Daily BrewUptick in attacks on Quebec Muslims tied to debate over PQ’s values charter
Whatever your position is on the Parti Quebecois' proposed charter of values, it's undeniable that debate over it has brought some of Canada's bigots out of the woodwork.
Some outside Quebec have used the issue to slam Quebecers, but much of the focus has been on the increasing tensions within the province and rising fear among Muslims, who see themselves as a main target of the charter.
The charter, which is scheduled to go before the National Assembly on Thursday with a new 28-word title that will need its own scroll of parchment, aims to embed secularism and religious neutrality as a core value of all state institutions.
The most contentious element has been the proposed requirement that public servants not wear any conspicuous religious symbols, including Christian crosses, stars of David, Jewish skull caps, Sikh turbans and Muslim head coverings.
[ Related: PQ values charter gets a new, 28-word name ]
Since details of the proposal were leaked in late summer, news outlets and social media have documented a rash of incidents directed at Muslims, including the vandalization of a mosque in Chicoutimi, a confrontation at a suburban Quebec City shopping mall and video of a man on a bus harassing a woman about her headscarf.
The Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia (Collectif Québécois contre l'Islamophobie) told CBC News on Wednesday that it's charted a 300 per cent increase in complaints about anti-Muslim attacks in recent weeks.
“Today Muslim women wearing veils are scared to go [out] publicly and to walk alone in parks, in buses, in metros, in malls. So this is really dangerous now,” spokesman Adil Charkaoul said.
Montreal resident Hanady Saad told CBC News she was walking with friends on René-Lévesque Boulevard a few weeks ago when a stranger yelled at her.
“He was starting to say bad words — 'Terrorist, go back home, we don't want to see your hijab. You have to take it off,' "said Saad, adding that she's had two similar incidents in the last month.
Such comments have been rare in her 23 years living in Quebec, she said.
[ Related: Bigoted outbursts in wake of values-charter proposal expose Quebec’s cultural divisions ]
The hatred apparently is not all going one way. Live Leak posted a video this week that it claims was deleted from YouTube channel JudenTuben showing two apparent Muslim women cursing and assaulting a man in a fast-food restaurant.
According to the account accompanying the post, the man shooting the video (described as a full-bearded atheist) tried to engage them in a discussion of the veil. It's not clear what he might have said to provoke the outburst, which took place mostly in French, but he was reportedly called a "dirty Jew," and a "kike."
Quebec Minister of Democratic Institutions Bernard Drainville, charged with shepherding the charter legislation through National Assembly, argues most of the debate has been healthy and urges people to remain civil.
"I maintain that we should be respectful of each other even though we disagree," Drainville told CBC News.
But what will happen if the minority PQ government manages to pass the legislation? Will some Quebecers see it as a licence to increase the pressure on visible religious minorities to conform, whether the charter's rules apply to them or not?
