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### Viewing cable 07MONTREAL137, Mosaic under pressure (part 2 of 2): Politicians Enter the

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
07MONTREAL137 | 2007-03-23 19:07 | 2011-04-28 00:12 | UNCLASSIFIED | Consulate Montreal

`

    VZCZCXRO5529
    RR RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
    DE RUEHMT #0137/01 0821926
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    R 231926Z MAR 07
    FM AMCONSUL MONTREAL
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0513
    INFO RUCNCAN/ALCAN COLLECTIVE

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MONTREAL 000137

    SIPDIS

    C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y

    SIPDIS

    Ref: Montreal 132, 06 Montreal 1202

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM PINS KDEM SOCI CA
    SUBJECT: Mosaic under pressure (part 2 of 2): Politicians Enter the
    fray in Quebec's debate over reasonable accommodation

    MONTREAL 00000137  001.2 OF 003

    This message is Sensitive but Unclassified

    -------
    Summary
    -------

    ¶1. (SBU) This is the second part of our examination of the debate
    over "reasonable accommodation," the political catch-all term for
    the building tension between Quebec's identity as a "secular"
    society and the perceived need to shape its rules and values to
    "accommodate" religious or cultural considerations. The debate has
    become more than a social and cultural phenomenon, and politicians
    across the ideological spectrum are positioning themselves vis-`-vis
    this issue, which is likely to remain important long after Quebec's
    March 26 election day.  Mario Dumont, head of the Action
    Democratique du Quebec (ADQ), was the first to grab this political
    hot potato, with an open letter to the Quebec public that cited
    examples of "unreasonable accommodation." Premier Charest and the
    Quebec Liberal Party, and Andre Boisclair, head of the Parti
    Quebecois (PQ) soon followed suit with their own vision of what can
    be considered "reasonable" in Quebec's multicultural society.

    --------------------------------------------- ------
    "Reasonable" accommodation and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    --------------------------------------------- ------

    ¶2. (SBU) In mid-February, the McGill Institute for the Study of
    Canada took advantage of its planned conference on the Canadian
    Charter of Rights and Freedoms' 25th anniversary to organize a
    public forum on reasonable accommodation, which CBC Radio hosted and
    aired. The panel included Rabbi Ronnie Fine, Sarah Elgazzar, a
    Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations representative,
    journalist Laura-Julie Perreault, and Julius Grey, a constitutional
    lawyer and civil liberties advocate. Other religious leaders and PQ,
    ADQ, and Liberal party representatives participated and asked to
    defend their positions.

    ¶3. (SBU) The panelists pointed out Francophone insecurities as a
    minority group, "pure laine" or old-stock Quebecois attitudes
    causing isolation of immigrants, the general publicQs lack of
    knowledge of minorities, distorted views of rural Quebeckers, and an
    irresponsible media competing to find the next alleged instance of
    reasonable accommodation, while paying little heed to more practical
    issues, such as underemployment among immigrants. Grey concluded the
    problem is multiculturalism, which has discouraged integration of
    immigrants. As the McGill Institute summarized: "Although he said he
    is in favor of integration, Grey noted that reasonable accommodation
    is a legal right under the charter and 'a refusal of reasonable
    accommodation is a refusal of equality a form of exclusion,' which
    could have a practical effect like denial of employment.  Reasonable
    accommodation is not about 'silly' demands like getting rid of the
    word Christmas or Christmas trees, he said.  Real inclusion is
    economic. Your origin should not be a prediction of your wealth.
    Grey noted that he himself is an immigrant who came to Canada from
    Poland in 1957 at age nine." Grey, who was the lawyer advocating for
    the young sikh boysQ right to wear the kirpan at school, reiterated
    the same arguments to CG, Country PAO, and post PAO during a private
    conversation.

    ¶4. (SBU) The Quebec Council on Intercultural Relations, whose
    mission is to study the integration of cultural communities in the
    province and make policy recommendations to the Quebec government,
    attributes the tension over the issue of reasonable accommodation
    fundamentally to the simple fact that more groups are sharing the
    same space and bumping into each other more frequently.  Ironically,
    however, much of the tension over the definition of reasonable
    accommodation has originated in places, like Herouxville (a small,
    rural town in Quebec whose elected council developed a "code of
    conduct" for immigrants--see reftel), which have few to no
    immigrants.  According to this view, Quebec is simply catching up to
    other parts of the Western world on the issue, citing similar
    multicultural societiesQ growing pains and debates in France and the
    Netherlands.  Meanwhile, Quebec's Catholic bishops told the media
    that confusion between culture and religion is what is fuelling the
    current debate on the way Quebecers welcome immigrants and integrate
    them in society, and challenged other religious groups to clearly
    define their identity and distinguish between strictly religious
    customs and cultural ones.

