Reasonable Accommodation in Quebec PDF

“Reasonable Accommodation” in Quebec A brief timeline of major events  1960s: The Quiet Revolution - The role of the Catholic Church is restricted, especially in education - In 1964, the Quebec Government establishes a Ministry of Education - Within a few years, secondary schools and jun...

“Reasonable Accommodation” in Quebec A brief timeline of major events  1960s: The Quiet Revolution - The role of the Catholic Church is restricted, especially in education - In 1964, the Quebec Government establishes a Ministry of Education - Within a few years, secondary schools and junior colleges are created  Gurbaj Singh Multani Case Nov. 18 2001: Gurbaj Singh Multani, a 12-year- old Grade 7 student at Ste-Catherine Labouré school in Montreal, is playing with other kids in the schoolyard when his kirpan falls out of his cloth holder. He picks it up and puts it back into the holder. But the mother of another student sees it and complains to school officials that she’d seen a weapon. Later that day, the school principal asks Gurbaj to remove his kirpan but he refuses and is sent home  March 2, 2002: Canadian Supreme Court Decision After a lengthy legal battle that wound its way through the lower courts, the Supreme Court of Canada rules 8-0 that a total ban of the kirpan in schools violates the Charter of Rights because it infringes on the Charter’s guarantees of religious freedom. But it does allow school boards to impose some restrictions on the carrying of kirpans to ensure public safety. For a complete timeline of events, see here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/kirpan/  November 2006: Avenue du Parc YMCA & Hasidic Jews Some members of the Avenue du Parc YMCA are upset with the centre's administrators, who allowed windows on the building's west side to be tinted in order to placate leaders of a Hasidic synagogue across the alley. Members of the Yetev Lev synagogue, on Hutchison Street, paid for tinted windows at the Y after they complained their children and youth were unwittingly watching too many women in various states of undress work out at the gym. The congregation's rabbi said public nudity is not acceptable to his members, nor to any religious Jew. About 100 Y members signed a petition defending their workout clothes and demanding the tinted windows be removed. They said the synagogue should tint its own windows if it wants to shield Hasidic children from activities at the gym.  January 25, 2007: The Town of Hérouxville adopts a “Life Standard’s Charter” Hérouxville is a homogeneous community in rural Quebec with 1300 people The Town Council adopted a “code of conduct” for any new immigrants to the town which included: No stoning women in public, no burning them alive, no throwing acid on their faces No female circumcision, no covering the face, no school prayer, no wearing of symbolic weapons to school Yes to women having the right to drive a vehicle, vote, sign cheques, dance, and “decide for herself”  February 8, 2007: Creation of Bouchard-Taylor Commission Premier Jean Charest appoints the “Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences” Commission is headed by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor and sociologist Gerard Bouchard (the brother of former premier, Lucien Bouchard) and has a budget of $5 million ($3.7 of which is used) 30 focus groups across the province; 59 meetings with experts; 23 meetings with representatives of socio-cultural organizations; the establishment of an advisory committee made up of 15 specialists from different disciplines; four province-wide forums (with over 800 participants); solicitations of briefs from the public (over 900 received); 328 sessions to discuss the briefs with the authors, in which 241 individuals presented testimony; and the creation of a website that received 400 000 visits  March 19, 2007: Sugar-Shack Controversy The Journal de Montreal tabloid dedicated its front page to an exposé of a pair of sugar shacks south of Montreal that made efforts to allow Muslims to enjoy the annual spring maple syrup tradition known as "sugaring off” One sugar shack, or a cabane a sucre, removed pork from some of its food to meet the dietary requirements under Islam "Pea soup without ham,'' said one headline in Le Journal The story did not mention that the sugar shack had rented for a private party, and that no other patrons were affected Another sugar shack paused entertainment recently to allow about 20 Muslims to pray on the empty dance floor "They wanted to make a prayer. If the dance room will be full and everybody is dancing we wouldn't stop," the co-owner told CTV Montreal. "But nobody (was) dancing. Ten minutes in the cabane a sucre is not long." March 26, 2007: Quebec Provincial Election, ADQ gains support Mario Dumont’s Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) goes from 5 seats in the National Assembly to 41 seats, and becomes the official opposition Much of the party’s success is attributed to Dumont’s “anti-accommodation” stance Vis-à-vis immigrants For example, he was quoted on the front page of the Journal de Montreal as saying the "reasonable accommodation" of non-Christian religious customs "n’a plus de bon sens"- has got out of hand.  