To: Greg or e who wrote (41085 ) 9/6/2013 1:23:34 PM From: average joe Respond to of 69300 Marois promises gradual phase-in of Quebec secular charter - bans religious symbolsQuebec Premier says that a full-time teacher who wears a hijab would receive help to transition and live within the rules adopted by the Quebec society Daniel Leblanc Ottawa — The Globe and Mail Friday, Sep. 06 2013, 12:24 PM EDT The Parti Québécois is promising that it will slowly implement its planned Quebec Charter of Values to ensure a smooth transformation toward a more secular government apparatus. “There will be transition periods,” Quebec Premier Pauline Marois said in a French-language interview that ran in Friday’s edition of Le Devoir . She told the Montreal newspaper that her government is leaning towards the French model of secularism, blasting what she called the English model of multiculturalism. “In England, they get into fights and throw bombs at one another because of multiculturalism and people get lost in that type of a society,” she said. The interview does not provide further context to her statement. Ms. Marois made it clear that she wants to prevent government employees from wearing veils, stating it has a “connotation in regards to the equality between men and women, a form of submission.” She said that a veiled educator, for example, has authority over children and could incite them to practice her religion. She said that a full-time teacher who wears a hijab would receive help to transition and live within the rules adopted by the Quebec society. Ms. Marois said her government will defend its plan in front of the courts, but has no intention of using the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, which would allow for the PQ to override the Charter of Rights and Freedom. “We’re not launching judicial battles,” Ms. Marois said. “The objective is not to provoke.” The statement is important, as the major federal parties have made it clear that they will object to any proposal that would go against fundamental rights and freedoms of Canadians. According to a media leak, which has not been disavowed by the PQ government, the province wants to protect state secularism by prohibiting public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols in workplaces such as schools, hospitals and daycares. The Quebec government is planning to lay out a series of “orientations” and “proposals” for its Charter next week, while a full bill will be tabled only after a consultation period, likely later in the fall.Quebeckers: How would a ban on religious symbols at work affect you? theglobeandmail.com