‘No to the charter’ rally draws thousands

Several thousand Quebecers — mostly Muslim, mostly from the Montreal area, and mostly in family groups — rallied late Saturday afternoon at the Palais des congrès to voice opposition to the Quebec government’s proposed charter of values.

Organizers pegged overall attendance at about 4,000.

“No, no to the charter. Yes, yes to liberty,” they chanted at one point during three hours of speeches, interspersed with music. All the while, curious, energetic and happy youngsters scampered through the aisles.

Prominent members of the Muslim and Sikh communities were among the almost two dozen speakers. They were joined by Jean Dorion, a former Bloc Québécois MP, and Stéphane Gendron, former mayor of Huntingdon.

The event was portrayed as a last opportunity for concerned citizens to express themselves ahead of public consultations on Bill 60.

National Assembly committee hearings on the bill are to begin in January.

Bill 60’s stated aim is to ensure the secular nature of the state and reinforce the equality of men and women. The charter would forbid the wearing of any “ostentatious” religious symbols by employees of the state while on the job — items including hijabs, kippahs and turbans.

The ban would extend from daycare workers and high school teachers to electricians working on contract for public institutions.

Volunteer Khaoula Ghaimy, 15, arrived early to help run the three-hour event. A Montreal high school student, she also stayed late. She intends to become a physician specializing in pediatrics. She immigrated with her family from Morocco at age 11. And she wears a hijab.

The new charter, she said, would force her to make a choice between her home for the past four years and her religious beliefs. Khaoula’s choice, she said, would be obvious: “If this becomes the law, it’s sure I would have to leave Quebec,” she declared, to be able to keep wearing her hijab while practising her vocation.

“It’s a question of fundamental rights.”

The turnout left her smiling: “We’re very happy” with the attendance, Khaoula said. “More people showed up than we were expecting.”

Bel Agir, the non-profit group that organized the event, said Bill 60 would segregate religious minorities, impose the majority’s religious and cultural norms, and promote exclusion.

Azeddine Hmimsa, the group’s president, called for “a Quebec for all, a free Quebec.”

Urging the government to withdraw the bill, Bel Agir says the charter would bring “heavy social, financial and political costs,” and is already dividing Quebecers and giving the province a negative reputation in the rest of Canada and around the world.

Quebec, Hmimsa said, “is already a secular society.”

Bel Agir has prepared a written brief for the National Assembly committee charter hearings in advance of Friday’s submission deadline.

“The board now needs to decide if we want to submit the document, or not,” Hmimsa said. “Because, yes, we want to work in a responsible way. We’re going to decide in the next two or three days.”