Let Quebec police wear headgear they prefer
Cops don’t need ‘secular’ appearance to act professionally and competently
The following appears today in the Montreal Gazette:
The issue of whether Quebec should ban religious headgear for public employees who wield coercive authority on behalf of the state is no longer theoretical. It has a name and a smiling face, and they belong to Sondos Lamrhari, a 17-year-old, Montreal-born student in a CEGEP police technology program whose ambition it is to serve as a police officer.
A story Thursday in the Journal de Montréal about the hijab-wearing teen caused a stir among legislators in Quebec City.
Those opposition politicians who, in the name of laïcité — or secularism — believe in placing restrictions on the wearing of religious headgear make a variety of arguments. One of the weakest was advanced by Parti Québécois MNA Agnès Maltais, who cited the case of a young woman from Gatineau who went to police and told them her father had beaten her for not wanting to wear her hijab. What if that young woman had had to present her complaint to a hijab-wearing officer, she wondered. “I say we, the Parti Québécois, take the side of the potential victims.”
There’s a lot to unpack in that argument. Among other things, it creates a false conflict. Any officer doing his or her job would be focusing on the assault complaint; the officer’s religious beliefs about hijabs or about whether parents have a right to peacefully compel religious observance by their children are beside the point. Also, it’s not for police to take sides between accusers and accused; that’s what courts are for.
The argument, which arises periodically in various forms (dating back to the controversy decades ago over turbans in the RCMP), also seems to presume bias on the part of a headgear-wearing officer, or at least assumes a perception of bias by a complainant.
But presuming someone is biased on account of their religion is itself a form of bias. In any case, it’s incumbent on police to set aside their own opinions and act professionally. No one should have their careers curbed because some citizens might have prejudices about them.
Sadly, it seems as if religious headgear is shaping up to be an election issue in the province of Quebec (Quebecers go to the polls Oct. 1). Another round of identity politics is the last thing Quebecers need, though at this point, one might not expect otherwise from the PQ or Coalition Avenir Québec.
The Quebec Liberals have stood against these restrictive proposals; still, it is disappointing that Premier Philippe Couillard has suggested that police dress-code decisions should be made at the local level. That looks like a political manoeuvre to deflect responsibility.
Discrimination should have no place in Quebec.