I used to dislike the niqab. Harper showed me how wrong I was - The Globe and Mail

I used to dislike the niqab. Harper showed me how wrong I was - The Globe and Mail

The first time I saw a woman wear a niqab was many years ago when I
was driving through rural northern Nigeria. She was completely enveloped
from head to toe in heavy black clothing. Only a thin slit for her eyes
were visible. This was, I learned, a burka, an extreme form of the
niqab, and I still recall all these years later how revolted I was by
the sight of a woman who, it seemed to me, was wearing her own solitary
confinement. Until now, no one had ever persuaded me that any woman
would freely chose to disappear into that suffocating prisoner’s
uniform.