A controversial plan affecting minorities Quebec appears to be moving forward.
The separatist Parti Quebecois government has not released details of the plan. However, leaked reports say it would prohibit Quebec civil servants from wearing items such as Muslim hijab, a Sikh turban or Jewish kippa. The ban would include workers at daycares, schools, hospitals and other public workplaces.
On Monday, one of Quebec’s two main opposition parties said it would back major parts of the plan, as the Charter of Quebec Values.
Coalition Avenir Quebec party leader Francois Legault said he agreed that judges, police officers and school teachers should be restricted from wearing religious symbols like veils, hijabs and turbans, but he would exempt medical professionals, daycare workers and public-sector workers who won’t hold positions of authority.
Mr. Legault’s vote is key because the minority PQ needs support from one of the main opposition parties to pass the charter plan.
The PQ government says it will table proposals this fall and a formal bill will be debated in a parliamentary commission.
Public opinion on the proposed charter is divided. A recent poll suggested that 65 per cent of francophone Quebecers support the idea of a values charter. The idea has 25 per cent support from people whose native tongue is English and 33 per cent support from those with neither French nor English as their native tongue. The issue enjoys its biggest support outside the city of Montreal.
Antonia Maioni is director of the Institute for the Study of Canada at
McGill University, where she also holds the positions of Associate Professor
of Political Science and William Dawson Scholar.
Terry Haig spoke with Ms. Maioni about where Quebec may be headed.
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