Balancing out ‘secular’ identity

Iqbal Sidhu

Canada’s Quebec has a long and colourful history. Recently, it has become the only province to set up a commission on and, subsequently, table three Bills curtailing the wearing of religious symbols at work. The most recent of the three Bills, up for discussion, has whipped up a healthy, apparently intentional, commotion. 

The Bill 21 would bar civil servants in positions of ‘authority’ from wearing religious symbols at work. It aims at fulfilling the election promise — to address the issue of ‘religion at workplace’ — of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ). The party has also promised to uphold the ‘secular’ nature of Quebec. 

The Bills will ban any public employee with authority, school principals, vice-principals and teachers, prosecutors, lawyers and judges from wearing symbols of their faith — regardless of the size — while on duty. It also proposes to ban hijabs, kippahs and turbans at workplace. Also, a full face veil will be disallowed while availing government services.  

In an effort to cement a 'secular society', Quebec has been grappling with this issue in its legislative Assembly for over 12 years. In 2007, the then Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, appointed a commission to look at whether the province's policy of 'reasonable accommodation' had gone too far. As per the report made public in 2008, it did. 

It did not take long for the right-wing political parties to once again sound the bugle of Quebec nationalism, this time the nemesis being exploitative immigrants who wanted to adorn their religious symbols while availing the services of a ‘secular’ state. 

The only similar Bill that was successfully passed in 2017 was by the outgoing Liberal government while the Bill that failed started taking shape in early 2012 after Parti Quebecois, the trademark right-wing populist party of Quebec, gained power in 2010. Even the 2017 law was later struck down by Quebec courts as it violated the personal liberties of an individual, so how effective the latest proposed Bill becomes remains to be seen — most legal observers remain skeptical about its efficacy and implementation. 

Many see the ongoing legislative gymnastics as a newly elected government’s ceremonial fulfillment of an outlandish poll promise. But, the government would not be wholly successful as laws need to pass scrutinies of courts where this Bill is likely to falter, but at least the voters will not be able to complain to the CAQ that it reneged on its promise. It's also because of this understanding of the issue, there hasn't been a lot of voice from the Sikh community against the Bill. Though there have been sporadic marches, the larger Canadian Sikh community has so far remained stoic to developments in Quebec. We can expect to see a more robust Canadian Sikh reaction on the Bill once it is passed into law.