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LETTER: Showing face part of our culture

Dear Editor: The culture in my birth country of England has certain basic tenets, central beliefs/principles that have lasted for hundreds of years. Those tenets are shared by most of the people who have come to Canada and become Canadians.

Dear Editor:

The culture in my birth country of England has certain basic tenets, central beliefs/principles that have lasted for hundreds of years. Those tenets are shared by most of the people who have come to Canada and become Canadians.

One of these basic beliefs is if a person is wearing a mask, he has either committed a crime or is going to commit a crime. Criminals wear masks to hide their identities. So I and others are very nervous and uncomfortable around an individual who has the face covered. Make no mistake, the niqab is not a veil, it is a mask. When we see photos of

Islamic state jihadists/terrorists, they are wearing masks. When you see a woman wearing a niqab, it is a mask albeit usually prettier.

Consider this: face coverings prevent the clear identification of a person, which is both a security risk and a social hindrance in a society that relies on facial recognition and expression in communications.

When I enter my local bank, there is a notice stating the local police authorities and the Canadian Banking Association request that you remove any caps, hoodies or sunglasses.

Will anyone have the guts to approach a woman and ask her to remove the niqab? Of course not. People are afraid to be called racist. It was that way in my birth country, and the result is that the use of niqab grew into the wearing of burquas.

How can we say he/she has an honest face? That is a basic personal identification adjective used in many cultures. With a niqab, we are deprived of that comfort level measurement. Finally, a very revealing fact, when a female Muslim partakes in the pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj) her face must be uncovered — no niqab!

Harry Mayor
West Vancouver

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