Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The province of Quebec's government has created quite the brouhaha in Canada with its attempt
to rid all religious symbols from the public sector. In early September, it introduced
a charter of values prohibiting all civil servants from wearing Muslim headscarves,
Sikh turbans, Jewish kippas and any other obvious religious symbol while allowing discrete
jewelry like pendants and rings. This is the first time a Canadian province is attempting
to create a completely secular environment in its offices.
Bernard Drainville, minister in charge of the new charter, claimed that "if the state
is neutral, those working for the state should be equally neutral in their image." Nonetheless,
he still facing some important questions such as: Who would judge what size of crucifix
is allowed? Would witnesses in court still be allowed to swear on the Bible? And isn't
the plan likely to target Muslim women?
Meanwhile, an important teachers' union and many mayoral candidates in the Montreal region
have promised that they will do everything possible to obtain a special status exempting
them from the proposed charter.
People in the far removed city of Saguenay, Quebec - population of nearly 150,000 - have
rallied to show support for a vandalized Mosque. At some point during the last August week-end,
the city's sole Mosque was vandalized: someone smeared the building with what seemed to be
pig's blood and left behind a letter demanding that all Muslims "assimilate or go home."
On the 6th of September, before Friday prayers, Christians and other non-Muslims showed up
outside the religious building in a show of support for the small Islamic community. Radio-Canada
quoted one of the organizers: "the demonstration is a base for building bridges between different
faiths within the community - to find a common ground on which to talk to each other, exchange
ideas and also support each other when something like this happens."
One of the corporation's surveillance cameras shows a man dropping off a letter at the Mosque's
doors. Police representatives have declared him a person of interest and are asking for
the public's help in identifying the man.
What is good for the goose should be just as good for the gander, but not according
to the District School Board of Niagara, Ontario, Canada. Since 1964, the Gideons have been
offering free Bibles to all Grade 5 students in this school board. Three years ago, a local
atheist decided that if the Gideons could distribute their Bibles, he should be allowed
to distribute copies of "Just pretend: a freethought book for children."
Having met with a refusal, Mr. René Chouinard believed the board was discriminating against
him. And off to court he went, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to be exact. In an effort
to ensure their victory, the school trustrees changed their policy and allowed the distribution
of religious texts so long as they came from religions listed in the Ontario Multifaith
Information Manual. But since atheism is not considered a religion in the province, Mr.
Chouinard was still facing a closed door.
That is why, on August 13th, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled in the plaintiff's favor,
declaring the policy biased. In its decision, the tribunal affirms that "the policy was
discriminatory because its definition of acceptable materials violated substantive equality by
excluding the kinds of material central to many creeds."
The ruling also noted that less traditional religious groups like the Falun Gong were
excluded and that even some Christian texts deemed not sacred enough were banned by the
board's policy.
In a letter to the trustees, Mr. Chouinard had written that "we believe that if non-theistic
materials were distributed in an Ontario Public School (...) people would insist that the
Public School system is not the place for people with a religious agenda; and that is
exactly our point."
The board has now six months to put a new policy in place if it wants to continue distributing
Gideon bibles.