Niqab-wearing woman pursues Quebec college

Quebec's Human Rights Commission is studying a complaint from a permanent resident expelled from a French college class last year after she refused to remove her niqab veil.

The Egyptian woman was enrolled in a language class for new immigrants at the CÉGEP St-Laurent in northwest Montreal when she was asked to remove the religious clothing.

She claims school officials violated her freedom of religion by requesting she not wear her modest dress, which covers the entire face and body and leaves only the eyes exposed.

The school says it tried to accommodate her on several occasions. Officials say she was not wearing her niqab veil when she applied for the program, nor when she met with school representatives for the first time prior to the 10-month course.

But when she showed up for class, she was wearing a niqab because of the presence of male students.

The school said the teacher allowed her to do her oral tests alone in a separate room, and present her assignments with her back turned to the class.

The teacher told her it was important when learning a new language to be able to see others' faces.

The woman's demands created tension in the class, school officials said.

"For the teacher it was more difficult to hear her, and it was more difficult for all the people to understand what she has to say," said the school’s director, Paul-Émile Bourque.

But one Montrealer who wears a niqab said she doesn’t understand how it could be a problem in the classroom.

"I went through four years of university in engineering and I graduated with distinction," said Afifa Naz. "It didn't affect my grades. I participated in projects with my group and really I had no problems."

But the government is sticking by its guns.

A spokesman for the province's immigration minister says the woman could have stayed in the French class had she agreed to remove her niqab for certain exercises.

The woman was registered for the course from February to November 2009.