Posted on 03/17/2015 3:54:16 PM PDT by rickmichaels
OWEN SOUND, Ont. — A Conservative MP has apologized for telling a radio station that Muslim women who want to wear a niqab while taking the oath of citizenship should "stay the hell where you came from."
Larry Miller, who represents the riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, made the comment Monday in the wake of a Federal Court ruling that struck down a ban on face coverings during citizenship oaths.
"I think most Canadians feel the same. That's maybe saying it a little harshly, but it's the way I feel," Miller told 560 CFOS AM.
"I'm so sick and tired of people wanting to come here because they know it's a good country and then they want to change things before they even really officially become a Canadian, so I have no sympathy for her."
Miller apologized on Tuesday, calling his comments "inappropriate."
"I stand by my view that anyone being sworn-in as a new citizen of our country must uncover their face. However I apologize for and retract my comments that went beyond this," he said in the statement.
Zunera Ishaq, a permanent resident of Canada since 2008, put her citizenship ceremony on hold last year in a bid to strike down the niqab ban.
Ishaq wrote in an opinion piece published Monday in The Toronto Star that she decided to launch the challenge out of her desire to live on her own terms.
"I am not looking for Mr. Harper to approve my life choices or dress. I am certainly not looking for him to speak on my behalf and 'save' me from oppression, without even ever having bothered to reach out to me and speak with me."
Police said a 44-year-old man, upset with Miller's comments on the show, went to Miller's office Monday afternoon to speak to him. Police said officers were called because the man was wearing camouflage clothing and had a Palestinian flag on his arm. Police said no charges were laid.
It was the second embarrassing backtrack this month by the ruling Conservatives as they gear up for an October election that they have signalled they will centre around the economy and the fight against "jihadist terrorism."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spoken strongly against wearing the niqab in citizenship ceremonies, but his office admitted Tuesday that Miller's comments went too far.
"The member in question made inappropriate comments that went beyond our clear position," the PMO's press secretary said in a statement.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said Miller's remarks followed "a sadly unsurprising pattern of inflammatory rhetoric from the government seemingly designed to keep the electorate focused on identity politics in order to distract them from broader issues in an election year."
Earlier this month Conservative MP John Williamson retracted complaints he voiced about how a federal program enabled "whities" to stay home while "brown people" come in as temporary foreign workers.
This week Pierre Paul-Hus, a PC candidate in Quebec, told local media that women should not even wear niqabs in public.
Gerald Butts, adviser to opposition Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, said on Twitter Harper "has done zero to condemn this behaviour. His silence condones it."
Why should anyone apologize for responding honestly to a question?
Ishaq wrote in an opinion piece published Monday in The Toronto Star that she decided to launch the challenge out of her desire to live on her own terms.
is it really her desire to be covered from head to toe in a sheet...can she qoute the koran that tells her to do so???
Obama and the State Dept. are ready to dump 3.9 million Syrian Muslims on us in the USA. Go to specialopspeaks for details. Please write your elected officials using their form to stop this BS.
I don’t like the idea of anything the Obamanites propose ... having said that, my doctor is a Syrian muslim and dresses like any American woman.
As long as bona fide immigrants are assets and not liabilities—the whole point of immigration and naturalization laws—I’ll take as many as are willing to come and live in our first world free republic.
Of course the problem is, we can’t trust Barry & Co. to make decisions, like what’s good for us, rather than good for Islam.
And my critter is on board with Republicrats, so contacting him is a waste of time.
So, as Yogi Berra might put it, it’s a real condumdrum. Most of us here acknowledge that the greatest country on Earth and first and best hope for mankind is made up of immigrants, and we support, alternatively, a Hispanic candidate and a woman for the White House.
But according to the party of slavery and their MSM, we’re racist misogynists. Feck `em.
Nice... this gentleman, I hope, will win re-election to his riding.
Immigration without assimilation is suicide. The French are beginning to learn this, maybe. The American Indians learned the lesson too late. Mexico learned it after TX broke off from them.
Those that fail to learn the lessons of history....
The problem is that it SOUNDS soooooo harsh and mean. But if you wanted to live in the culture that you came from than stay there, don’t move someplace and expect your new nation to adapt to your former culture. Why did you move away in the first place?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spoken strongly against wearing the niqab in citizenship ceremonies, but his office admitted Tuesday that Miller's comments went too far.
The helmsman at the wheel of the ship of state. Steer her straight Prime Minister. (chuckle).
Logic 101. Well named.
She is not a practicing Muslim or she would dress different.
I do not want any Koran followers in America period. Jesus taught love and caring for others. Mohammed was a damn caravan thief and pedophile who invented a false religion.
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