Question: A new law that would effectively force Muslim women who wear a niqab or burka to uncover their faces to use public services is based on a principle "the vast majority of Canadians, and not just Quebecers" can agree on, Premier Philippe Couillard said. 
  
 The Liberal government's Bill 62 on religious neutrality was passed Wednesday in Quebec's National Assembly. 
  
 "We are just saying that for reasons linked to communication, identification and safety, public services should be given and received with an open face," Couillard told reporters. 
  
 "We are in a free and democratic society. You speak to me, I should see your face, and you should see mine. It's as simple as that." 
  
 The law prohibits public workers — including doctors, teachers and daycare employees — as well as those receiving a service from the government from covering their faces. 
  
 It was extended to municipal services, including public transit, in an amendment made in August. 
  
 The Liberals, who hold a majority in provincial parliament, voted in favour of the bill, while all the other parties voted against. 
  
 The two main opposition parties, the Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec, have argued the legislation doesn't go far enough, while civil rights advocates and Muslim groups argue it discriminates against religious minorities. 
  
 'Neutrality of the state' 
  
 While the niqab and burka are not mentioned in the legislation, Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée said earlier this week the bill aims to clearly establish the "neutrality of the state." 
  
 The bill provides for the possibility of religious accommodation in certain cases, leading critics to question how far reaching it will actually be. 
  
 It remains unclear how religious accommodation requests will be evaluated. 
  
 The province will work with public services, including municipalities, schools and public daycares, to establish guidelines for how it will be enforced, Vallée said. Those may not be ready until next summer. 
  
 Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who is in the middle of a municipal election campaign, has been an outspoken critic of the bill, accusing the provincial government of overstepping its jurisdiction and ignoring his city's multicultural character. 
  
 On Tuesday, he said there are "serious problems" with how it would be applied. 
  
 Vallée tabled the legislation in 2015, a year after the Liberals took power. 
  
 The charter of values proposed by the Parti Québécois prior to the last provincial election was subject of heated debate and threats of court challenges. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press) 
  
 Religion and identity became a key issue in the last election after the Parti Québécois put forward a contentious proposal for a charter of values, which would have banned public servants from wearing obvious religious symbols. 
  
 Liberals accused of 'ugly identity politics' 
  
 The National Council of Canadian Muslims issued a statement saying it was "deeply concerned" by the new law and that it "boils down to ugly identity politics" ahead of the 2018 provincial election. 
  
 Zayneb Binruchd says she would rather stay home than be forced to take off her niqab to ride a bus in Quebec, after the province passed a law obliging citizens to uncover their faces when giving and receiving public services. 0:53 
  
 Zayneb Binruchd, a 21-year-old Montrealer who wears a niqab, said she would rather stay home than take it off to ride a bus. 
  
 "I go to mall with my friends, I go out, I go to the library, so it will just make me stay home," she said. 
  
 "I don't have a car, I don't have anybody to drive me around, so it will just block me from the rest of the world." 
  
 Legal challenge looms 
  
 At the federal level, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he's "completely opposed" to the law, and he's confident the legislation will be challenged. 
  
 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government does not interfere with provincial laws, but will work to ensure the rights of all Canadians are respected. 
  
 "I will continue to work to ensure that all Canadians are protected by the charter, while respecting the choices that different parliamentarians can make at different levels," he said. "Yet here at the federal level, we stand up for the rights of all Canadians." 
  
 Julius Grey, a prominent Montreal-based civil rights lawyer, called it a "terrible law." 
  
 "I think it's an unconstitutional law as well. It's virtually certain to be set aside whole or … possibly in part," he said. 
  
 Couillard acknowledged the law could face a legal challenge, but said it was crafted to be compatible with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. ||||| The Canadian province is barring public workers from wearing the niqab or burqa and obliging citizens to unveil while using public transit or government services 
  
 The Canadian province of Quebec has passed a sweeping ban on face coverings – barring public workers from wearing the niqab or burqa and obliging citizens to unveil when riding public transit or receiving government services – ushering in a law believed to be the first of its kind in North America. 
  
