The Charter of Quebec Values

24 24 Demonstrators protest against proposed banning of headgear in Quebec’s Charter of Values. Montreal Gazette photo The Charter of Quebec Values: Anatomy of a Manufactured Identity Crisis Celine Cooper The Parti Québécois’ Charter of Quebec Values has di- n September 10, Demo- cratic Institutions Minister vided citizens, split Montreal from the rest of the prov- O Bernard Drainville held a ince and even pitted PQ stalwarts against each other. It press conference in Quebec City to of- ficially introduce the Parti Québécois has been railed against, ridiculed and dubbed “radical” government’s proposed Charter of by the Quebec Human Rights Commission. The PQ main- Quebec Values. tains that the Charter is about state neutrality and gender On November 7th, the PQ tabled the legislation in the National Assembly. equality, that its goal is to unite Quebecers rather than The name of the charter was changed divide them. Yet subjugation of basic civil liberties to a to a title more obfuscating than a ref- government-created notion of “national values” puts the erendum question: “Charter affirming the values of State PQ into dangerous territory. secularism and religious neutrality and of equality between women and men, and providing a framework for accommodation requests.” The reworked legislation includes an amendment to the preamble of the Quebec charter of rights and freedoms giving gender equality, secularism, state neutrality and the French lan- Policy 25 guage primacy over other rights. In re- The Charter has distracted from the real problems that could sponse to the bill, Liberal parliamen- be a serious liability for the Parti Québécois in an election. tary leader Jean-Marc Fournier said “You don’t remove rights to protect Many have speculated that the PQ’s strategy is to drag out the rights.” debate so that identity will be the focus of the next election Following through on their 2012 cam- instead of the more pressing issues such as the province’s paign promise to develop a charter of stagnant economy and lack of jobs. secularism, the proposed legislation would introduce measures to outlaw ity population. If there is no real crisis, was promptly expelled from the party Quebec employees in public institu- you manufacture one. caucus by Bloc leader Daniel Paillé. tions (including daycare and health Almost as if on cue, the Charter de- The ejection of Mourani—a Catholic care workers, police officers, judges, bate over values and identity stepped of Lebanese origin who is often seen teachers and employees at the provin- up to dominate the media landscape. wearing a small cross around her cially run liquor board) from wearing Predictably (because this is Quebec), neck—meant that the Bloc let go not “ostentatious” religious symbols. manifestos, petitions and open letters only its sole female and visible-minority presence, but also its only repre- Perhaps anticipating some public con- both for and against the proposed val- sentative from Montreal. She quit the fusion over which religious symbols ues Charter have poured into Le De- party shortly thereafter to sit as an in- the government had deemed “os- voir, Journal de Montréal, La Presse and dependent, wondering aloud whether tentatious” and therefore unaccept- the Montreal Gazette. Political war- the sovereignist movement was truly able for employees of the provincial horses, legal experts, the intellectual able to move beyond what she called government, Drainville’s announce- elite and vedettes of the Quebec enter- the “demons of populist intolerance.” ment was graciously accompanied tainment star system have all come by an illustrated pictogram. Yes, an out to have their say. The Charter has also widened the gulf between Montreal—home to the bulk actual pictogram with images of face- The Charter has distracted from the of Quebec’s religious, cultural and lin- less, disembodied heads adorned real problems that could be a serious guistic minorities and immigrants— with the sorts of things that would liability for the PQ in an election. and the rest of Quebec. be allowed and those that would be Many have speculated that the PQ’s banned: Muslim veils and hijabs, Jew- strategy is to drag out the debate so The unanimous rejection of the char- ish kippahs, Sikh turbans and large that identity will be the focus of the ter by the city’s 15 municipalities Christian crucifixes worn around the next election instead of the more means that if the charter becomes law, neck—clearly ostentatious and there- pressing issues such as the province’s Montreal intends to opt out. Even the fore prohibited; Necklaces featuring stagnant economy and lack of jobs, a Montreal mayoral race has played small crucifixes, small earrings with shortage of doctors, the highest high out against the backdrop of this de- the Islamic crescent moon and Star school drop-out rate in Canada, and bate. All four main candidates—Denis of David rings—non-ostentatious and decrepit infrastructure. Coderre, Mélanie