"Neighbours said the father drives for Mississauga's Blue and White Taxi. A company official declined to comment.

"The teen was known to her classmates and Facebook friends as Axa. She posted several pictures of herself on the website in colourful clothes and accessories.

(...)

"Muhammad Parvez, 57, is to appear in a Brampton court today where he is expected to be formally charged."

***

"Ausma Khan, the editor-in-chief of Toronto-based Muslim Girl magazine, said research into the readership of her publication shows that the decision to wear the hijab – the traditional Muslim headscarf – is almost always a choice the girl makes on her own.

"'We have also heard from other girls saying that they don't know if they want to wear it and that they're unsure and that there is community or family pressure to wear it,' she said, but stressed that type of response was in the minority.

***

Just a few days ago, the Toronto Star published this story from Afganistan:

Today, Shah estimates the niqab has scooped as much as 20 per cent of his business from the burqa, which remains an 80 per cent favourite. Returning Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan are driving the change, but as the niqab becomes more common on the streets, Kandahari women are showing interest as well.

Jan Mohammed, another Kandahar shopkeeper in the burqa business, said "urban girls" are among those most inclined to be interested in the niqab.

"You can tell that they are the wives or the daughters of educated men. They come from families that understand the burqa is not a religious garment," said Mohammed. "The niqab is acceptable to them because it respects Islamic rules in a more liberal way for people who do not want women to be bound by the traditional burqa."

The Star introduced the question of niqab to three classrooms of young women at the Afghan Canadian Cultural Centre, a private training school offering computer, English and health classes sponsored by Canadian donors. The students, the vast majority of whom wear the burqa in public, all expressed some degree of interest in a garment that, in the words of one teenage girl, "let's us see if we are about to walk into a wall."

(...)

"The Taliban have no objection," the militant group's spokesperson, Qara Yousef Ahmedi, said in a statement in response to a Star query. "There is no problem with a women showing the face and eyes because under sharia (Islamic) law women are only supposed to cover their bodies and hands. Of course we can see that in some regions, women also cover their faces and eyes. But this is a cultural issue, not a religious issue. Tradition is the factor."

Now if only every Canadian was willing to see what we're walking into...