BILL 62 LOSE-LOSE FOR QUEBEC LIBERALS
Politically speaking, sometimes doing nothing really is the best option
Apparently, it was all just a terrible misunderstanding.
The Quebec Liberals were never intending for women wearing niqab to be barred from riding a bus or reading in a library or even walking down a public sidewalk under their new state neutrality law. Bill 62, Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée clarified Tuesday, was badly misinterpreted, both by those outraged at its targeting of a small minority of Muslim women and those gleefully welcoming it as a step toward outlawing the full face veil in the public sphere.
Yes, she conceded, the government had a hand in sowing this confusion by failing to properly explain the nuances of the secularism law. And for that Vallée is very sorry.
Let’s not belabour the frankness of Vallée’s face-saving climbdown, for that’s what this really is after the Liberals were browbeaten into reconsideration by a furious backlash from the city mayors, citizens and their own core supporters. This government’s latest public relations disaster has now created a much bigger societal problem.
Premier Philippe Couillard’s Liberals will now have to confront the ire of the multitudes who are mildly uncomfortable or downright affronted by the sight of a woman in niqab, coming to the realization the full face veil is not illegal after all. The 87 per cent of Quebecers in favour of such a law are not likely to take kindly to the nuances Vallée outlined Tuesday. The risk is provoking an uglier kind of backlash against those scapegoated by the bungled legislative effort in the first place.
The Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec, who are much more adept and shameless when it comes to exploiting wedge issues, are going to have a field day fomenting the outcry that the Liberals’ have gone soft on secularism — and just when the opposition parities had been managing to suppress their usual nativist rhetoric in hopes of broadening their electoral appeal.
The Pandora’s box is wide open again.
As it turns out, Quebecers will have to show their faces only for the purposes of identification and communication, and only during direct interaction with state employees, the original prescription of Bill 62. Clown masks, hoods and dark glasses will be subject to the same restrictions — because common sense, right?
So, a veiled woman boarding a bus will be compelled to uncover briefly only if benefiting from student or seniors fares, which must be accompanied by a photo ID; a woman in a burka can ride the bus or métro unimpeded if she just swipes her OPUS card. A patient seeking medical care can likewise sit in a hospital emergency room fully shrouded, only having to reveal herself when being seen by doctor. This is perhaps more sensible and justifiable.
But wait: students attending public school, CÉGEP or university will have to bare their faces during class or exams to facilitate communication with the instructor.
This twist is likely to set off a new round of denunciations about the discriminatory nature of a law intended to regulate the religious dress of one particular and often marginalized group. And it’s only going to spark a fresh bout of remonstrations from those who want tougher restrictions, fundamental rights be damned. But that’s what happens when a government plays with fire.
Couillard’s Liberals have presided over Quebec’s best economic performance in 40 years and have a commendable record on public finances. Yet they can’t communicate that to save their lives. Poking the slumbering beast of identity politics last week might have been tempting for a quick ratings boost. But the Bill 62 fiasco was akin to detonating a grenade in their own hand.
Vallée says the Liberals are staking out a responsible middle ground in the polarizing reasonable accommodation debate that has gripped Quebec for more than a decade. They may indeed be putting forth the least-worst option in this respect, but politically speaking, they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
A balanced approach will never satisfy the xenophobic mob mentality that sees any expression of religious identity as offensive. Trying to regulate the granular details of interactions between state employees and citizens — whether at the SAAQ or the SAQ — will only send Quebecers down a bureaucratic rabbit hole. And sacrificing one minority’s rights to the populist jackals, even while treading delicately in hopes of mitigating the harm, is a still a slippery slope.
Vallée claims doing nothing was not an option. But sometimes doing nothing is the best choice.
For nearly 30 years, Canada has had no law regulating abortion, a thorny social, moral and legal quandary if ever there was one. And somehow the country has got along just fine leaving this most personal decision about reproductive rights up to a woman and her doctor.
The Liberals should have realized long ago: There is no reason when it comes to reasonable accommodation.
Poking the slumbering beast of identity politics last week might have been tempting for a quick ratings boost. But the Bill 62 fiasco was akin to detonating a grenade in their own hand.