Contextualising the Quebec Charter of Values: how the Muslim ‘Other’ is conceptualised in Quebec

A Tale of Two Liberalisms? Attitudes toward Minority Religious Symbols in Quebec and Canada

“…Liberalism is not usually invoked to account for differences between Quebecers and other Canadians on such matters as minority religious symbols in public institutions. Instead, prejudice and other forms of out-group antipathy are typically cited when discussing the support of Quebecers for such restrictions (Winter, 2014; Bakali, 2015). Indeed, research in Europe demonstrates that opposition to the place of minority religions in the public sphere is associated with generalized prejudice (Helbling, 2014; Van der Noll and Saroglou, 2015) or negative attitudes toward Muslims, in particular (Saroglou et al, 2009; Van der Noll and Saroglou, 2015).…”

“…Although many of the Charter's proponents framed their support in the language of liberalism, with references to “gender equality”, “state neutrality” and “freedom of conscience”, efforts to account for support for restrictions on minority religious symbols rarely mention liberalism 1 . For some commentators, references to liberal values by supporters of personal restrictions on minority religious symbols constitute “faulty rationalization for Quebec's official bigotry” (Siddiqui, 2013; see also Bakali, 2015). Such doubts are not unwarranted; there is growing evidence that far-right parties in Europe have co-opted the language of gender equality and liberal values in order to legitimize anti-immigration and anti-minority positions (Betz and Meret, 2009; Mayer, 2013).…”

Echoes of Terror(ism)

“…The curriculum itself is supposed to safeguard against "violent extremism" through critical dialogue and tolerance, yet mainstream political discourse in Québec has revolved around protecting a narrow, Euro-centric conception of Québec identity toward which Muslims, immigrants, and other racialized people are expected to "integrate." Thus, the moral ambitions of CVE have not reconciled, or are in direct conflict with, the lived experience Muslim Quebecers who have been subject to systematic Othering in Québec through discourse and legislative actions such as the Québec Charter of Values debate and the recent hijab ban via Bill-21 (Bakali, 2015;Koussens, 2020). Bill-21 has especially problematic implications for Muslim students as it denies them the opportunity to see their identities reflected in teachers wearing the hijab and sends the message that expressions of their Muslim faith are not welcome in schools (Wells, 2019).…”

The impact of immigration on local ethnic groups' demographic representativeness: The case study of ethnic French Canadians in Quebec

“…Immigration and related questions regarding integration, culture, and religion could become increasingly important in politics. In 2008, the Quebec government held a special commission on “reasonable accommodation” which addressed the issue of religious minorities demanding special requests to accommodate their religion (Bouchard & Taylor, 2008); in 2013, the Parti Quebecois proposed a bill, the Quebec charter of values, which ended up in a heated debate regarding Quebec's relationship with immigrants and religious minorities, particularly the Muslim minority (Bakali, 2015; Nadeau & Helly, 2016). In the 2018 elections, the Coalition Avenir Quebec proposed to temporarily reduce annual immigration from 50,000 to 40,000 until proper means of integration and francisation are implemented.…”