NDP's candidate in the northern Quebec riding ofAbitibi-James-Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou, said he personally believed the niqab to be "the oppressor's clothing."

Saganash, a Cree from Waswanipiand the first aboriginal MP ever elected in Quebec, said atdebate earlier this week thatwhen French settlers arrived in Quebec, they had toadapt some of their customs to the culture of theFirst Nations living there, andMuslim women should similarly adapt.

"When the first French people arrived, they had to adapt, and even adopted, some of the indigenous people's customs That's what we have to do on this issue," he said.

At the same debate, his Liberal opponent, Pierre Dufour, also expressed hisoppositionto the niqab.

Meanwhile, NDP candidate in Joliette Danielle Landreville tweetedon Tuesday that she was against the niqab. She later deleted the tweets, but acached version of her websitestillshowed them.

Last week, the NDP candidate in LongueuilSt-Hubert Pierre Nantel said in a debate that he agreed that a womanwho wearsthe niqab should have to uncover herface during citizenship ceremonies.

And a 2011 NDP candidate in Quebec's Beauce riding, Serge Bergeron, has endorsed incumbent Conservative candidateMaxime Bernierlargely because ofhis opposition to the niqab.

"I'm against the niqab. We have nothing to hide in Canada. We're a free, open country. Why would people who wear the niqab choose to come here? We have our values, our culture, and we're against the wearing of the niqab," Bergeron told CBC News.

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Only two womenoutof the 686,000 people who took part in citizenship ceremonies since the Conservative government implemented aban on face coveringsin 2011 have refused to show their faces while taking the citizenship oath.

The Conservatives have vowed to take the issue to theSupreme Court after the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the niqab ban earlier this month.