 The legislation was adopted on Wednesday, capping off two years of work by the province’s Liberal government to address the issue of state neutrality. The resulting law has been condemned by critics who say it deliberately targets Muslim women and will fuel the province’s simmering debate on identity, religion and tolerance. 
  
 Quebec renews burqa ban debate in parliament Read more 
  
 Philippe Couillard, the premier of Quebec, was defensive as he addressed the new law. “We are just saying that for reasons linked to communication, identification and safety, public services should be given and received with an open face,” he told reporters. “We are in a free and democratic society. You speak to me, I should see your face, and you should see mine. It’s as simple as that.” 
  
 The law was originally meant to ban face coverings for those offering or receiving services from government departments and provincially funded institutions, such as universities. 
  
 In August, the legislation was extended to apply to municipalities, school boards, public health services and transit authorities, raising the possibility that women wearing a niqab or burqa in Quebec would not be able to take the metro or ride the city bus. “As long as the service is being rendered, the face should be uncovered,” Stéphanie Vallée, Quebec’s justice minister, said when asked. 
  
 The legislation stipulates that exemptions can be made for those who provide spiritual care or religious instruction, as well as those who are forced to cover their faces due to working conditions or occupational hazards. 
  
 Amid widespread confusion as to how the new law would be applied and who it would affect, Vallée said the province would now work with municipalities, schools and public daycares to establish clear guidelines. 
  
 The Liberal government has long argued that the legislation – which does not specifically mention the niqab or burqa – addresses public safety, noting that it would also apply to masked protesters. 
  
 “We are not legislating on clothing,” Vallée said last year. “Public services have to be offered and received with the face uncovered for security, identification and communication purposes.” 
  
 Others – citing a 2016 survey that suggested that just 3% of Muslim women in Canada wear the niqab – have accused the provincial government of targeting Muslim women in order to curry votes in the run-up to next year’s provincial election. 
  
 “It seems like a made-up solution to an invented problem,” said Ihsaan Gardee of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. “We don’t have a big issue right now with hordes of Muslim women in niqab trying to work in the public service or accessing public services with difficulty.” 
  
 The law comes after two attempts by authorities in Quebec to legislate secularism in the public domain in recent years. A 2010 attempt by the Liberals died on the order paper after two years; a bill by the previous separatist government that sought to ban teachers, doctors and other public workers from wearing highly visible religious symbols failed to pass before an election was called. 
  
 On Wednesday the Liberals flexed their majority in the provincial government to pass the legislation, fending off calls from the province’s two main opposition parties to put in place tougher laws to address the issue of secularism and religious accommodation. 
  
 “I know people would have liked us to go further,” Vallée told the province’s national assembly. “Others think we are going too far. I think a balance has been found.” 
  
 Many have voiced concerns that the new law targets a segment of the population that is already marginalised and stigmatised. “We can’t divorce this bill from the larger context in which it falls,” said Gardee. “According to Statistics Canada, hate crimes targeting Canadian Muslims increased from 2012 to 2015 by 253%.” 
  
 Eulogy for Québec mosque attack dead: 'Alexandre Bissonnette was a victim, too' | Hassan Guillet Read more 
  
 Earlier this year, the province was left reeling after six men – all of them fathers – were shot dead as they prayed at a mosque in Quebec City. During the eulogy for the men killed, Imam Hassan Guillet drew a direct line between their murders and the political climate facing Muslims in Canada. 
  
 “Unfortunately, day after day, week after week, month after month, certain politicians, and certain reporters and certain media, poisoned our atmosphere,” he said. 
  
 While Quebec politicians said the ban on receiving services while wearing a face covering would enter into effect immediately, implementation of the law is likely to be hindered by the many questions that remain. “We don’t know how this is going to be applied and how it will be enforced,” said Gardee. “It’s deeply troubling.” 
  
