Immigration Minister and Jason Kenney

Jason Kenney: , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Since Jason Kenney, then immigration minister, first issued a policy directive on the subject in December 2011, the government has variously argued that banning face covering garments during citizenship ceremonies is necessary to ensure would-be citizens actually recite the oath and to reflect the Canadian values of openness, transparency and gender equality at the moment they join the Canadian family. "I think for the citizenship ceremony, someone needs to identify themselves. We need to know who they are." Conservative MP Costas Menegakis, parliamentary secretary to the minister of citizenship and immigration. Debate has been raging on Parliament Hill over the niqab worn by some Muslim women ever since Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared last month that it "offensive" to cover one face while taking the oath of Canadian citizenship. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.