The Quebecois Party´s Rule on Religious Attire in the Workplace

The Quebecois party plans to enforce restrictions on government workers from wearing attire that expresses religious identity while at work. These cultural symbols are deemed as being “overt and conspicuous,” laying out the new rules that affects a range of individuals. “Everyone from judges to teachers,” now must “doff their hijabs, kippas, niqabs, turbans, and outsize crucifixes.” Child care centers are also restricted from serving “kosher or halal foods.” The only way government employees can wear anything that covers their face is by reason of weather conditions only. The minister of the party, Bernard Drainville claims that in the Charter of Quebec Values, it mentions that the bill is necessary in order to “recognize and affirm some of the fundamental values that define us as Quebecers.” However, this issue has caused a severe division between perceptions of those in favor and those who oppose it, due to the span of opinions on the moral and ethical effects that will result from it. Similar to dividedness of the issue, Quebec is also quite separate ethnically having the diversity concentrated in Montreal and more uniform (white) demographic in the outskirts of the province. White Francophone individuals comprise the majority of those in favor and essentially supports Le Parti Quebecois’s objective of gaining independence from Canada. The ban has targeted many “religious minorities—in particular, veiled Muslim women, mostly in and around Montreal.”

The most apparent human right issue is the freedom of expression, whether it is of cultural and/or religious affiliation, through the physical display of their identity. The ban is illegalizing government employees from wearing this physical specimen of religious identity, being tha...

... middle of paper ...

...k of understanding. Since they were brought up with the mentalities of their parents, their minds have been molded and conditioned to perceive their “normal” practices as the norm. Being the other practices are rather different, they cause discrepancies in the Francophone perception and thus lead to criticism and opposing opinions. This is a challenging issue, being that the points of view are so split; there are only really two extremes that are present in the Quebecoise society. I personally think the ban forces more tradeoffs and oppression of a specific cultural identity, while being significantly less effective on the white Quebecois population. The acceptance of double standards has been made possible by the preconceived notions of the people, along with the political objective to make Quebec culturally unison through the forcing oppression on its minorities.