I think you're missing the point. Your take on this is the kind of tit-for-tat attitude you'd expect at recess in a school yard.

I don't want Canada to be "no better, no worse" than places like Saudi Arabia. Do you? Really?

People love Canada because it's NOT like that. Because people really are free here. That you're actually free to veil yourself if your culture, your upbringing, and values tell you that's showing respect for yourself and others. And that fact that you can do it, even if other people wouldn't, or it makes them aware that not all the world is exactly like them or even MUST be, is EXACTLY WHAT MAKES CANADA DIFFERENT FROM PLACES LIKE SAUDI ARABIA, and WHY we're all so glad we live HERE, and not THERE.