Muslim Canadian Congress calls to ban the burka....

I agree - burkas are a health and safety issue...

A prominent Canadian Muslim lobby group is calling on the federal government to ban women from wearing the burka in public.

The Muslim Canadian Congress describes the burka, a head-to-toe gown that covers the wearer's face, as a symbol of Islamic extremism as well as a security risk.

The congress, which is also calling for a ban on the traditional headscarf known as the niqab, says there's nothing in the Qur'an that requires women to cover their faces.

In fact, the congress says, women are actually forbidden to wear burkas at one of Islam's holiest sites, the grand mosque in Mecca.

The group calls covering female faces a "medieval, misogynist practice" that can lead to heightened security risks, citing bank robberies in Canada and overseas.

It also cites the recent decision by Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university and Egypt's highest Muslim authority, to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against the niqab and burka.