    ----------------------------------------
    Liberal, PQ, and ADQ candidates chime in
    ----------------------------------------

    ¶5. (SBU) Mario Dumont, head of the political party Action
    Democratique du Quebec (ADQ), hit on underlying anxieties and struck
    a chord with Qold stockQ Quebeckers, and some say simultaneously
    gained unprecedented popularity for his party, when he wrote an open
    letter to the Quebec public on reasonable accommodation in January,
    stating that Quebec should quit bending over backwards to
    accommodate minorities. Dumont cited one example of what he

    MONTREAL 00000137  002.2 OF 003

    considered "unreasonable accommodation" - the exclusion of
    fathers-to-be from prenatal classes at one Montreal-area community
    center in order to accommodate the presence of Muslim, Hindu, and
    Sikh expectant mothers (which actually turned out to be urban myth,
    though few have corrected the record) and challenged Quebeckers to
    more clearly define a "frame of reference" for Quebec's values and
    the lengths Quebeckers should go to when accommodating immigrants.
    One Montrealer wrote to La Presse: "We're tired of empty political
    shells who have no firm positionFor us, Mario Dumont is a breath of
    fresh air." Although Dumont's political rivals strongly dislike him,
    and his statements about the need to limit accommodations for
    immigrants have proved immensely controversial in Montreal, they
    have won him some support in Quebec's rural regions and among urban
    dwellers who fear their own rights have been encroached upon through
    concessions to newcomers to the province.

    ¶6. (SBU) Premier Charest and the Liberal party in Quebec have sought
    to turn down the volume on this to remind Quebeckers that reasonable
    accommodation for religious minorities is no different in principle
    than accommodations for physically handicapped persons. He also
    noted, however, that "The Quebec nation has values, solid values,
    including the equality of women and men; the primacy of French; the
    separation between the state and religion. These values are
    fundamental. They cannot be the object of any accommodation. They
    cannot be subordinated to any other principle."

    ¶7. (SBU) In response to the public furor and media frenzy
    surrounding the code of conduct for immigrants drawn up by the
    elected council of the tiny town of Herouxville (see reftel),
    Premier Charest created a one-year commission to study reasonable
    accommodation in Quebec, headed by Charles Taylor, a McGill
    University professor emeritus of philosophy and Gerard Bouchard, an
    historian and sociologist. For many, the high caliber academics
    chosen was evidence enough that Charest recognizes the seriousness
    and political importance of reasonable accommodation as an issue for
    Quebeckers. Others, like well-respected Association for Canadian
    Studies Director Dr. Jack Jedwab, surmised that Charest's decision
    to set up the Commission was so he would not have to deal with
    reasonable accommodation during the electoral campaign.

    ¶8. (SBU) Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities Lise
    Theriault made a concerted effort to explain what is, and what is
    not, reasonable accommodation.  Minister Theriault deemed most of
    the high profile cases gracing press reports in recent weeks (ref A)
    to be "unreasonable," especially those having to do with equality
    between men and women, such as recent cases involving policewomen,
    female ER doctors and drivers' license examiners being replaced by
    male counterparts to accommodate the wishes of members of religious
    minorities, the frosting of YMCA gym windows, the practice of using
    only male police officers in dealing with Hasidic Jewish men, and as
    well as the case of a man who was asked to leave a swimming pool so
    Muslim women could swim (a topic treated with sympathetic humor in a
    recent episode of CBC TV's new sitcom, "Little Mosque on the
    Prairie"). When confronted during a television interview with the
    issue of a crucifix that still hangs in the National Assembly,
    (making it difficult for immigrants to truly believe religion and
    the state are separate in Quebec, according to the hosts), Theriault
    replied that the crucifix represents the 400-year history of the
    building of the province, a history Quebeckers need not deny to
    welcome immigrants. Her TV program hosts pounced on this response as
    contradictory and shaky.

    ¶9. (SBU) Meanwhile, Andre Boisclair, head of the Parti Quebecois
    (PQ), has publicly blamed Charest for pandering to Quebecers who
    balk at adjustments made for immigrants and chimed in to advocate
    that the cross decorating the National Assembly since 1936 should be
    removed in the interests of removing all religious symbols from
    public space.  Despite Quebec's identity as a "secular" province,
    Boisclair's suggestion proved immensely unpopular; he eventually
    retracted it after realizing that he had misjudged Quebeckers'
    desire to break ranks with tradition and religious symbolism.
    Boisclair tried to argue that it cannot be reasonable accommodation,
    if it has nothing to do with public services: "In a diverse society,
    religious symbols have no place in public space." Issues as
    seemingly mundane as the composition of traditional Quebec pea soup
    came into play on the campaign trail, when Boisclair was asked to
    comment on the decision by a sugar shack owner ("cabane a sucre" or
    sugar shack is a Quebec institution serving foods like meat pie and
    baked beans during maple sugar season) to offer a special batch of
    pea soup without ham and pork products so that his Muslim clientele
    could experience this beloved Quebec tradition.  Boisclair, after
    insisting that the State has no place getting involved with a
    decision by a private company to accommodate a minority request, did
    note that "someone who is running a cabane a sucre and is not
    serving ham will have a real tough time in life."

    -------
    Comment
    -------

    MONTREAL 00000137  003.2 OF 003

    ¶10. (SBU) The political dimension of the "reasonable accommodation"
    debate might be attributed to political opportunism on the part of
    candidates who view the topic as a fickle, easily manipulated
    election issue. Regardless of who wins the election, the deeper
    tensions underlying this debate represent demographic and political
    trends that characterize Quebec's mosaic under pressure, and are
    likely to remain a hot political topic.
    MARSHALL

`