If the Parti Québécois (PQ) is elected in 2018, it will bring in legislation to ban the wearing of religious symbols by teachers and those “representing state authority,” namely police officers, judges and prison guards.
It will also outlaw covered faces for public sector employees while performing their duties and for members of the public who receive services. As well, the chador, a loose full-body garment worn by a small number of Muslim women that leaves only the face exposed, will be prohibited for public employees.
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On Nov. 24, the PQ caucus released a position paper entitled Identité: Une approche résolue, é quilibrée et responsible, which sets out, according to leader Jean-François Lisée, concrete actions that will settle the question of state religious neutrality.
He affirmed that “identity” would be a top priority for a PQ government, on par, for example, with economic prosperity. The identity issue is generally understood to mean the reinforcement of Quebec as a secular, French-speaking nation with “shared values,” especially the equality of men and women, which is inviolable.
This position is a somewhat more restrained than the charter of values proposed in 2013 by the last PQ government, led by then-premier Pauline Marois, which aroused a firestorm of controversy.
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On the other hand, it goes much further than the current Liberal government’s attempt at imposing official secularism, Bill 62, which still awaits further study before adoption.
The PQ is currently the official opposition.
The position paper also speaks of “healthier” immigration levels and the necessity of “100 per cent” of immigrants having knowledge of French before they arrive.
A PQ government would introduce in February 2019 legislation that reflects “the consensus in the matter of the secularity [laïcité] of Quebec.”
This would begin with defining within the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms the “parameters” for “religious accommodations,” including in schools.
On the wearing of religious symbols, the new PQ position is in line with the Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation. Its 2008 report recommended that police officers, judges and prison guards not be permitted to exhibit any symbol of their personal convictions, religious, political or otherwise.
But the PQ caucus goes further in favouring the same restriction on teachers, in elementary and high schools, as well as on educators in government-subsidized daycare centres, because they’re also “figures of authority.”
The PQ, however, would implement this measure “gradually,” and current teachers would not be subject to it in recognition of their “acquired rights.”
Some chassidic schools that have had a long-running dispute with the education ministry over the teaching of secular subjects would be directly affected by another proposal.
The paper states: “The pedagogical curriculum cannot be deviated from for religious or other considerations, whether the school is public or confessional. In addition, home-schooling cannot not be used to take away from entire classes of children access to knowledge and participation in Quebec society.”
The number of chassidic children being home-schooled in compulsory subjects has dramatically risen in the past couple of years under a compromise reached with the government. This year, 654 children who attend chassidic schools during the day and are taught by parents after-hours are being supervised by the English Montreal School Board.
Chassidic and other Orthodox Jewish parents, however, may welcome the PQ’s plan to eliminate the “Ethics and Religious Culture” course, which has been compulsory through elementary and high school since 2008.
The PQ plans to replace it completely within three years of coming to power with the course Citoyenneté québécoise (Quebec citizenship), which would provide a grounding in democracy and human rights and, in high school, warn against such perils as “religious radicals.”
The PQ also plans to assemble a “team of parliamentarians and experts” to examine the question of whether citizens should be allowed to wear the burqa or niqab (full face veils) in public. The team would make its recommendation to the government by the fall of 2019.
The position paper also speaks of combating racism and discrimination, ensuring the integration and equal economic opportunity for immigrants, and reaching out to Quebecers of origins beyond its traditional base to try to interest them in participating in the PQ’s “renewal.”
Specifically, it mentions negotiating reciprocity agreements with Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria on the recognition of professional skills.
Lisée, a longtime party strategist, became PQ leader in October.
“In summary, with these proposals, the PQ wants to permit Quebec to finally get out of the deadlock and hesitation on these crucial questions,” he said at the paper’s release.
