Allison Hanes: Solely room for the sacred precept of secularism in Quebec

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On the top of the controversy over so-called cheap lodging in Quebec greater than a dozen years in the past, a brand new supposed scandal was uncovered each week exhibiting how society was more and more being requested to bend over backward to cater to the whims of minorities out of political correctness.

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One instance that grew to become a giant deal was a sugar shack that had dared serve a bunch of visiting Muslims a conventional Québécois feast that contained no pork.

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However the outrage over this specific incident rang false to many ears. It appeared extra just like the cabane à sucre was being known as out for its good customer support in satisfying the dietary restrictions of a giant group, be they vegetarian or Muslim. Nobody took the bacon, ham or oreilles de crisse off the menu for the remainder of the diners.

A lot has occurred in Quebec since then on the problems of id, values and cheap lodging. Invoice 21, handed in 2019, not solely prohibited civil servants in positions of authority from carrying non secular garb, it enshrined state secularism (which is the brand new catchall time period for such social flashpoints). The mud has largely settled, even when Invoice 21 is being challenged in court docket for infringing upon minority rights.

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However there are faint echoes of the cabane à sucre caper within the newest controversy over secularism in Quebec.

Two faculties in Laval and one in Vaudreuil had been discovered to have offered house for Muslim college students to hope in the course of the month of Ramadan. The scholars had been praying within the hallways, stairwells and different widespread areas, so the colleges had been looking for a extra handy location for all concerned.

As soon as it was made public, it grew to become fodder for Query Interval that necessitated a response from the federal government.

Training Minister Bernard Drainville issued an edict forbidding prayer rooms in public faculties. He did, nevertheless, acknowledge that he couldn’t ban prayer outright in mild of constitutionally protected freedoms, of thought and perception — as long as these particular person rights had been exercised “silently,” “discreetly,” and whereas respecting the equality between women and men.  For good measure, the Nationwide Meeting unanimously handed a movement, on the behest of the Parti Québécois, condemning prayer areas as incompatible with a secular schooling system.

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There is no such thing as a precept extra sacred in Quebec than secularism, in any case, and these faculties had been deemed to have breached an inviolable rule.

However the query that nobody bothered to ask on this rush to judgment: Have been the colleges really sanctioning a non secular occasion by offering a spot for college kids to hope on faculty grounds? Or are they only attempting to assist a group inside their faculty, as they may, say, present a protected house for college kids with totally different sexual orientations or gender identities?

There’s a wonderful line. And there are certainly arguments on either side. However there is no such thing as a room for such debate within the Nationwide Meeting.

Nobody talked about that the colleges weren’t educating, endorsing or pushing a faith on all college students. Nobody identified that they didn’t appear to be caving in to undue strain a lot as accommodating (at all times a loaded time period) a necessity. Nobody questioned whether or not the backlash by the political institution can be deeply alienating for Muslim college students, who don’t get break day faculty to rejoice their holidays. Nobody stopped to contemplate the purpose at which official rejection for faith in public establishments begins to really feel like exclusion towards the non secular, like with Invoice 21.

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Quebecers have understandably embraced secularism as a sacrosanct worth because the province emerged from beneath the thumb of the Catholic Church in the course of the Quiet Revolution, although contradictions and conundrums abound within the variety of cities, streets and even faculties named after saints — vestiges of Quebec’s heritage.

When Premier François Legault supplied up an Easter message vaunting Quebec’s Catholic roots simply days after his authorities outlawed prayer rooms in faculties, it not surprisingly gave rise to allegations of double requirements and hypocrisy on this more and more numerous society.

Legislators clearly have a inflexible interpretation of secularism, nevertheless Quebecers’ views could also be extra nuanced than their elected representatives.

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New polling from the Affiliation for Canadian Research and the Metropolis Institute suggests most Quebecers have a constructive view of secularism. However a majority are additionally in favour of multiculturalism. Though these points — no matter they imply to particular person respondents — are sometimes juxtaposed towards one another, assist for these ideas appears to overlap.

So it’s protected to say nobody is disputing that Quebec — and its faculties — ought to be formally secular. However is there not even slightly room or recognition for individuals who pray?

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