On Montreal’s multicultural streets, secularism bill draws mixed reaction
Is the Quebec government’s proposal to ban the wearing of religious symbols for state employees an infringement on freedom of religion, or protection from having the religious beliefs of another inflicted upon you? In multi-faceted Montreal, it depends on who you ask. On the multicultural streets of Park Extension, where turbans and hijabs have abounded for decades, the Legault government’s proposed law was met with derision, and the fear that it would stoke violence where before there has been acceptance. “I am brown and you are white, and we are all God’s creations, we are all human beings,” said Qurban Ali, a Pakistani Muslim who has lived in the neighbourhood for 34 years. “We are all the same, and we should just let people be. Why do you need to bother with people’s religion?” Canada’s template of allowing people to exhibit their beliefs in a respectful manner works, Ali said. In Pakistan, there are the few who grow long beards and spout religious dogma and cause dissension. “We don’t like them. They are fanatics. And what this government is trying to do speaks of fanaticism.” “It’s all about votes,” he said. “Canada is one of the best countries in the world,” said Imtiaz, an Indian Muslim who has lived here for 33 years and has run a shop selling saris on Jean Talon Blvd. for the last two decades. “But now I fear we are going in the opposite direction.” The tensions that pit religious groups against one another in countries like India, Pakistan or France are virtually unknown here, he said. But there is a worldwide trend toward the politicization of “fear of the other.” “They want to put fear in people’s hearts,” he said. Fatima Neuma, a Sri Lankan Muslim who has lived in the area for two years, said she feels safe in the accepting multicultural mix of Montreal. The premise that a judge wearing religious garb could cause fear of prejudice are unfounded, she said. “The law does not permit discrimination on the basis of religion, so it’s not an issue,” she said. But at Place Versailles shopping complex in Montreal’s east end, 34-year-old Irina Simova was adamant that state and religion should not mix. An atheist who came over from Russia 20 years ago, she argues that seeing people in positions of authority like police or teachers wearing religious garb is a way of imposing one’s religion on another, or on one’s children. “People in a position of authority, like a judge, should be neutral, so the person being served doesn’t fear a bias, or isn’t treated in a biased way.” If a person practises Satanism, do we have to let them wear their religious garb in the classroom, too? she asked. The hijab and similar religious garb are symbols of submission, said Nathalie Hachey, 47, originally from New Brunswick. “You can practise whatever you want at home, but at work it should be neutral,” she said. “Especially here in Quebec, where we fought so hard to get out from under the control of religion for so long, we don’t want to go back to those times.”