Value of symbols lost on Marois
Liberal house leader JeanMarc Fournier rose in the Quebec National Assembly this week to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogroms that were a precursor to the Holocaust.
He related a story he had heard Sunday at a Kristallnacht ceremony in Montreal of a man who was jostled by Nazi soldiers and had his kippa knocked to the ground.
“He wanted to pick it up but a soldier was stopping him,” Mr. Fournier said. “He did it anyway. That day, between the kippa and life, he chose the kippa.”
He closed with a message about the duty to learn from history. It was a moving tribute of the kind commonly heard in our legislatures, but for Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, Mr. Fournier had gone too far.
Thursday, she demanded an apology. Ignoring Mr. Fournier’s questions about her government’s charter of values, which would prohibit civil servants from wearing religious symbols, including the kippa, she zeroed in on his Kristallnacht statement and subsequent comments to reporters.
She asked he apologize “for his completely inappropriate comments that leave the impression that there could be a similarity between the horrible events of the Holocaust, of Kristallnacht, and the charter of secularism project.”
In fact, Mr. Fournier had stressed to reporters there was no link to be made between the Nazis and the Parti Québécois charter. His only message in relation to the charter, he said, was “for some people, their symbol has a meaning that those who do not wear it cannot understand to the same degree.”
Given the tension her party has managed to generate in Montreal’s Jewish community since tabling Bill 60 last Thursday, Ms. Marois is the one who should be apologizing.
On the weekend it emerged a PQ candidate in a Montreal byelection had endorsed the removal of the word “Jewish” from the name of Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital (JGH) and the prohibition of circumcision.
The candidate, Tania Longpré, tried to backtrack, claiming she had responded flippantly to a question from someone on her Facebook page. She later said she was the victim of a smear campaign.
But the Centre for Israel & Jewish Affairs was unconvinced and said Ms. Longpré is failing to own up to what she clearly expressed.
“We’re shocked at the ignorance of the PQ candidate, who doesn’t seem to realize that Quebec Jews are a historical community in Quebec that has been here for 2½ centuries, and that we have institutions,” said David Ouellette, associate director at the centre.
“Ms. Longpré is an ardent supporter of the so-called Charter of Quebec Values, and we find it extremely disturbing that she believes this proposed legislation gives her li-
This bill is flawed and contrary to Quebec’s spirit
cence to attack the legitimacy of Jewish institutions.”
He faulted Ms. Marois for failing to call to order Ms. Longpré, who is a long shot in the Liberal stronghold of Viau. In fact, after the controversy erupted, the premier declared Ms. Longpré “an excellent candidate.”
The JGH announced Wednesday it would defy Bill 60 should it become law. Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, its executive director, said the institution will not make use of an exemption in the legislation that would allow hospitals with a religious dimension to avoid the ban on religious symbols.
“This bill is flawed and contrary to Quebec’s spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance,” Dr. Rosenberg said.
“Since the bill is inherently prejudicial, there is no point in taking advantage of any clause that would grant us temporary, short-term relief. If approved, this offensive legislation would make it extremely difficult for the JGH to function as an exemplary member of Quebec’s public health-care system.”
Mr. Ouellette said the PQ seems to think Jewish medical professionals work exclusively in one hospital.
“It would appear that the government is planning to give the Jewish General Hospital its original raison d’être, which was to allow identifiable Jews to practise their profession at a time when they were not welcome in other hospitals in Montreal,” he said. “This is a step backward.”
Rabbi Reuben Poupko of Montreal’s Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation, who told the kippa story Mr. Fournier repeated in the National Assembly, said he was not drawing a comparison between the restrictions imposed by the charter and the Holocaust. He was stressing his community’s “undying loyalty” to its symbols.
“I believe the PQ is exploiting some nativist instincts for their own shortterm political gain, but I don’t believe that they are racist or anti-Semitic or should be tarred as such,” he said.