Situating the Reasonable Accommodation Debates in Quebec's Contention for Sovereignty

Bibliographic Data

ID11403600
AuthorsEfe Peker (0000-0002-2596-7221, McGill University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume45
Publication date2017-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArc The Journal of the School of Religious Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0229-2807 • E-ISSN: 2817-1799
PublisherMcGill University Library and Archives (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.26443/arc.v45i.338
OpenAlexW4386766360
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

amidst controversies, Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ) passed Bill 62 in Quebec's National Assembly with a vote of 66 to 51.Titled, "An Act to foster adherence to State religious neutrality and, in particular, to provide a framework for requests for accommodations on religious grounds in certain bodies," the new law sought to emphasise state neutrality towards religions, and to offer streamlined legal guidelines for reasonable accommodation requests in the province.What made the headlines, however, was its Section 10, 1 which stipulated that public employees, and persons receiving services from them, must have their faces uncovered.Although different interpretations have been suggested regarding its implementation, and reasonable accommodation requests could be made with regard to this clause, Section 10 effectively prohibited Muslim women wearing the burka or niqab from receiving public services, such as transportation, unless they be prepared to reveal their face at the time of service.Quebec, thus, became the first place in North America to restrict face veils in public, albeit in a more limited fashion than the comprehensive bans promulgated in Belgium (2010), France (2011), Austria (2017), and Denmark (2018).Bill 62 was meant as a solution to the reasonable accommodation controversies that dominated the Quebecois sociopolitical scene over at least the last decade, yet it faced a strong backlash from two diametrically opposed positions.Liberal critics suggested that the bill infringed upon religious liberties as protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Federal politicians joined in with human rights associations and Muslim organisations to openly condemn the bill, while several public protests took place in Montréal and other cities in the immediate aftermath of the vote.Passing verdict on a filed legal challenge, the Quebec Superior 1.The stipulation on face covering was in Section 9 in earlier drafts of the bill. v Efe PekerCourt suspended Section 10 of the bill in December 2017, and once again in June 2018 soon after the government published guidelines for the bill's application. 2 On the other side of the spectrum, Parti Québécois (PQ) and Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) voted against the bill on the grounds that it did not go far enough.In its place, the two parties agreed on promulgating a revamped Charte de laïcité whereby face covering would be completely prohibited in public, and all religious symbols would be banned for public employees in positions of authority (e.g., police officers, judges, prison guards, teachers and daycare educators). 3 Following the bitter controversy triggered by Bill 62, the campaign for the provincial election of October 2018 featured heated discussions on immigration, Quebecois values, and the place of religion in the provincial public sphere. 4 François Legault, leader of the victorious CAQ, promised before the elections that his government would uphold Bill 62's restriction on face veils, and pass a state secularism bill in its first year to ban religious symbols for public employees in positions of authority. 5 According to survey data, 87% of Quebecois supported Bill 62, a figure that reached 91% among francophone citizens. 6 A rich scholarly literature emerged in the last decade to make sense of the polemics on religion in the province.These focused, among other 2. Guiseppe Valiante, "Quebec judge once again suspends application of province's religious neutrality law," Global News, June 28, 2018, https://globalnews.ca/news/4303643/quebecjudge-once-again-suspends-application-of-provinces-religious-neutrality-law/.3. It should be noted that the CAQ's proposal does not include daycare educators, whereas that of the PQ does.See Catherine

Accommodation · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Canadian Identity and History · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Psychology

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