Spring 2013: I have dinner on the Grande Allée with an advisor to the Marois government.
He wants to “test” some ideas with some observers. On the subject of secularism, he says: “We will set fire.”
At this point the expression seems strong to me, but I don’t really recognize the fire in the preparation.
On August 19, 2013, Geneviève Lajoie revealed in Le Journal the core of what will be called the “Charter of Secularism” and then the “Charter of Values”.
“The Marois government wants to ban not only the Islamic headscarf and other visible religious symbols from public services and the courts, but also from CPEs, schools and hospitals.”
Opinion is inflamed. At the time, I was responsible for Le Devoir’s “ideas page,” and even before the government’s plan was announced, there were numerous proposals for an open letter. A tsunami.
Because the case touches on a fundamental aspect of Quebec’s identity, arising from the Quiet Revolution. The French-speaking Quebecers wanted to free themselves from the yoke of the church. Many of them even hate anything religious.
Origins
In 1997, Education Minister Pauline Marois furthered the process of secularizing Quebec through the deconfessionalization of school boards. Thanks to a bilateral constitutional amendment with the federal government, but governed by (the anti-PQ) Jean Chrétien.
Less than a decade later, however, Canada’s culture of fundamental rights appears to be putting a limit on Quebec’s desire for secularization. In the Multani case, the Supreme Court allowed a young Sikh to wear his kirpan to school as a “reasonable accommodation.”
The dispute over reasonable accommodation breaks out. It had a profound impact on the 2007 election. It was the rise of the ADQ. The Charest government survives, albeit in a minority (the previous one dated from 1878). In Quebec, all parties are adapting. The Liberals are proposing bills, notably Bill 94, to regulate housing.
PQ and QS consider this to be inadequate. The PQ adopts the idea of a charter of secularism.
The Marois government is stunned by its September 4, 2012 election (Metropolis attack, minority status) and will need a year to produce a draft charter.
Majority
Polls show there is a golden chance for the PQ to achieve a majority. Here we choose to “light the fire” rather than seize the opportunity to adopt a consensual charter.
At that time, the QS of Françoise David and Amir Khadir advocated the Bouchard-Taylor formula: a ban on religious symbols for state officials with coercive power. Also the CAQ of François Legault, but with additional teachers.
With a few compromises on the part of the government, therefore, Quebec could have resolved the issue of secularism in 2014. As for the opposition parties, we have never felt any “real openness” from Marois and Drainville to amend their Bill 60.
As if they would prefer to fuel the fire. So, for electoral purposes, we can call this a missed historic opportunity to make a founding gesture an important issue.
