{"id":274,"date":"2019-09-08T17:14:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T20:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=274"},"modified":"2019-09-11T05:59:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T08:59:41","slug":"way-to-go-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2019\/09\/08\/way-to-go-quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Way to go Qu\u00e9bec"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Way to go Qu\u00e9bec<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bambi usually follows the news from Qu\u00e9bec with great\ninterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herein she will comment on this article entitled \u201cLe bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois veut que Ottawa respecte la laicit\u00e9 au Qu\u00e9bec<\/em>\u201d (The Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois wants Ottawa to respect Qu\u00e9bec secular state<\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.hebdorivenord.com\/article\/2019\/09\/08\/le-bloc-quebecois-veut-qu-ottawa-respecte-la-laicite-au-quebec<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would like to thank the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, even if\nshe does not reside in the Belle Province (clearly not a potential voter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is simply reminding Ottawa (i.e.,\nour current Prime Minister) and the rest of Canada (i.e., leaders May and Singh\nas well as some former politicians from Alberta) and organizations from the\nrest of Canada that this new bill is made in Qu\u00e9bec and is meant for Qu\u00e9bec\u2026 In\nother terms, please all remember to respect Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s will (the bill is supported\nby the majority of the Qu\u00e9bec population; maybe it was controversial but only in\nMontreal; sometimes for legitimate concerns; other times for other reasons). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard for the rest of Canada, and maybe the rest\nof North America, to understand the history and mindset of Qu\u00e9bec, especially\nwhen often people and politicians alike forget that Qu\u00e9bec is a distinct nation\n(even within our beautiful Canada). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To come back to Bill 21, there have been many articles\nwritten about it. Many of them, if not most, include errors and\/or omissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to what people think, whether they like this bill\nor not, it came after 10 years of public debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To clarify this bill, here is a quick summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The separation of state and\nreligion<\/li>
  2. The religious neutrality of\nthe state<\/li>
  3. The equality of all citizens<\/li>
  4. Freedom of conscience and\nfreedom of religion<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Some government\nemployees in positions of authority, such as prosecutors and police\nofficers, as well as teachers and principals of public primary and secondary\nschools, will not be able to wear religious symbols in the performance of their\nduties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Act\nspecifies that persons who were in office on March 27, 2019, retain the right\nto wear a religious sign, as long as they hold the same function within the\nsame organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The bill also clarifies that public services must be\nprovided and received without a covered face during an identity check or if needed\nfor security reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Compared to other similar secular bills in other\ncountries, the bill is moderate (ex., more than in France or even Switzerland).\nNot surprising to me because the bill reflects Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s pragmatism, tolerance,\nand collective self-respect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This law is a natural historical logic to Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s\npast (a domineering Catholic Church, which led to a Quiet revolution).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bambi took the time to reflect about this bill. She clearly\nsupports it or supports Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This being said, spontaneously, she first saw the\nlogic and merit of the police and lawyers not wearing religious or tribal\nsymbols (+ of course, the part of the law about the security). She struggled a\nlot, especially at first, to see the government logic behind the extension of\nthis bill to teachers\/school principals (as authority figures). Maybe she still\ndoes not fully understand it but she endorses it, especially with the reactions\nof (religious and other) lobby groups and the media.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Perhaps Qu\u00e9bec is naive still. It does not understand that we can indoctrinate kids without wearing any symbol, religious or not. She also thinks that it is not because you are wearing a religious symbol that you would be narrow-minded\u2026 although you may have trouble teaching topics like evolutionary biology, who knows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She also wonders why the bill didn\u2019t extend to universities to protect education students\/trainees, wearing religious symbols, who are aspiring for a job in the public sector? However, the government made the choice to legally protect only current employees. So, luckily no one would lose his\/her job!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yes, it is sad to imagine one single woman (or man, if\nany) who may find herself prevented from applying to a job in public schools\nand risk being isolated in their homes \u2639.\nHowever, one must remember that they can apply for jobs in the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Talking about private schools, Bambi thinks that the\nGovernment of Qu\u00e9bec must not fund private schools (currently 65% of private\nschools receive funding from the Government of Qu\u00e9bec; http:\/\/www.education.gouv.qc.ca\/parents-et-tuteurs\/ecoles-privees\/<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Anyhow, this law is less authoritarian as it does not\nforce students not to wear any religious symbols (so much more moderate than in\nFrance or, at one point, in Turkey). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now, why does Bambi think that this bill is wise\u2026. Because Qu\u00e9bec respected its past and took the time to think of its future, preventing potential problems like those we see elsewhere, sadly like in her home country or even its neighbouring Israel, when religious lobbies become too powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bambi thinks that this bill is about the secularity of the government; not about removing any right to anyone. The government made a compromise and removed a traditional cross from its National Assembly. Even if Bambi has (Christian) faith in her heart (+ her family includes members of 7 different religions), she salutes this gesture. According to her, it was even about time for a province which government is now officially and fully secular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To conclude, Bambi would like to thank the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois again and cite a (translated) quote from the Honourable Simon Jolin-Barrette, Minister of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion and Government House Leader: “We have just written an important page in the history of Qu\u00e9bec. The public has been waiting for this moment for more than ten years, and our government has had the courage to finally act in this way with rigor and pragmatism. It is legitimate for the Qu\u00e9bec nation to decide how secularism applies in its territory and in its institutions. I am proud, on behalf of your government, to finally affirm and define the secularism of the state by placing it in Qu\u00e9bec law for the first time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thank you Qu\u00e9bec for having the courage to govern and for perhaps providing an example to the world of how to stand for one\u2019s values. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bambi usually follows the news from Qu\u00e9bec with great interest. Herein she will comment on this article entitled \u201cLe bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois veut que Ottawa respecte la laicit\u00e9 au Qu\u00e9bec\u201d (The Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois wants Ottawa to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}