Why won’t PM defend Quebec minority faiths?

It is often easier for politicians to say the right thing than to do it, especially if their action might prove unpopular.

Case in point involves the failure of our federal leaders to defend Quebec’s minority faith communities, particularly the province’s Muslims. The federal government recently declared Jan. 29 as a day to remember the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack and promote action against Islamophobia.

That decision rightly drew applause for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. It falls on the anniversary of the shooting deaths of six Muslim men by a warped, 27-year-old Quebec man. In the years to come, each Jan. 29 will remind Canadians of the lasting harm caused by blind hatred while spurring us all on to create a more tolerant, inclusive nation.

That’s all good. It’s entirely necessary. But what about the rest of the year? What about Quebec’s Muslims and the other religious minorities whose rights are being violated daily by the province’s dark and discriminatory Bill 21?

That benighted and unnecessary piece of legislation forbids the wearing of religious symbols such as hijabs, turbans and kippas for employees of the state deemed to be in positions of authority. The jobs affected include police officers, teachers, judges, government lawyers and members of government commissions. The people impacted include Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. Nor has anyone convincingly explained why wearing a religious symbol and responsibly performing a government job should be mutually exclusive. In a country that wisely cherishes its Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Bill 21 is an outrage.

Why won’t the prime minister speak up loudly and unhesitatingly against it? Why won’t Conservative Leader Erin O’toole or NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh utter more than a peep against such rank discrimination, either?

In the coming weeks, Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc-andré Blanchard will rule on whether or not Bill 21 will be allowed to stand and whether or not it constitutes an untenable violation of religious liberties. The court challenge against Bill 21 was a hot subject in Quebec as it was being fought out late last year. You wouldn’t have known it by the placid response of Trudeau, O’toole and Singh. It says a lot about the Quebec government’s actions that in passing Bill 21, it invoked the Charter of Rights’ notwithstanding clause. This meant Canada’s greatest shield for protecting minorities from government-sanctioned discrimination had been scrapped.

Throughout the court hearing, anguished members of the province’s religious minorities told how Bill 21 had derailed their careers and made them targets of prejudice. Some people are going so far as to leave the province so they can work while wearing a modest symbol of their faith.

Yet, as these painful stories were being related, the silence from Ottawa was deafening. It’s true the federal Court Challenges Assistance Program provided $250,000 to help cover the legal costs of two parties challenging Bill 21. But when faced with the Quebec government’s ire, Prime Minister Trudeau sheepishly demurred that his government had no role in providing the funding.

So there you have it. Talk, as they say, is cheap. It can also conceal hypocrisy. Proclaiming one day of the calendar year as an occasion to persuade people to accord Muslim Canadians the respect and tolerance they are due is welcome. But it offers next to nothing for the Quebec Muslims and other minorities who have to choose between their faith and their chosen career. It does, however, allow the Liberals, Tories and NDP to stay on the good side of the Quebec voters they will court in the next federal election — and who love Bill 21.