Warda Naili poses for a photograph at a park in Montreal, Saturday, October 21, 2017. Three years ago, Warda Lacoste was at the centre of a fight against Quebec's attempt to ban religious face coverings for people who were giving or receiving public services. The Montreal woman says she was spat on, verbally harassed and even had a bottle of beer thrown at her when she was out in public wearing a full-face veil, known as a niqab, in that time of heightened tensions. Lacoste (who previously went by the surname Naili) said the experience marked her. "It was quite a challenge," she said in a recent interview. These days, Lacoste, 36, said there is something strange about seeing Quebec Premier Francois Legault urge Quebecers to cover their faces in public to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Lacoste recognizes the COVID-19 crisis is real in Quebec, which has recorded more than half of all the confirmed cases in Canada. "But of course, we can't ignore that the situation has an ironic side," she said. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes