Ashamed Canadian

I am distraught . I am disappointed. As a Canadian - I am embarrassed and even ashamed. I can not believe that in 2019, in Canada, a part of the country has decided to make it impossible for people of certain faiths to work in certain jobs. And what is worse - there is nothing that other Canadians can do.

From now on, anyone employed in a "position of power" which includes civil servants and teachers are not allowed to display any religious signs or apparel including all head covering and jewelry. It is absurd. It is any rational person's nightmare. It is a regressive law that will help no one and hurt thousands.

While the Quebec government may want to argue that they are creating this system of repression because they want to maintain the Quebec "culture" or that they want to create a safe, secular society - they are, at the very least, lying to themselves. The simple truth is that they are afraid of change. It is a natural to fear that the world is changing. No one likes the fact that that we have little control as to how it will all end up. We all, if we are honest - would prefer to live in the world that we came of age in - not the one that confronts us now.

But those fears are not a reason to make it impossible for people who think, dress or worship just a little bit different than us to be denied access to good jobs. By allowing this level of xenophobia, we are ensuring that future generations will have permission to be racist. If it is possible, even worse the new law will ensure that Quebec as a society will not grow or develop. It will continue to lock itself in the past, fantasizing about living in a world that may never have really existed and certainly never will again.By trying to hang on to the past, Quebecers will never have the chance to live in the future.

The brightest and the most innovative of the young immigrants will leave Quebec - to share their talents and passions in other parts of Canada. But Canada's reputation will be diminished by a group of people who lack the courage to confront their fears; and/or lack the ability to adapt to a different world - a world of opportunity and growth.

We should all morn the cost of disenfranchising a whole community of people,