Five women in Outremont riding sewed themselves burqas and wore them to advance polls to vote in the federal byelection in their riding, as a statement about Elections Canada's policy to allow fully veiled women to vote if they showed identification. I have to give them props for theatrical effectiveness.

It's a big issue and blown strangely out of proportion in a city with only a very small number of fully veiled women. I see women in hair-covering hijab all the time, but I've only once or twice seen anyone in full niqab (whereas in parts of London you'll see it daily). Still, isn't showing identification something of a meaningless gesture if no one can check that the face on the passport is yours?

(Couldn't this all be solved by having a woman scrutineer take a peek to verify the identity of any woman who showed up to vote in full face veil? As I understand it, it's OK for women to see each other – the veil is only intended to hide a woman's face from men.) posted at 14:04