Jean-François Lisée, Quebec minister for the Montreal area and for international affairs, contributed this article to The New York Times on January 10. This is an edited version.
Angela Merkel deemed multiculturalism – the idea that social harmony is best achieved through celebrating our differences – a complete failure in Germany. David Cameron claimed it facilitated the rise of radical Islam in Britain and called for “stronger societies and identities at home,” along with a “much more active, muscular liberalism” that “believes in certain values and actively promotes them.”
But anyone familiar with Quebec knows its distinctive mix of European (especially French) and American values. That European courts have granted considerable legal leeway to implement measures that promote state neutrality and gender equality is significant to Quebecers. And the ban on public employees’ wearing religious and other symbols has actually been on the books in France for about a century: Christian professors, Jewish doctors and Muslim judges know that, from 9 to 5, they work in a neutral zone where such symbols are out of place….
If the charter does pass – a vote is expected in the spring – the very federal Constitution that Quebec has never approved might be invoked to strike it down. But the Canadian Supreme Court has a history of surprising governments in its major rulings, and it has become less enamoured with multiculturalism in recent decisions. In fact, throughout the country, multiculturalists have been increasingly on the defensive in recent years, not least because of the concern over the multiplication of ethnic enclaves. Around 40 percent of Canadians outside Quebec support the Quebec Charter. In a very real sense, the debate over Quebec’s charter may be the last stand of Canada’s multiculturalist experiment. Whatever the immediate outcome, it may be only a matter of time until Canadian multiculturalism finds itself buried alongside its European siblings.
Canadian multiculturalism is quite a different animal than that of the British, Germany or French variety. At the root of France’s problems with multiculturalism is the underlining principle of French secularism which puts the state above God. In France, a citizen’s is free from religion and any expression of religion in public is frowned up. It is an affront to French nationally identity to express one’s faith in public. This puts the average French citizen in direct conflict with observant French Muslims for whom expressing their faith is an important part of their faith.
In Canada, our principle is one of freedom to practice religion. As such it really doesn’t matter what one chooses to wear as an expression of ones faith. The current separatist government of Quebec has chosen to formalize secularism based on the French model. This makes some sense as both France & Quebec believe that their culture is under attack by growing Americanism and multiculturalism. This state formalization of secularism is a blunt attempt to stem the tide of change in Quebec.
Compared to much of the world the Canadian experience of multiculturalism, based on respect & tolerance , is a great success. As an experiment, we are still working it out and it has challenges as the recent situation at York University illustrates. Multiculturalism is a fact of life in Canada so we are moved to make it work for every’s benefit. Creating such a divisive wedge issue serves the short term political goals of the PQ but will also poison Quebec society for a long time.
France’s achievement of ‘laicity’ in 1905 gives it a much different history (and thus culture) from Quebec’s, where the church’s dominance was shaken off more recently - but the challenges of many cultures is different in France, too, where the ‘multi’ is really two: North African Muslim and Roma. Canada’s and Quebec’s ‘multi’ is more diverse.
The Charter of Secular Values contradicts the Quebec Charter of RIghts, not just the Canadian one slagged by Mr Lisée in his tendentious article. It is a solution in search of a problem, or rather a solution to an unannounced problem: how to boost the Parti Québécois’s fortunes in a minority government. Solution: culture wars. Not everybody is buying in, though, fortunately.