Leadership lacking in Quebec’s Muslim Cultural Centre debate

Until last week, everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly for the Muslim Cultural Centre slated to open in a Shawinigan, Que., industrial park.

The deadline for requesting a referendum on the necessary zoning change had passed, and city council was set to approve the change.

The days of travelling the half-hour to Trois-Rivieres for prayers were about to end for Shawinigan’s 20 Muslim families.

Then council abruptly changed course. The local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that there were cries of “Yes!” from members of the public when the council rejected the zoning change Feb. 10. Proponents of the mosque project who expressed their disappointment at the meeting were greeted with insults, and Mayor Michel Angers had to ask people to leave if they could not remain civil, the newspaper reported.

There was no evidence the planned centre had any link to extremists. Angers later acknowledged that the refusal to allow the zoning change was a reaction to a flood of last-minute complaints — from within Shawinigan and beyond — expressing “irrational fears” about Islamic extremism.

Rather than calming those fears, some Quebec politicians, like the city councillors in Shawinigan, are playing to them. In Quebec City on Wednesday, legislators spent most of the afternoon debating a proposal from the opposition Coalition Avenir Quebec to modify Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to prohibit “repeated preaching” that runs counter to “Quebec values.” (The vote on the motion was postponed until Thursday, but both the governing Liberals and Parti Quebecois said they would vote against it.)

Francois Legault, the leader of the Coalition Avenir Quebec, who once claimed he was re-entering politics to restore the province’s fiscal health, has recently switched focus, seeking to outflank the PQ as a champion of Quebec identity. Following last October’s terrorist attacks in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa and the January attacks in Paris, both opposition parties are trying to portray Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard as soft on extremism.

On Tuesday, Legault sympathized with Shawinigan’s council and suggested that any new mosque project in Quebec should be greeted with suspicion. He said before any mosques are authorized, the government should carry out an investigation to determine what will be preached there.

Couillard has criticized Legault’s proposal to clamp down on speech that runs counter to Quebec values.

But Couillard stopped short of condemning Shawinigan’s actions.

If there is a segment of the population with reason to fear, it is the Muslims who are being told the mere act of worshipping is cause for suspicion. Instead of denouncing the insults thrown at Shawinigan Muslims last week, Legault sought to score political points by feeding the prejudice.