‘My Niqab Gave Me a Voice’

Dear Mr. Prime Minister Harper,

Do you know who I am? You should, because you are asking me to unveil myself. So, let me tell you who I am.

I am a Canadian. I was born in this beautiful land, and I call it home. I’m hidden, but no stranger, active, but not really an activist, often terrified, but not a terrorist, a fan, but not a fanatic. I am just me.

‘I have nothing to hide,’ writes Aysha Luqman-Pandor in an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

My name is Aysha Luqman-Pandor. I am 30 years old. I live in Pickering, Ont., and I am the administrator for a private school. I’m completing a degree in foundations for teaching as well as classical Arabic. I am the mother of three children; two sons, age 11 and eight, and a 10-year-old daughter.