The
National Post reports that yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada heard oral arguments in a case raising the issue of whether a Muslim woman who is alleging childhood sexual abuse by her cousin and her uncle should be allowed to testify wearing a full-face veil. An Ontario court ordered the woman during a preliminary hearing to remove her niqab.
The Globe and Mail captures the flavor of the argument:
There was no mistaking the impatience in Supreme Court of Canada Justice Morris Fish’s voice when he demanded the name of a single lawyer who would willingly cross-examine a witness whose face was concealed by a veil.
“Some blind lawyers that I know,” responded David Butt, counsel to the sexual assault complainant seeking to testify from behind an Islamic niqab....
It was that kind of day at the landmark hearing, where the court must determine whether religious ritual and observance can trump the right of an accused to a fair trial. Judges clashed repeatedly with lawyers who sought to rank one right ahead of the other – particularly Mr. Butt.
The judges questioned not only the fairness of allowing the defendant, N.S., to hide her facial expressions during cross-examination, but whether two diametrically opposed rights can ever be reconciled.
