Let;s focus on the use of the niqab and other face coverings in western society. Why are they adopted in countries where they were never used before ?  
1. Some women are forced by male family members to wear them...
2. Some women opt to wear them as political symbols - a symbol of "difference" and unwillingness to integrate into Canadian society.  The niqab says quite clearly.... I do not want to interact with you and I will stay separate and apart.
3. Some women fear the male gaze... they want to remain invisible so as not to invite male attention....
 All 3 are problematic... 1 for obvious reasons, 2 because we should be able to assume that immigrants to Canada will want to integrate and if they dont then really they should not be welcome in our society. 
And 3 because it assumes that the obligation rests upon women to cover themselves to avoid the "male gaze" instead of working towards a change in male attitudes towards women.