The Charter of Quebec Values, proposed in 2013, is described as “affirming the values of State secularism and religious neutrality and of equality between women and men”. But in Quebec society it is has become the ideal wedge issue dividing families and co-workers once again.
The only officially French-speaking province in Canada, Quebec has been waging a battle to protect its language and culture in the huge North American landscape of English popular culture. The election of the separatist Parti Quebecois government in 1976, under charismatic leader Rene Levesque, initiated an exodus of many English-speaking Quebecers that continued with the referendums on separation or sovereignty that took place in the mid-1980’s and 90’s.
A time of relative political stability evolved over the last 20 years and the younger generations of anglophones and new immigrants to the province grew up in French or bilingual education altering the contentious language divide of previous generations.
But the proposed Charter, by the current minority Parti Quebecois government, under Pauline Marois, to secularize the public service, banning overtly visible religious symbols such as turbans, hijabs, kippas and “ostentatious crosses” has some people once again talking about leaving the province. Others in rural regions of Quebec, away from newer immigrant Quebecers, fiercely support Bill 60, as the Charter is also known. All of this is taking place against the reality of a ballooning debt in an economically challenged province. Quebec’s National Assembly will vote on the Charter in the new year.
We are concerned about the very role of religion in our society
The Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Montreal is one of several organizations that has come out in opposition to the Charter. They’ve produced two videos in French articulating their disapproval. Dr. Victor Goldbloom is Chair of the Dialogue. He is a peadiatrician, was a member of Quebec’s National Assembly from 1966 to 1979, and Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages during the 1990’s.
ListenCarmel Kilkenny spoke with Dr. Goldbloom about what’s at stake in this current cultural debate:
Videos: Nous sommes Quebecois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4f4OVWtJH0&feature=youtu.be
Etre quebecois, qu’est-ce que ca veut dire?
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