 The legislation does note that those affected by the law can put in a request for accommodation, but little explanation is given to the criteria or how exactly it would work. The government said it would use the coming months to better outline how these requests should be treated as well as develop guidelines for those working in the public sector. 
  
 Legal observers said they expect several advocacy groups to challenge the new law in courts, pitting it against the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the provincial equivalent. 
  
 Gardee said it was an option his organisation would likely be considering in the coming days. “We are of that opinion that the state has no business in the wardrobe of the nations,” he said. “The state should not be coercing women to undress or dress in any particular fashion.” ||||| QUEBEC CITY, Quebec (Reuters) - Quebec will ban face coverings for people giving or receiving provincial government services under a law passed on Wednesday that rights groups have criticised as marginalising Muslim women in the mainly French-speaking Canadian province. 
  
 FILE PHOTO: Women in traditional garb gather to protest against Quebec's proposed Charter of Values in Montreal, September 14, 2013. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo 
  
 While the law, which takes effect by July 1, 2018, does not specify which face coverings are prohibited, the debate has largely focussed on the niqab worn by some Muslim women, which covers everything but the eyes. 
  
 People affected by the law would include public-sector employees such as teachers, police officers, hospital and daycare workers. 
  
 Like France, which passed a ban on veils, crosses and other religious symbols in schools in 2004, Quebec has struggled to reconcile its secular identity with a growing Muslim population, many of them North African emigrants. 
  
 “We are just saying that for reasons linked to communication, identification and safety, public services should be given and received with an open face,” Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard told reporters in the province’s National Assembly. 
  
 “We are in a free and democratic society. You speak to me, I should see your face, and you should see mine. It’s as simple as that,” he said. 
  
 The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it was deeply concerned by the law’s passage and was looking at its legal options. 
  
 “This legislation is an unjustified infringement of religious freedoms,” said executive director Ihsaan Gardee. 
  
 The law allows for exemptions under certain circumstances, although it did not provide details. Regulations setting out how the new law will be enforced are yet to come. 
  
 Asked in the federal parliament whether he would challenge the law, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who represents a Montreal district, said he would continue to ensure all Canadians are protected by the country’s charter of rights and freedoms, “while respecting the choices that different legislative assemblies can make.” 
  
 France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria have imposed restrictions on the wearing of full-face veils in public places, with Denmark on track to set its own ban. 
  
 Right-wing extremist groups and some local French-speaking media in recent years have targeted Quebec’s Muslims as part of a broader debate on the accommodation of religious and cultural minorities in the province. 
  
 Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. In January, six people were killed in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque. A French-Canadian university student has been charged as the sole suspect. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?
Answer: – North America appears to have its first "burka ban," the Guardian reports. Quebec's National Assembly passed Bill 62 on Wednesday, and while the law banning facial coverings doesn't specifically mention burqas or niqabs, those have certainly been the main point of debate, according to Reuters. CBC reports the law applies to both public workers—teachers, doctors, and more—and people receiving public services—including, potentially, public transit riders. A 21-year-old woman who wears a niqab says the ban will force her to stay home instead going to the library or hanging out at the mall with friends because she doesn't have a car. "It will just block me from the rest of the world," she says. The ban will take effect in July. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard says the law is about "identification and safety." "We are in a free and democratic society," he says. "You speak to me, I should see your face, and you should see mine. It's as simple as that." But critics say the law unfairly targets Muslim women and is simply an attempt to gain votes ahead of next year's elections. The National Council of Canadian Muslims calls it "ugly identity politics," and the council's Ihsaan Gardee says it's "a made-up solution to an invented problem." A 2016 survey found just 3% of Muslim women in Canada wear a niqab. Meanwhile, hate crimes against Canadian Muslims are on the rise, and six people were killed in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City last January. Bulgaria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Bavaria in Germany have passed similar burka bans.