How is the PQ’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values going to make minority groups feel welcome? Short answer: it isn’t. The Parti Québécois government is gearing up to introduce its Charter of Quebec Values (originally conceived of as the Quebec Charter of Secularism). According to a story in the Journal de Montréal last week — widely seen as a trial balloon by the PQ — the proposed legislation would outlaw Quebec employees in public institutions, such as health-care workers, police officers, judges and teachers, from wearing “conspicuous” religious symbols such as turbans, kippas, hijabs and crucifixes. Why is it that identity politics seem to be the one thing that continues to nourish the PQ and drive its political agenda? Despite the pressing issues of corruption, a shaky economy, disappearing jobs, decrepit infrastructure and a shortage of doctors, the PQ has remained steadfastly committed to pushing through its flagship policy priorities: language, culture, identity and sovereignty. What purpose do standardized ideas about “Quebec values” and fixed ideas of what it means to be a Quebecer serve? For one thing, these measures win votes among the neo-traditional and right-wing nationalists. But beyond that, they do little more than exacerbate social tensions over identity and belonging. Like the Quebec Identity Act (Bill 195) introduced by Pauline Marois in 2007 (and promptly defeated in the National Assembly) and the recent tabling of Bill 14, an Act to Amend the Charter of the French Language, the proposed Charter of Quebec Values is a tool to manufacture social uncertainty and garner support for the “national” project. The PQ’s strategy has long involved positioning itself as the guardian of cultural survival for the francophone majority. Ironically, this is not unlike how the Roman Catholic Church behaved before secularization took hold. It is worth repeating that prior to the 1960s, French Canadian identity was not defined by Quebec’s borders, but along ideological lines. French Canadians were encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church to coalesce around three social tenets — faith, race and language — that would assure their collective survival in the face of perceived external dangers: anglicization, Protestantism and later, feminism, urbanization, modernization and industrialization. When secularization began to take root during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, race and religion were no longer seen as appropriate categories of identity in the new civic (and not ethnic) approach to nationalism. Race and religion were folded into language as the main marker of identity and guarantee of collective existence, and the key symbol of national legitimacy. Over the years, I have had many exchanges with Péquistes who lament the fact that Quebec nationalism is still viewed with suspicion by the province’s multitude of minority groups who do not identify as pure laine. The problem is that despite the PQ’s rhetorical commitment to equality, inclusion and openness, its actions consistently suggest that it remains a party looking to use the power of the state to impose the cultural dominance of the majority onto Quebec’s cultural, religious and linguistic minorities. The proposed Charter of Quebec Values does nothing to help the PQ’s image and, in fact, is helping to perpetuate this view. I get that this is part of the party’s carefully crafted strategy to distance itself from Canada and Canadian multiculturalism, but it’s a dangerous gamble to take. Upstart political parties Québec solidaire and Option nationale have demonstrated that there are other ways to think about sovereignty that do not pander to the politics of division. As I’ve said before, Quebec is facing a large demographic shift vis-à-vis its aging population and low birth rate among “old-stock” francophones de souche, meaning high rates of immigration are needed to offset Quebec’s dwindling population. How is the PQ’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values going to make minority groups feel welcome? Short answer: It isn’t. The subjugation of basic civil liberties to some government-created notion of “national values” puts the PQ into fundamentalist, far-right ideological territory. Not only does it run counter to international human-rights legal architecture, as well as the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights, but these so-called “values” are not representative of the Quebec people, who are overwhelmingly open, confident and tired of these The PQ’s divisive hang-up with identity politics
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 20:02:16 +0000
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