Fair trial may require removal of niqab...or maybe not

This is a niqab. Devout Muslim wear them so that no man (except a close family member) may see their face and hair.

In Toronto, a 32-year-old Muslim woman has accused her uncle and cousin of sexual assaults (plural intended). If her story is to be believed, the men have seen considerably more than her face and hair. Yet at the trial, the woman insists that the Canadian Charter of Rights protects her "right" to wear the niqab while giving testimony.

Lawyers for the accused say that the court should be able to judge the demeanor of the witness, thus the niqab should be removed. So the trial judge has referred the issue to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which today came down firmly astride the fence, telling the trial judge that he must conduct a preliminary inquiry as to why the complainant's religious beliefs necessitate her wearing the niqab.

But, the court said “If, in the specific circumstances, the accused’s fair trial right can be honoured only by requiring the witness to remove the niqab, the niqab must be removed if the witness is to testify.”

However, the judgment continues, trial judges must respect witnesses' religious rights by allowing them to testify about their religious beliefs and compelling them to remove a niqab in as few cases as possible.

The Court said that trial judges must search for a sensitive compromise that will respect the complainant's religious needs while, at the same time, allowing the defence to assess her demeanor during testimony. A good compromise, lawyers say, pleases no-one. And sure enough, the Court of Appeal suggests a good one.

[A compromise] may include having as few people in the courtroom as possible, and ensuring that most or all of them are female, it said. “Those measures might also include, where constitutionally permissible, an order that a witness be cross-examined by female counsel...If necessary, the court could be closed to all male persons other than the accused and his counsel.”

The learned judges did not comment on the possible infringement -- if their "for instance" were to be followed -- of the accused's right to counsel of his choice (male or female), and the legal presumption that a trial should be held in public, with the courtroom open to all, not just males or females.

For a more complete account of a bit of judicial logic remarkable for its tortuousness and political correctness, see today's report by Kirk Makin in the Globe and Mail.

Let us not forget Dickens' dictum: the law is a ass. But must it bray so loudly?

Footnote: The Toronto Sun summarized the story thus: "The Ontario Court of Appeal has refused to make a blanket decision [sic] as to whether sexual assault complainants should be allowed to wear their veils in a witness box." Brilliant! ROTFL!

Mainstream political commentators decry multicult

Walt read an interesting comment this weekend on the subject of government-funded multiculturalism, as endured by the silent (and polite) majority in Canada since the Trudeau era. The source follows the quote.

The inception of official multiculturalism simply entrenched the system of government subsidies for minority groups, paid by politicians in the none-too-subtle expectation that this expenditure of public funds would produce dividends in the form of workers and votes at election time.

Multiculturalism is a boondoggle that now costs federal taxpayers [millions of dollars] a year. No politician really expects that he or she can lock up the Italian vote by giving grants to Italian-Canadian organizations in Toronto. Politicians know, however, that they can expect trouble with the Ukrainian vote in Winnipeg if they give money to Italians in Toronto and not to Ukrainian groups in the Manitoba capital.

Once a grant is given to one ethnic organization, it becomes painfully difficult, politically, to say no to any other group.

This is from Leaders & Lesser Mortals, published in the early 1990s. Since then the expenditure of Canadian taxpayers' dollars on multicult has jumped into the billions. And the pandering to "ethnics" has expanded to include South Asians (meaning Indians, Pakistanis and of course Tamils) in the GTA, Chinese in the GTA and Vancouver, Haitians in Montréal, and any other ethnic group you can think of, as long as they are present or potential voters.

Who wrote these non-PC words? Not some racist Tea Partyer, but John Laschinger, "Canada's only full-time professional political campaign manager" and Geoffrey Stevens, parliamentary correspondent for Time, and national political columnist for the Globe and Mail. And remember, they were writing in 1992. The cult of multicult has grown exponentially since then. Let's kill it!

Father slaps teen girl to death over religion

Police in Longueuil, Québec, won't say whether they're dealing with an honour killing or not, in the case of a 13-year-old girl who died after her father hit her during an argument about religion.

Moussa Sidime, 71, called police last Wednesday evening and told them he had struck his daughter during an argument at the family home. After slapping her two times in the face with an open hand, he was apparently surprised that she fell down.

Officers found Noutene Sidime unconscious and bleeding from the nose. She was taken to hospital, where she died late Saturday. So far, the father has only been charged with aggravated assault. More serious charges may follow an autopsy.

The Sidimes are immigrants [Not refugees? Ed.] from Africa. The PC press has so far refrained from disclosing what religion the family follows. However, neighbours told TV interviewers that they had heard the father chastising the daughter for not saying her prayers.

Thailand deports illegal migrants

Much rejoicing in Ottawa this morning as Steve Harpoon and his toadies receive news that Thai police have rounded up over 100 Tamils who were allegedly waiting in a suburb of Bangkok to embark on yet another boat for Canada. The Canadians' Big Book of Excuses has been put back on the shelf until next time.

It's noteworthy that the Thais -- apparently smarter than the Canucks -- sent the Tamils back to Sri Lanka. Nothing was said about their being refugees. Their "human rights were not involved". They had no hearing. And they had no taxpayer-funded legal counsel. Just ship `em out, is what the Thais did. No bleeding heart liberals there!

Test your RIQ (Religious Intelligence Quotient)

Here's a suitable Sunday exercise for you, courtesy of Agent 17, who has been much in touch in the last couple of weeks.

In "Test Your Savvy on Religion", New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof passes on the results of the Pew Research Center's Religious Knowledge Survey.
It turns out that most religious people are surprisingly uninformed about their own religions, not to mention others.

Almost half of Catholics didn’t understand the idea of Communion. Most Protestants didn’t know that Martin Luther started the Reformation. Almost half of Jews didn’t realize Maimonides was Jewish. And atheists were among the best informed about religion. Walt supposes agnostics weren't sure about anything.

Mr. Kristof provides us with a little pop quiz -- 13 questions to test your knowledge of what he calls the more extreme aspects of Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Walt just barely passed. How about you?

12 OFWs arrested in KSA for performing Christian worship

The headline is from the website of the Filipino TV network GMA. Filipinos are heavily into abbreviations and acronyms. Allow Walt to decode for you...

"OFWs" are Overseas Foreign Workers (or Overseas Filipino Workers) and "KSA" is Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The story is about a French priest and 12 Filipino laymen who were arrested for organizing the celebration of Holy Mass at a Saudi hotel.

Approximately 150 expatriates were in attendance at the Mass. Those who were arrested were taken to a police station and charged with proselytizing, but then released. Presumably they will face Islamic "justice" later.

So that's what happens when Christians try to practise their faith in a Muslim country. Yet we who live in nominally Christian countries are expected to allow the Muslims to build mosques and pray not just in the mosques but in the streets. What's wrong with this picture?!

Headline of the week

Unintentionally funny headline of the week, from Yahoo! News:

WAfrica children still exploited to make chocolate

That does it! I'm not eating any more of that stuff!