Joly, Marcel Côté therefore acceptable. and Richard Bergeron—came come The Charter debate has also exposed out openly against the Charter, which And what of the Crucifix that hangs some deep fissures in the sovereignist prompted the minister for Montreal, directly above the Speaker’s chair in movement. Many prominent fig- Jean-Francois Lisée, to suggest the the National Assembly? Ah. Drainville ures, including Jean Dorion—the candidates should stay out of it. insists that this is not an ostentatious former president of the Societé St. religious symbol, but an important Jean Baptiste and ex-deputy for the The message that emerges is this: it is part of Quebec’s Catholic history. Bloc Québecois, former premier Luc- very difficult to shoehorn the diversi- In l’Actualité, columnist and some- ien Bouchard and his brother Gerard ty of Montreal into the PQ’s national- time PQ strategist Josée Légault wrote: Bouchard, who together with Charles ist vision of Quebec which, despite all “Kafka, meet Monty Python”. Taylor co-chaired the province’s com- the party’s rhetoric about inclusivity, mission on Reasonable Accommoda- equality and harmony, is nevertheless Whatever else it was, Drainville’s press a homogenizing one. conference was an edifying glimpse tion in 2007-08, have all come out into just how far the PQ is prepared with criticisms of the PQ’s plan. Even Many critics have also argued that the to go with its strategy of identity poli- former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau— Charter runs counter to internation- tics to win back the francophone base who famously dropped the “money al human-rights legal architecture, and move into majority government and ethnic vote” bomb on the night as well as the Canadian and Quebec territory. of the 1995 referendum—has come charters of rights. On October 17, the out against the Charter, saying that it Commission des droits de la personne et goes too far. des droits de la jeunesse du Québec, the hy a Charter of Quebec One of the most fiery ruptures was Quebec Human Rights Commission, W Values and why now? Bloc Quebecois MP Maria Mouriani released a scathing report calling the The PQ wants to put sovereignty back following her debate with former PQ values charter a “radical” infringe- at the top of the agenda. While the cabinet minister Louise Beaudoin on ment on the fundamental rights and desire for a referendum on indepen- Radio-Canada. After arguing her be- freedoms enshrined in the Quebec dence among the Quebec polity is lief that the charter would be a slide Charter of Human Rights. low, getting the public fired up about backward into ethnic nationalism The PQ has maintained its stance that nationalism requires a crisis of iden- that risked excluding certain minority this Charter is about state neutrality tity and belonging among the major- communities and women, Mouriani and gender equality whose goal is to November/December 2013 26 unite Quebecers rather than divide Videos of hijab-clad women in the support of at least one other party. them. Yet subjugation of basic civil Montreal being harassed on Liberal leader Phillipe Couillard has liberties to a government-created no- opposed it point blank, and Francois tion of “national values” puts the PQ buses and in the streets have Legault of the Coalition Avenir Que- into dangerous territory. circulated on the Internet. bec has called for significant revisions. This political culture of intolerance The government has denied If the legislation is passed, Quebec that the PQ has nurtured with its any connection between would become the only jurisdiction drawn-out debate over the charter is these incidents and the values in North America to impose such a having real and devastating implica- debate, but choosing not to sweeping ban on religious symbols tions for minority groups and—by ex- worn by public sector employees. connect the dots is willful tension—for all Quebecers. But frankly, it doesn’t really matter if In early September, a mosque in the blindness. it makes it that far or not. Saguenay region was vandalized with The Charter is little more than an os- pig’s blood. In late September, the Cen- tentatious signal, if you like, from the tres de femmes du Quebec reported a rise tal individual human rights and lib- PQ to the pur laine francophone main intolerance, violence and racist in- erties to be stripped at the whim of a jority that they are the political party cidents since the introduction of the government. who will serve as the guardian of their Charter of Quebec Values, particularly One of the unexpected outcomes of cultural survival—in much the same towards women who wear the veil. this debate, as Mouriani, Parizeau and way that the Roman Catholic Church Videos of hijab-clad women in Montre- Lucien Bouchard have all predicted, did before they were overthrown dur- al being harassed on buses and in the may be that minorities in Quebec ing the Quiet Revolution.

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