Québec Values Charter

Québec Values Charter, statement of principles and subsequent legislation introduced in 2013 to Québec’s National Assembly by the ruling Parti Québécois government that sought the creation of a secular society—a society in which religion and the state would be completely separate. The result of numerous controversies in the media and in Québec society regarding reasonable accommodation, the Québec Values Charter encouraged religious neutrality by means of five “proposals.” One of the proposals was a ban on the wearing of any visible symbol indicating a religious affiliation, including a turban, hijab, or yarmulka, by public servants when they are providing services to the public. The charter sparked controversy in Québec and divided the Québécois. The contents of the charter were unveiled on 10 September 2013 by Bernard Drainville, a minister in the Parti Québécois government led by Pauline Marois. On 7 November 2013, Drainville officially tabled the bill (Bill 60). Marois subsequently called a provincial election in March 2014 and based her campaign in part on the charter; the Parti Québécois lost by a wide margin, which effectively killed the bill.

Historical forerunners

Accommodations and the Bouchard-Taylor Commission

The secularism debate intensified after 2002 due to controversy surrounding “reasonable accommodation.” Several media storms caused the Québécois to question the practice of reasonable accommodation, a notion first articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985. At that time, the court confirmed that discrimination on the basis of religion or belief is prohibited and noted that the principle of reasonable accommodation requires that all parties (employers, governments, etc.) accommodate, up to a certain point, the beliefs and practices of all Canadian citizens. For example, in 2002, a young Sikh person took his school board to court when it refused to allow him to wear a kirpan—a religious ceremonial dagger—because the carrying of knives was prohibited in schools in Québec. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it was a reasonable accommodation to permit the young man to wear the kirpan, “in a wooden sheath and wrapped and sewn securely in a sturdy cloth envelope.” In 2006, Hasidic Jews in Outremont successfully demanded that the windows of a YMCA be tinted (and paid for the tinting) because, according to a representative of the Hasidic community, “our religion forbids us to view women in bathing suits.” Some people, including Mario Dumont, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec, criticized these outcomes and the practice of making accommodations as being “unreasonable.”

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The controversy surrounding accommodations reached its peak in 2007 with the creation of a code of conduct by the village of Hérouxville. The code set out the practices prohibited in the village. Aimed at the immigrant population, the code prohibited, among other things, stoning and female genital mutilation. According to the media, the Hérouxville episode suggested that there was a general malaise in Québec toward reasonable accommodation. As a result, in February 2007, Jean Charest, the premier of Québec, formed a commission to investigate the practice of providing reasonable accommodation. The commission was co-chaired by Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor. Even though the Bouchard-Taylor Commission concluded that there was no problem with the practice of accommodation—what was reported in the media differed from what was happening “on the ground”—the commission uncovered considerable fear among the Québécois that immigration and accommodations were infringing on their values.

Definition, objective, and initial criticism of the charter

During the 2012 provincial election, Pauline Marois, leader of the Parti Québécois, introduced the idea of a charter of values to respond to this unease. Finally unveiled on 10 September 2013, this charter had the objective of “pursuing the separation of state and religion” because “the government of Québec believes that this is the best way to respond to religious pluralism in a modern state, conscious of the equality of all persons.” The charter would amend the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and make it mandatory to have one’s face uncovered when receiving or providing state services.

The most controversial element of the charter was the section on religious symbols. According to the charter, public servants and employees of daycares, public schools, general and vocational colleges (cégeps), universities, and health and social service networks, as well as persons performing judicial and adjudicative functions, would be prohibited from wearing “conspicuous religious symbols that overtly indicate a religious affiliation.” Rings, earrings, and necklaces would be the only permitted religious symbols; the wearing of turbans, hijabs, and yarmulkas would be banned. The charter did, however, provide for certain exceptions: the crucifix at the Québec National Assembly, the cross on Mount Royal, and the celebration of Christmas would be tolerated, because they constitute part of the Québécois cultural heritage. The right to opt-out—the right that would permit certain state institutions (municipal boroughs, health and social service agencies, and teaching institutions) to withdraw from the obligations under the law—was also severely criticized. According to Gérard Bouchard, this right would create a two-tiered secularism. While some employees would be required to follow the law to the letter, others, based on a municipal vote, would be exempt from these obligations. Secularism, according to Bouchard, “should be for everyone or no one.”