Couillard unveils his own charter of values
Government services will be required to be delivered and received with uncovered faces in proposed new legislation tabled in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
And the government is acting on another front, proposing legislation to battle religious radicalization by banning any form of hate speech and speech inciting violence at the same time as outlining measures to help victims and imposing new rules on mar- riage in order to prevent honour crimes.
In a sweeping dual offensive launched personally by Premier Philippe Couillard with a ministerial declaration to the National Assembly, the government announced actions on two fronts — state neutrality and radicalization — at the same time.
But the Liberals also argue the issues are distinct from each other, which explains the separate chunks of legislation, Bill 62 for state neutrality and Bill 59 on combating radicalism.
“We need to be vigilant but above all united,” Couillard told the house.
"The fear of others, stereotypes and the rejection of differences has never advanced the cause of freedom and peace.
“These attitudes instead gave ammunition to criminals who want to attack the very fundamentals of our society.”
Responding to Couillard’s presentation, opposition Parti Québécois Leader Pierre Karl Péladeau indicated his party would have preferred to see the government go further and impose a ban on religious clothing for all persons in authority such as judges and police officers.
That was the formula proposed by the old Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodations.
Péladeau strategically made no mention of the previous PQ regime’s plan to completely ban religious symbols in the public sector, an idea steered by former PQ cabinet minister Bernard Drainville.
But at a news conference to explain the bills, Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée indicated the Liberal government would not fall into such a trap.
Unlike the PQ, the Liberal approach will be inclusive and based on existing consensus while being respectful of the rights and freedoms of citizens, she said.
She went out of her way to say the government — in legislating on the need for uncovered faces — is not legislating against attire, even if the net effect of the bill would be a ban on such clothing as the niqab, a cloth that covers the face, while receiving public services or for employees who deliver them.
When Drainville launched the PQ’s plan in 2014, he went so far as to include pictograms of what would be acceptable religious attire and what would not.
“This is not a bill about clothing,” Vallée told reporters. “So the way that you are dressed is not really important. Let’s really put this behind us.”
If there were requests for exceptions, the bill spells out the criteria for so-called reasonable accommodations, but it could not override security or identification criteria.
The bill, almost a carbon copy of the Liberals’ Bill 94 in 2010 that died on the order paper, stipulates that employees of public bodies must “exercise their function with their face uncovered,” and in addition, those receiving services from personnel must have their face uncovered.
Employees of public bodies must “demonstrate religious neutrality in the exercise of their functions, being careful to neither favour nor hinder a person because of the person’s religious affiliation or non-affiliation,” the bill states.
In one twist, however, Bill 62 would apply to bureaucrats who have no actual contact with cli- ents, as well as employees of subsidized daycares. The rules would not apply to municipal workers.
As expected, it steers a wide berth around the hot issue of religious objects in the public domain, meaning the crucifix over the speaker’s chair in the provincial legislature stays, defined now as “cultural heritage.” The same goes for the cross on the top of Mount Royal.
But most of the media attention Wednesday was on the radicalization package. Quebec had promised action following terror attacks last fall in St-Jeansur-Richelieu and Ottawa. On Wednesday, it tabled the bill and a separate action plan.
The bill proposes to introduce a procedure for reporting hate speech to the Quebec human rights commission and will grant the commission new powers, in- cluding the power to investigate. Public discourse is targeted, but not private conversations over the Internet.
The Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms would be amended to prohibit “engaging or disseminating” such speeches. Offenders could be fined between $1,000 and $10,000, with the list of offenders to be published on the commission’s website.
The bill also authorizes the courts to order measures for protecting individuals whose life, health or safety is endangered by another person by creating a new kind of injunction called a “protection order.”
The Youth Protection Act would be amended to introduce the concept of “excessive control” of children by their parents and says it can constitute psychological ill treatment.
And to reduce the risks of forced marriages, the Directeur de l’état civil will be obliged to publish the names of such marriages on its site. Marriages of young persons aged 16 or 17 would require the clearance of a judge.
In Montreal, two cabinet minis- ters outlined a 59-point anti-radicalism plan. Modelled after those created in France and Belgium, it involves nine different ministries, community groups, social workers and police, with the focus on prevention and detection.
Quebec and Montreal have agreed to spend a total of $2 million to beef up the work of Montreal’s anti-radicalism centre so it can expand its scope province-wide.
The centre is getting two hotlines where citizens can report potential cases of radicalism: 514687-7141 or 1-877-687-7141.
“Through prevention and detection, we aim to impede adolescents and young adults from leaving the country to join extremist groups,” Public Security Minister Lise Thériault said.
Employees of public bodies must ‘demonstrate religious neutrality in the exercise of their functions.’