May 2008: Bouchard-Taylor Report The Bouchard-Taylor Commission releases a 300-page report of its findings "The foundations of collective life in Quebec are not in a critical situation” The commission said insecurity among “old stock” Quebecers was largely fuelled by a "crisis of perception," stoked by distortions in media reports on individual cases of accommodation efforts need to be made on all sides to help Quebec society evolve, and the "responsibility of integration and intercultural relations is shared by all Quebecers — and not by one group of the other” Islamophobia is a problem in Quebec The report is criticized by the ADQ and the Parti Quebecois, for not providing any “antidotes” to the identity crisis that many “old stock” Quebecers feel  Specific Recommendations Among the recommendations made by the commission are the following: Municipal councils abandon the saying of prayers at their public meetings. Judges, Crown prosecutors, police officers, prison guards and the president and vice- president of the National Assembly be prohibited from wearing religious signs. Teachers, public servants, health professionals and all other government employees be authorized to do so. Students who wish to wear religious symbols in class, such as the hijab, kippah or turban should be able to do so. Educational institutions are not required to offer permanent prayer rooms. However, it is in keeping with the spirit of “adjustment,” to authorize for the purpose of prayer the use of temporarily unoccupied rooms. The government should increase funding to community groups that help newly-arrived immigrants, and organizations that promote intercultural dialogue. Quebec should promote immigrant settlement outside the greater Montreal area, where nearly 87 per cent of the province's newcomers live.  March 2010: Charest Liberals Table Bill 94 The legislation would have effectively barred Muslim women from receiving or delivering public services while wearing a niqab. Other religious symbols would not have been affected "Two words: Uncovered face," Charest told reporters during a press conference in Quebec City. Charest explained that the legislation, Bill 94, demands a face in plain view, for reasons of identification, security and communication. He further clarified that even public-service employees who do not interact with the public – the majority of the provincial bureaucracy – would also not be permitted to wear the niqab.  February 2011: Kirpan Banned in Quebec National Assembly The Parti Quebecois introduces a motion in the National Assembly to ban anyone from entering the building wearing a Kirpan The motion is passed with the support of the Charest Liberals (who claim their support is due to security concerns) Kirpans have always been allowed in the House of Commons in Ottawa There has never been an incident involving a Kirpan in either place  Summer 2013: Soccer/Turban Controversy The Quebec Soccer Federation (QSF) issues a ban on the wearing of Turbans for (Sikh) soccer players Brigitte Frot , the executive-director of the QSF, is quoted saying that players who choose to disobey the turban ban "can play in their backyard. But not with official referees, not in the official rules of soccer.” In response, the Canadian Soccer Association issues a suspension of the Quebec Federation QSF claims that it was just awaiting confirmation from FIFA that the turban was allowed, but this is exposed in the media as a falsehood (FIFA had already communicated to the QSF that the turban was allowed) FIFA issues another confirmation that the Turban is permitted, along with other religious headwear The QSF reverses its ban on headwear The Canadian Soccer Association lifts its suspension of the QSF Who Are We?  September 2013: “Charte des Valeurs Québécoises” The Parti Quebecois government under Premier Pauline Marois introduces a “Charter of Quebec Values” at the National Assembly that will: Amend the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms Provide exemptions for the cross at the National Assembly and on Mount Royal, as these will be designated as “cultural” (rather than religious) symbols Limit the wearing of "conspicuous“ religious symbols for all Quebec Government employees (teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers, elected officials, etc) Make it mandatory to have one’s face uncovered when providing or receiving a state service. Establish an implementation policy for state organizations. The proposals came under intense criticism in Montreal and Quebec City, but were very popular in the other regions of the Province. Quebec General Election: April 7, 2014 Has the issue been settled once and for all, or is it… à la prochaine?  