Freedom of Religion in Canada?
Matt Gurney
Friday, Apr. 4, 2014
Religious civil servants face termination. Quebecers need to decide how they feel about that. Dario Ayala / THE GAZETTE
For many months before, and now during, Quebec’s ongoing provincial election campaign, the governing Parti Québécois has been coy about what, exactly, would happen to public-sector workers who chose to continue wearing ”ostentatious” religious garb or symbols while on the job. The practice, which would be banned under the PQ’s proposed secularism charter, would not impact a huge number of people. But the party’s refusal to say how they envisioned them being affected raised many questions.
Consider them answered. In the final days of campaigning ahead of Monday’s vote, the PQ has finally acknowledged what critics of the charter had always insisted was the case: Any member of the civil service, be it a brain surgeon or filing clerk, would be fired if he or she insisted on wearing a veil, kippa or turban at work. The firings would not be immediate, as the charter would be phased in over time, giving religious Quebecers time to voluntarily — if that’s the word — leave the public service or reassess the essentialness of their offending garment or symbol. But for those who refused to alter their dress to conform to the PQ’s standard of secularism, termination is where that process would ultimately end.
The PQ is happy to talk about how seriously it takes Quebec’s heritage, but it would have preferred to avoid talking about these ugly measures. Firing an otherwise qualified employee because of a sincerely held conviction is an outrageous assault on religious liberty, which is no doubt why the PQ has also recently acknowledged it may need to resort to the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to enact it. Without that cover, such a law would never survive in Canadian courts.
Having been forced to admit what her party’s plan would actually entail, Premier Pauline Marois tried to put a positive spin on it. This week, she suggested the government would assist any civil servant fired under the charter in finding a new job in the private sector. “We believe it is possible to find pathways to steer these people to other jobs that match their skills, because [the charter] does not touch the private sector,” Ms. Marois told a Montreal radio station.
Well, that makes sense. After months of the PQ government treating loyal citizens as hostile enemy aliens because of their sincerely held religious convictions, implying they’re unable to conduct professional affairs in a neutral and unbiased manner, what could possibly seem strange about then helping them find new jobs? In the backs of shops all across the province, tucked somewhere out of sight, teachers and physicians, with years of education and on-the-job experience, can look forward to stocking shelves in their new, government-sourced jobs in dépanneurs, bistros, and elsewhere in Quebec’s famously robust private sphere (so long as they speak French, of course). Why, it’s the least Quebec’s newly secularized provincial government could do for all those suddenly deemed unfit for public service.
Would the government ensure these new jobs for the province’s stubborn faithful paid a comparable salary? Would it reimburse citizens who invested thousands of dollars in education and training, who are suddenly unable to advance their (new) careers? Would it somehow protect the accumulated seniority of former public employees?
The PQ clearly feels the urge to say something, lest it spend the final days of the campaign explaining why the government of Quebec will be terminating qualified employees
It’s a safe bet the answer to those questions is no, no and no. And for a good reason — it wouldn’t make any sense. (Besides, if the PQ government had had any luck creating jobs in the private sector, it probably wouldn’t have had to campaign on the charter in the first place.) But polls show Quebecers are uneasy with firing religious public servants, so the PQ clearly feels the urge to say something, lest it spend the final days of the campaign explaining why the government of Quebec will be terminating qualified judge, police officers, surgeons and teachers.
In fact, that’s exactly how the PQ should be spending the final days of the campaign. The party can try to gussy it up with vague promises to transition ex-civil servants, but there’s no hiding the ugliness of its charter. It’s up to the voters of Quebec to declare, with their ballots, that they won’t be fooled by Ms. Marois’ preposterous assurances and divisive vision of society.
National Post
• Email: mgurney@nationalpost.com | Twitter: mattgurney
Posted in: Full Comment Tags: Charter Of Quebec Values, Parti Quebecois, Pauline Marois, Politics, Quebec, Quebec Politics, Religion, Social Issues |
