Quebec Confidential
By Mike Cohen
MONTREAL – What are we to make of the unanimous Supreme Court decision that will allow ceremonial daggers in Canadian schools?
In the two weeks since the ruling, Quebec society has been divided on whether this entire matter really falls under the category of freedom of religion. Jewish groups such as B’nai Brith Canada, however, have hailed the decision. In fact, B’nai Brith compared the victory of the Sikh community to another high court decision in 2004 that allowed Orthodox Jews to build succahs on their high-rise condominium balconies.
“It is not the role of the state to limit an individual’s right to practise his or her religion according to his or her own customs and traditions,” a B’nai Brith statement reads.
This entire case became a cause celebre in Quebec in 2001 when Gurbaj Singh Multani, then 12, was attending a Montreal French public school. One day his kirpan, previously undetected, fell to the ground when he was playing in the schoolyard. Staff and parents were concerned and it was deemed too dangerous for him to wear his kirpan. Since baptized Sikhs are required by their religion to wear the ceremonial dagger, it became a human rights issue. And a very public one.
The Quebec Superior Court ruled the restriction was a violation of Multani’s rights to religious freedom and that he could wear the kirpan provided he’d adhere to several conditions. Then the Quebec Court of Appeal stepped in. While it agreed that the ban contravened Charter rights to freedom of religion, it ruled this nonetheless is a reasonable restriction.
Signs of xenophobia began rearing their ugly head in Quebec. People picketed Multani’s school and heckled him. It got so bad he needed a police escort. Eventually, he left the public school system and enrolled in a private school.
Negative reaction to the decision was much more virulent in French print and broadcast media. Some call-in shows featured down right intolerance. “We’ve had enough of tolerating turbans on heads,” one caller said. “Aren’t they capable of putting on a cap like the Québecois. We’re, like, fed up with seeing people coming from outside and doing what they want.”
Both the Parti Québecois and the Bloc Québecois were silent on the issue. And for good reason. Multani – like any other cultural minority does not qualify to attend a school in the English public system because of the language laws here – is precisely the type of voter the separatist parties are courting. And they have been successful at it. New immigrants to Quebec must send their children to French school. While initially these newcomers appeared to be strong federalists, that is shifting. It has been particularly noticeable where the Bloc is concerned. Reactions like we are seeing among some French-speaking Quebecers to the kirpan ruling are not what PQ leader André Boisclair and his Bloc counterpart, Gilles Duceppe, want to see.
If anything, this ruling provides a golden opportunity for schools to educate students about the symbolic nature of kirpans and other religious symbols.
Mike Cohen is the Jewish Tribune’s senior Quebec correspondent.
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