Secularism in Quebec

19 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Québec

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bill 21, Coalition avenir Québec, François Legault, Jean Paul Lemieux, Laïcité, Secularism

Jean-Paul Lemieux (Galerie Michel Bigue)

Just a few words.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-laicity-secularism-bill-1.5075547

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-will-require-bare-face-for-service-1.913095

Under Premier François Legault and several members his Coalition Avenir Quebec, Quebec is again trying to secularise its already secularised society. All faces are bare in Quebec. Muslim women wear a discreet veil. However, if Bill 21 is enacted, they would be required to remove their discreet veil or, perhaps, if not certainly, lose their position.

People gesture during a demonstration in Montreal, Sunday, April 7, 2019, in opposition to the Quebec government’s newly tabled Bill 21. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)

Given its rigidity and Quebec’s preexisting official laïcité, Premier Legault’s, Bill 21 is unacceptable. Were there a genuine threat of terrorism, which there isn’t, a society could forbid the niqāb to make faces visible. It would be a matter of security. But, if enacted, Bill 21 could be interpreted not only as Islamophobia, but as an expression of religious intolerance across-the-board.

Some employees wear uniforms in order for the public to recognize that they are policemen, bus drivers, firemen, etc. So did school children when I was a child: navy blue and white. We looked like the young girl depicted by Jean-Paul Lemieux, including the hairdo. So there are uniforms. Men will not be affected, but Muslim women will be.

Alexandre Bissonnette

sentence
Premier Philippe Couillard

He will appeal his sentence, but as things stand, Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed 6 Muslims worshipping at a Quebec City Mosque, will not be eligible for parole for the next 40 years.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-428-bissonnette-s-sentence-art-forgery-k-pop-at-the-grammys-leolist-human-trafficking-and-more-1.5009885/how-alexandre-bissonette-s-sentence-could-fuel-canada-s-far-right-1.5009894

When Alexandre Bissonnette killed, he was not affiliated with a terrorist group and, to my knowledge, he has not joined such a group since he has been detained.

At the time, Quebec Premier Dr Philippe Couillard reassured Quebecers and Canadians.

The Consequences

As for my Muslim ladies, their daughters may wish to remove their veil. They may find it cumbersome. However, if their mother was forced to remove her veil or be unemployed, her children may insist on wearing a veil, if they have not left Quebec.

Under Bills 22, enacted in 1974, and 101 enacted in 1977, Quebec declared itself unilingual and would not allow immigrants to enrol their children in English-language schools. Therefore, Quebec’s best immigrants were North Africans who spoke French fluently. However, to a very large extent, they were Muslims. French-speaking Muslim immigrants to Quebec did Quebec a service. Has Quebec forgotten?

Religious Intolerance Across-the-Board

Bill 21 smacks of religious intolerance. All display of adherence to a religion would be forbidden. Some of us are atheists, but others believe in God, and many find a refuge in spirituality. We are a diverse society and will grow more diverse. If Bill 21 is enacted, Quebec could be divided along religious lines.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-bill-21-opposition-1.5083340

Students and staff at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School in Montreal’s West Island, held a protest against Bill 21 over their lunch break on Friday. (Valeria Cori-Manocchio/CBC)

Conclusion

I will close by suggesting, boldly, that Bill 21 may not be entirely what it seems. I suspect that it is and that it isn’t about religious affiliation. Quebec’s two referendums (1980; 1995) have not given the government of Quebec a mandate to negotiate sovereignty. But the province is drifting away using all means it can dig out. For instance, Quebec has yet to sign the Constitution Act of 1982.

Could it be that, once again, Quebec wants to differ, Bill in hand … ? If Quebec wants to differ, let it not be at the expense of its law-abiding and French-speaking Muslim women. Immigrants from everywhere, first generation immigrants in particular, mourn their country. Many have lost everything. Let us not think that we have done them a favour. Such an attitude would be insensitive and, in fact, arrogant.

Our duty is to respect everyone, despite colour, faith, language and other differences. These are superficial differences. Let our immigrants belong. All of us are human beings and merely passing …

Love to everyone 💕

We are returning to Molière. But laïcité weighed on my mind. I have friends who are supporters of Bill 21. I hope they will forgive me. They know that Quebec is a lay society.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux chante “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”
Camille Saint-Saëns — Samson and Delilah op. 47

640px-Samson_and_Delilah_Gustav_Dore_ca._1860

Samson and Delilah, by Gustave Doré, c. 1860

Quebec’s Elections and Notes on Ozias Leduc

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Quebec, Sharing

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bill 22 & Bill 101, Coalition avenir Québec, François Legault, Ozias Leduc, St Ninian's Cathedral, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom

Le Jeune Élève d’Ozias Leduc, 1894 (Musée des beaux-arts du Canada)

Leduc-Chasse-aux-canards-par-un-matin-brumeux2-Huile-sur-toile-11-x-15-85-000

Chasse aux canards par un matin brumeux (Hunting for Ducks on a Foggy Morning), Ozias Leduc (Galerie Michel Bigué)

I added a paragraph to my last post, after it was published. By and large, posts are not read twice. I am therefore publishing what you haven’t read.

