[2] In 2013, while being a Pakistani national, she challenged the probation on full-face veils during citizenship ceremonies, arguing that it violated her right to religious freedom, and explained that she is however willing to unveil herself if necessary for the purposes of security and to prove identity in private in front of other women.
"[6] "The issue of face coverings at citizenship ceremonies became a highly divisive one on the federal election trail, generating sparks in two French-language debates.
"[8] On November 16, 2015, the newly appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould spoke with Ishaq by telephone to tell her of the government's decision to withdraw the Supreme Court challenge prior to making her official announcement.
"She studied English literature and during one of her exams a male teacher asked the eighteen-year-old Ishaq, "How can you explain yourself when you wear this veil over your face?
She then "filed for judicial review asking the Federal Court to enjoin immigration officials from applying these provisions of the Manual at her citizenship ceremony.
"[6] In December 2011 policy was added which requires "candidates who wear full or partial face coverings to remove them during recitation of the oath.
"[1] On September 15, 2015, Justice Department lawyer Peter Southey explained to the Federal Court of Appeal that while the controversial edict banning the niqāb "was a regulation that had no actual force in law," and that "the government never meant to make it mandatory for women to remove their face coverings for citizenship ceremonies," it "indicates a desire in the strongest possible language.
"Madam Justice Johanne Trudel was one of three judges who denied the appeal by Jason Kenney on behalf of Department of Citizenship and Immigration of a Federal Court ruling in Ishaq’s favour.
[9] On March 10, 2015 Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained that the reason the Conservative government is fighting to ban the niqāb during Canadian citizenship ceremonies is that it is "rooted in a culture that is anti-women.
"[14] In Quebec in June 2015 Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed a crowd claiming that Canadians "want new citizens to take the oath with their faces uncovered.
"[14] Scholar Lara Mazurski writes that the debate "recycles tired Orientalist tropes and reinvigorates stereotypes about veiled Muslim women post September 11".
[5] Journalist Barbara Kay argues that it is fallacious to compare the niqāb with other cultural or religious symbols such as the Sikh turban (Dastar), the wimple of a nun or the long skirts worn by Orthodox Jewish women as these do not cover the face.