The niqab and burka is not religious Islam, it is political Islam, so Muslim women should not be allowed to claim it as part of their religion. There is no violation of a Muslim women's right to freedom of religion, however that maybe defined, regarding the firearms licence photograph requirement. Allowing someone an exemption from a requirement based on religion where no valid claim exists is giving that person a special right, and demonstrates clearly the law was not necessary in the first place. A firearms licence is not a right in Canada, and therefore denying anyone a gun licence because he or she refuses to be photographed without his or her face being concealed, or if he or she refuses to be photographed at all, is not a violation of his or her right to freedom of religion under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
When I came home from work today, I found a now yearly tenant notice in my mailbox that if I choose to install an air-conditioner in my apartment, I must pay the landlord an upfront fee because the cost of my hydro (electricity) is included in my monthly rent. My small apartment has no window that is suitable for installation of an air-conditioner, and each year I inform my landlord I will not be installing an air-conditioner. Then I suffer through the normally hot and humid summers of this part of Ontario.
Some time ago, my landlord replaced all the now banned incandescent light bulbs in the building with CFLs to save on hydro costs. Then the landlord replaced all those CFLs with LEDs to save on hydro costs. Now my landlord has raised the air-conditioning fee by $10.00 because of the rising cost of hydro.
