DIVISIVE, WRONG AND UNNEEDED

Thursday was a sad and shameful day. In a move rooted in traumas of the past and unjustified fears in the present, the Legault government introduced legislation that is toxic to Quebec’s future. Bill 21, “An act respecting the laicity of the state,” bans the wearing of “religious symbols” by certain public officials. Its application is broader and its terms harsher than expected. While it ostensibly applies to adherents of all religions, the practical impact will be on observant Muslims, Jews and Sikhs for whom wearing hijabs, kippahs or turbans is not just religious expression, but religious practice. And these are not easily tucked behind a shirt, as a cross or crucifix might be. The government’s disturbing recourse to the notwithstanding clause — to override the guarantees in the Canadian and Quebec rights charters — testifies to the fact that fundamental rights are being abrogated, as does the insertion of laicity into the Quebec charter as something for which a proper regard must be maintained in exercising other rights. The bill’s language is nothing short of Orwellian. Introduced by the minister of “immigration, diversity and inclusiveness,” it undermines all of those things. It declares that the laicity of the state is based on four elements: “the separation of state and religions” (while in fact the state is meddling in religion); “the religious neutrality of the state” (while the law’s effect is anything but religiously neutral); on the “equality of all citizens” (yet only some citizens’ rights will be trampled); and, most astoundingly of all, on “freedom of conscience

Members of religious minorities, be they native born or immigrants, are being made to feel like second-class citizens

and freedom of religion.” Bill 21 is as outrageous as it is unnecessary. No one in Quebec is calling for this province to be anything other than secular, a place where religion holds no sway over our government and public institutions. In any case, previous legislation already had enshrined state religious neutrality. However, what lurk beneath the surface of this bill are unwarranted fears that Muslim immigrants will somehow impose their religion on a Quebec society that not so long ago rejected religious domination by the Roman Catholic Church. Quebec prides itself on being welcoming and open, and for the most part it is. This is a vibrant, dynamic, progressive society. But Bill 21 brings darker days. As the result of misguided efforts to address non-existent problems, members of religious minorities, be they native born or immigrants, are being made to feel like second-class citizens. This law is divisive, abusive and unfair. And it seems certain to have many negative consequences. If the experience of the never-enacted Charter of Values is any indication, bigots will take it as licence to target hijab-wearing women. Quebec will become a less attractive place to the immigrants whose skills it so badly needs. At least some Muslims, Sikhs and Jews will wonder whether their children’s futures lie elsewhere. In the affected fields, Quebecers will be deprived of the talents of a section of the population. Premier François Legault calls this bill a compromise; it’s one between bad and worse. And if Legault thinks Bill 21 will allow Quebecers to move on and focus on other subjects, he is apt to be sorely disappointed. It does the precisely the opposite. Now, instead of a baseless concern, we have a real problem to talk about.