Hanes: Quebec's new secularism bill is full of solutions in search of problems

Quebec’s health-care system could implode in a matter of weeks because of a law imposing a new pay model on doctors but, thank God almighty, the government is tackling the urgent issue of ensuring no non-Jewish patient is forced to eat kosher food at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital.

Ditto for non-Muslim children being made to eat halal food at daycare.

In fact, Bill 9, Quebec’s latest attempt to reinforce secularism, offers up a whole host of solutions in search of problems.

Public prayer will be outlawed unless a special permit is granted. Prayer spaces in colleges and universities will be closed. Christmas parties would only be allowed in public institutions if they are completely divorced from their religious origins. So Santa is OK, but Baby Jesus is out. Not sure about Hanukkah treats or Eid sweets.

And not content to rest on its laurels with Bill 21, which barred civil servants in positions of authority like teachers from wearing religious garb on the job, the government of Premier François Legault already extended the dress code to anyone who works in a school.

So no janitors in turbans, no lunch monitors with hijabs, or no secretaries with kippahs, thanks to Bill 94. Heck — no parents wearing any of those religious symbols are welcome in schools, either, be it for parent-teacher interviews, as a chaperone on field trips, or to volunteer backstage at Christmas concerts (where the kids surely won’t be singing Silent Night anymore, but Petit Papa Noël).

Bill 9 goes even further, bringing the same restrictions to subsidized daycares, the co-ordinating offices of home-based daycares, private schools and immigration services like francization courses and integration programs.

In the government’s eyes, it seems, the mere sight of a minority with religious convictions runs the risk of indoctrinating the impressionable young children.

What Bill 9 really does is tell the next generation — and everyone else for that matter — that people who are different are second-class citizens in Quebec. It sends the message the beliefs of those who belong to minority religious groups don’t matter and only the prevailing view of the majority counts in this secular society, (where a cross still burns bright on Mount Royal and the map is dotted with saints names, because: heritage).

Bill 9 casts suspicion on practices that have deep meaning to people of certain faiths, but no effect on anyone else.

When it comes to kosher and halal food, these dietary laws are non-negotiable for some Jewish and Muslim people, respectively. But if kosher or halal food passes the lips of a non-believer, it’s no different than an omnivore eating vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free cuisine. In other words, its food, not poison. And it’s certainly not going to mysteriously convert a non-believer.

But, alas, the Jewish General — which has long cared for patients from all backgrounds, languages and cultures who likely didn’t know or care if they were eating kosher food — is going to have to find kitchen space to cook non-kosher fare, since kosher meals must be prepared separately. This is an example of state secularism interfering with a completely harmless activity and causing needless headaches to assuage some imagined concern (or prejudice).

It’s the same thing with prayer rooms at colleges and universities. They were important for students of various faiths to have a space for prayer and reflection. It’s not like secular or atheist students were being abducted in the corridors and forced to attend religious services. (Although a government report did try to blame them for stoking recent political tensions on campuses). The ban only causes inconvenience to those who used the prayer spaces, while having no effect on those who had no interest.

Bill 9 will place absurd restrictions on the movements of hijab-, kippah-, or turban-wearing early childhood educators, managers or cooks in daycares (as it does school secretaries, lunch monitors and janitors). Sure, their current jobs are protected by a grandfather clause, but to stay employed, they’ll never be able to apply for a promotion, a transfer, or move elsewhere in Quebec.

This is the fundamental flaw of Quebec’s secularism laws. They pick on minorities, marginalize people from diverse backgrounds (often women) and micromanage how individuals live their lives — all to affirm the superior status of the majority.

Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge practically said as much on Tout le Monde en Parle a week ago: “Because that’s how we live in Quebec.”

And if people don’t like it, too bad. There’s not even a way to challenge the law, because like its precursors, Bill 9 is shielded by the notwithstanding clause.

It’s hardly surprising given rights are being jettisoned without recourse these days in Quebec. Bill 2 threatens sanctions against doctors opposing their new pay model in a “concerted” way, while Bill 3 reins in the power of unions — never mind Bill 1, Quebec’s proposed constitution, which will forbid groups like universities and school boards from contesting laws using public funds, sideline the courts and concentrate more power in the National Assembly.

The constitution will also entrench secularism as a sacred Quebec value, making the current array of legislation even more untouchable.

There’s no denying Quebec’s long history of domination by the Catholic Church, shrugged off during the Quiet Revolution, justifies state neutrality in the modern area. Official secularism, could, would and should be a laudable objective — if it was used to build common ground, promote equality, fight extremism and safeguard rights.

Instead, this government weaponizes it to divide people and legislates to breed exclusion passed off as (one-sided) social cohesion in the name of collective rights.

Bill 9, like its predecessors, is state-sanctioned discrimination. And each new bill encroaches further on the rights of minorities as Legault, Roberge and the rest of the Coaliton Avenir Québec government seek to scrub every sign of faith (especially non-Christian brands) from public view.

Câlisse de tabarnak, what’s next? Taking aim at religious nature of popular Québécois swear words?

That would be ludicrous. But it’s no more ridiculous than forcing the Jewish General to serve non-kosher food.

ahanes@postmedia.com

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