Recently, the premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois, and the National assembly have brought forth proposed legislation entitled The Quebec Charter of Values. Once passed, this document would require Quebecers giving or receiving public services to keep their faces uncovered. It would also forbid public servants from wearing “ostentatious” religious symbols in the workplace. These symbols would include Jewish yarmulkes, crucifixes, kirpans and turbans, as required wear for Sikh men, and burkas, a long garment which covers the entire body, usually with only the eyes or face exposed (as worn by many Muslim women).
Under the terms of the charter, these and other cultural devices and religious symbols may not be worn by people employed in such services as daycare workers, police officers, health care staff, judges, civil servants, teachers and perhaps other public professionals when the legislation is revisited.
Should the Parti Quebecois’s “Values Charter” become law, it will be the most comprehensive set of rules governing the wearing of religious symbols in North America.
What exactly is the Quebec government trying to prove with this document? Are they attempting to start another fight with the federal government? Are they trying to make all of the immigrants in the province leave and relocate to other parts of the country? It would appear from the tone and content of their proposed charter their philosophy amounts to the notion of “Our way or the highway,” with little or no regard to the affected persons’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Has the Parti Quebecois ever stopped to think of what the immigrant population has brought to the province of Quebec? I doubt it.
All of the federal political parties of Canada are opposed to the Quebec Values Charter. (To my knowledge, the Bloc Quebecois has not issued an opinion on the document in question). As well, the Quebec Federation of Women and one of their largest teachers unions are strongly opposed to the charter.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, when asked about the Charter stated: “Our job is making all groups who come to this country, whatever their background, whatever their sex, whatever their race, whatever their ethnicity, whatever their religion, feel at home in this country and be Canadians”.
I might add that those who immigrate here should attempt to assimilate into our society as much as reasonably possible, and live as Canadians, which I believe many do, (and incidentally, often by their own choice).
Premier Marois and the Parti Quebecois are once again trying to prove Quebec would be better off away from the rest of Canada, and French should be its only written and spoken language. Moreover, the implicit indication is Quebec is a distinct society and francophone Quebecers are superior to the rest of the country — Anglophones, Aboriginals, and immigrants alike. In my humble opinion, they are not. Actually, in a way they are somewhat better than the rest of the country in that they scream so loudly and so often about separating from Confederation, they often collect billions of dollars extra from federal governments every year, siphoned off from Canada’s more economically productive regions. That kind of distinct society, I am glad that we are not. I resent any such attempt to make the Canadian people as a whole be rated below Quebec society.
The Parti Quebecois government has been in office for about a year now, and it has either reneged or backtracked on nearly all of their election campaign promises they pledged to the Quebec electorate. For example, they have not cleaned up the corruption that prevails in the construction industry, especially regarding aging and disintegrating pubic infrastructure throughout the province, but especially in Montreal and Laval. They have not addressed chronic problems in heath care and public education, unemployment (especially among youths), stagnation of business development, and worst of all, corruption of public governance at both municipal and provincial levels by organized crime.
There are many contradictions, absurdities, for any person who is thinking properly, in the Quebec Value Charter for this to be accepted. It smacks of partiality, sectarianism, intolerance and infringement on Canadian rights. The Quebec Values Charter is offensive to our society’s ideals, to all our nation stands for, and should be rejected by all Canadians including Quebecers.