One paragraph in Wiki2.org’s entry entitled Official Language Act (Quebec) seems reassuring. Quebec’s Language Laws, Bills 22 and 101, do not take rights away from English-speaking Canadians. Their children may attend an English-language school. But the children of immigrants, are required to attend a French-language school. All signs, such as traffic signs, must be predominantly, if not entirely, in French. I remember mentioning in a post that a Quebec café or restaurant owner was required to remove the letters WC from the door to a public toilet room. WC (water closet) may be used in France, but not in Quebec. Stop signs are called arrêts in Quebec. In short, Quebec insists on looking French. Traffic monitors and advertising displays are in French.

Concerning ‘unilingualism’ in Quebec, it is useful to read the entries entitled Official Language Act (Quebec) (Bill 22) and Charter of the French Language (Bill 101). (Wiki2.org.)

I did not quote the introductory paragraph but quoted the paragaph following it.

That English was an official language in Quebec as well, was declared on July 19, 1974, by McGill University law faculty’s most expert counsellors, disputing Bill 22. The testifiers were Dean Frank R. Scott, John Peters Humphrey, chief planner of the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, Irwin Cotler and four additional legal teachers:

Section 1, which provides that French is ‘the official language of the province of Quebec,’ is misleading in that it suggests that English is not also an official language in Quebec, which it is by virtue of Section 133 of the BNA Act and the federal Official Languages Act. … No legislation in the National Assembly proclaiming French the sole official language in the province can affect these bilingual areas protected by the BNA Act.

(See Official Language Act [Quebec], Wiki2.org.)

Although this paragraph is reassuring, to my knowledge, when Premier Robert Bourassa said that the province of Quebec would be unilingual (French), he meant ‘officially’ unilingual. Given that Canada’s official languages are French and English, why would Premier Bourassa say that Quebec would, henceforth, be a unilingual province, i. e. ‘officially’?

In other words, the rights of English-speaking Canadians are respected under the Official Languages Act of 1969, as per the paragraph I quoted. One difficulty arises for French-speaking Quebecers. After the age of 11, children are unlikely to acquire native fluency in a second language, but there are exceptions. Some individuals speak eighteen languages by the age of 18. They may make mistakes and they may have an accent, but… However, a large number of French-speaking Quebecers find ways of teaching English to their children. English is a North-American reality.

I have two students who mastered French. My star student is Gillian Pink, from Antigonish. Gillian is working at Oxford University.

Candlelight Study, Ozias Leduc, 1893 (Google)

Language Bills, Referendums, and Sovereignty

Let us return to Bill 22 and Bill 101. I have noted that there was an exodus from Quebec when Bill 22 was passed. In my opinion, Bill 22 was seen as a step in the direction of sovereignty. So have Bill 101 and the two referendums (1980 and 1995).

Quebec’s new Premier, François Legault, has stated that there would not be another referendum, but he and members of Coalition avenir Quebec will be seeking greater autonomy for Quebec. What does he mean? Quebec Premier René Lévesque did not sign the Constitution Act of 1982, and none of his successors have done so. The fact remains that I’ve been in the midst of an identity crisis for sixteen years, or since I left Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

My Quebec Health Insurance Card does not cover the cost of appointments with a doctor in provinces other than Canada. Yet, I am a Canadian, but a French-speaking Canadian living in Québec, whose mother tongue is French, who loves French literature, but who speaks English fluently and feels Quebec is safer as a province of Canada, than a country.

I believe that all Canadians are protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the Constitution Act of 1982 enshrines the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is entrenched in the Constitution Act of 1982, which Quebec has not signed. Usually, Ottawa, the federal government, rescues Quebecers. It may have found a niche for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or the Charter may exist separately. The BNA Act may be more permanent legislation.

However, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires all provinces to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities at public expense.

(See French Language in Canada, Wiki2.org.)

Conclusion

Would that Quebecers had not elected a party advocating greater autonomy for Quebec. Quebecers have to protect their language, but greater autonomy for Quebec suggests distancing Quebec from other Canadian provinces.

May all Canadians live in peace and harmony. Culturally, I am French. But home is also Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where I owned a lovely blue house, across the street from the campus of St Francis Xavier University and St Ninian’s Cathedral.

Ozias Leduc

Ozias Leduc (8 October 1864 – 16 June 1955) is my featured artist. His subject matter is often religious. But his art is nevertheless diverse and still lifes seem a favourite subject. Well-known artist Paul-Émile Borduas was one of his students. I am embedding a video. It is a French-language video with a lyrical ambiance. A couple is getting on a raft that will take them to Ozias Leduc’s house. It may be the smaller house.

Ozias Leduc’s house (Google)

St Ninians’ Cathedral, Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Closer to me, is St Ninian’s Cathedral, in Antigonish. Paintings in our Cathedral were the work of Ozias Leduc. I was in Antigonish when they were restored.

Love to everyone 💕