Bill 62 “Neutrality Bill” tabled by the Couillard Liberals in 2015 Would bar public servants from wearing face- covering religious garments at work, and prevent members of the public from covering their faces while receiving government services. PQ opposition argues that it does not go far enough.  New Leader of the PQ Jean-François Lisée is elected the new leader of the Parti Quebecois on 7 October 2016, winning 50.63% of the ballots during the second round During the leadership campaign, he said that the province should select rapidly employable, educated francophone immigrants from top job fairs in Paris, Brussels and Barcelona because they can integrate quickly into Quebec society Many people both within and outside his party understood this to be an example of “dog-whistle politics” in which Lisée appealed to voters with anti-immigrant, xenophobic sentiments. Source: Le Journal de Montreal, September 26 2016. Jean- François Lisée veut moins d’immigrants, mais il en veut aussi de «meilleurs».  November 2016 The Quebec Human Rights Commission criticizes Bill 62 The commission said the bill is not only useless but possibly discriminatory, since its ban on the niqab indirectly targets the Muslim women who wear it. The commission feared that the ban might add to the “stigmatization and marginalization” of those women, and would restrict their ability to “act freely, exercise their rights and interact within society.” Source: Montreal Gazette, Nov. 4 2016 January 29, 2017 This is the face of domestic terrorism  Six Killed and Nineteen Injured Ibrahima Barry (aged 39) Mamadou Tanou Barry (aged 42) Khaled Belkacemi (aged 60) Aboubaker Thabti (aged 44) Abdelkrim Hassane (aged 41) Azzedine Soufiane (aged 57) The Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City's Grande Mosquée de Québec Quebec poll, March 13-24 2017 Survey of 623 Quebecers by Leger Marketing Only 50 per cent of Quebecers surveyed had a positive view of Muslims 34 per cent had a positive view of Islam A majority of Quebecers viewed other religions and their devotees positively. October 18, 2017: Bill 62 passed by National Assembly, becomes law The section of the law governing face coverings bans people wearing a covering such as a niqab or burka from using a city bus, attending a public school at any level of education or attending a medical appointment for themselves or someone else. The law is immediately challenged in court, and a Quebec Superior Court judge blocks the ban on face coverings until the government adopts guidelines dictating how the restrictions on face coverings would work in practice.  October 1, 2018: Quebec Election The CAQ wins a majority government and François Legault is elected Premier of Quebec. The CAQ promises to cut immigration to Quebec by 10 000 a year and impose a mandatory Values and Language test for those wishing to stay. The CAQ promises to apply the Bouchard-Taylor recommendations and extend them to include school teachers The CAQ promises to pass a "Secularism Charter" to reduce the scope of religious accommodations available to civil servants. Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor have both criticized the CAQ proposals for going to far.  June 2019: Bill 21 The government of Francois Legault passes Bill 21, legislation that bans the wearing of religious symbols by certain public servants in positions of authority by overriding their fundamental rights. The government also establishes surveillance and disciplinary mechanisms to ensure the bill is respected, a move the opposition immediately tagged as the arrival of a “secularism police force.”  How the parties voted The final tally on Bill 21 was 73 in favour and 35 against. While all the Coalition Avenir Québec government MNAs voted in favour, the Liberal and Québec solidaire MNAs opposed. The CAQ’s one ally was the Parti Québécois.  November 2, 2020 Court challenge to Quebec's secularism law, Bill 21, opens in Montreal Bill 21 makes pre-emptive use of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms notwithstanding clause, which shields legislation from court challenges over violations of fundamental rights. In a bid to get around the notwithstanding clause, the plaintiffs are invoking the sexual equality guarantees in Section 28 of the charter, which they maintain are not covered by the notwithstanding clause.