Xenophobia - Alive and Well in Canada

I think a lot of us read or hear about a particular news item and just ignore what is being planned as it seems to impossible to conceive of. We think to ourselves - no Canadian politician would ever consider pursuing that particular ideological dream or the electorate would never, ever allow things to go that far or common sense will prevail and that silly self-serving notion will just go away and failing all of that, there are laws against a government in Canada from doing that. In terms of Quebec's xenophobic proposed law banning anyone, in any type of government funded authority position from wearing anything that demonstrates their personal faith - we were wrong to think that no politician would attempt it, that the electorate would dismiss it or that our common sense would make it all go away.

It is inconceivable to me that in 2019 somewhere in Canada, a provincial government would be proposing a law that bans the wearing of a kippah or yarmulke, a turban, a niqab, a hijab or a burka. To argue that they are doing it because religion and the state must be kept separate is patently absurd. While there would be perhaps some validity for concern if a provincial judge wore a full veil covering her face, it is hard to imagine how the wearing of a turban or a yarmulke or a hijab can affect how a teacher does their job or how the students interact with them. From what teachers tell me - all too frequently teachers are not seen as any sort of authority figures at all. Being concerned with teachers wearing some sort of head covering, if nothing else, certainly negates all of the experiences of Quebecers my age who were taught by nuns wearing a habit including the wimple.

Quebec has been banging the drum as to how important it is - to them - to protect their identity from being distorted or changed by anyone who was not born there or at the very least speaks French ever since the 1960s. I get that Quebecers are concerned about losing their special identity. Welcome to the club. We are all having to face that problem. Some of us embrace the concept - others withdraw into themselves while sprouting racist comments about how this continent was destined for the "white" man. But regardless of how I personally feel about the changes our world is facing, regardless of how uncomfortable I may be with people who look and act differently from me or my family - it is time that I accepted it.

For the Quebec government and its citizens to pretend that they are not being xenophobic by passing a law preventing anyone who dresses according to their religious beliefs from working at a job serving the public is disingenuous at best. Far more likely they are lying if not to us then certainly to themselves. There is no other way to put it - they are wrong to even attempt to pass a law such as this. They are wrong to encourage this sort of thinking. They are wrong to not put in place programs to help Quebecers adjust to the reality of living in 2019. History will show that they are wrong - but in the meantime, people's lives will potentially be negatively affected. It is extraordinary to think that in Quebec, children will learn that if you are Christian then you can get a certain type of jobs, but if you are a devout Muslim, Sikh or a Jew you won't.

And if that is not discrimination - I do not know what is.