Quebec Moves to End Canadian Elected Officials’ Oath to King Charles

THE GUARDIAN: ‘It is a relic from the past’: strong opposition to oath from three political parties of French-speaking province

Quebec’s premier, François Legault, will propose legislation to end the oath to the British king.Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Quebec’s premier, François Legault, said that his government would introduce legislation next week to end elected officials’ required oath to Britain’s King Charles, as pressure mounts in the Canadian province to cut such ties with the monarchy.

Fresh legislation from the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) follows a separate bill introduced on Thursday by the left-leaning Québec Solidaire party that would allow elected officials to just take an oath to the people of Quebec.

“It is, I think, a relic from the past,” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, a co-spokesperson for Québec Solidaire, said about the oath to King Charles.

“I think there is strong support in Quebec to modernize our institutions, to make sure that the representatives of the people are not forced in 2022 to swear an oath to a foreign king.” » | Reuters in Montreal | Thursday, December 1, 2022

‘Unacceptable’: Outrage as Air Canada Chief Gives Quebec Speech in English

THE GUARDIAN: Michael Rousseau’s decision not to speak French in Quebec address inflames longstanding grievances over linguistic rights

The head of Canada’s largest airline is facing public outrage and calls for his resignation after giving a speech in English to business leaders in Quebec – a misstep that has inflamed longstanding grievances over linguistic rights and protections in the country’s lone Francophone province.

The row began last week, when in his first major public appearance as head of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau chose to address the city’s chamber of commerce without speaking French.

Rousseau’s gaffe comes as the Quebec government attempts to dramatically strengthen protections for the French language amid fears English is overtaking it, especially in large cities. » | Leyland Cecco in Toronto | Monday, November 8, 2021

Quebec to Ban Public Employees from Wearing Religious Symbols

THE GUARDIAN: Critics say move targets Muslim women wearing hijabs / Justin Trudeau says legitimising discrimination is ‘unthinkable’

The Canadian province of Quebec will ban public sector employees from wearing religious symbols during work hours, in legislation introduced on Thursday, a controversial move that critics say targets Muslim women who wear hijabs or other head coverings.

The proposed law sets the province’s right-leaning Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government on a collision course with the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who promotes religious freedom, in a federal election year with Quebec a vital battleground.

“It is unthinkable to me that in a free society we would legitimise discrimination against citizens based on their religion,” Trudeau told reporters in Halifax on Thursday. » | Reuters in Ottawa | Thursday, March 28, 2019

G7 Gets Underway amid Rising Tensions with Trump

Canada Sees Surge in Border Crossings as Thousands Seek Asylum from US

The number of refugees crossing into Canada from the US has soared since late last year.

Religious Charter Sparks Furor in Canada

Public consultations underway on contentious proposal to ban civil servants from wearing religious symbols in Quebec.

Fury as Quebec Passes Law to Stifle Student Fee Protests
THE GUARDIAN: Canadian province's government accused of 'murdering the right to demonstrate' in response to months of turmoil

Quebec's provincial government has passed an emergency law restricting demonstrations and shutting some universities as the government seeks to end three months of protests against tuition fee increases. Outraged students reacted by calling it an act of war.

Among the provisions of the law, which passed 68-48 on Friday, is a requirement that police be informed eight hours before a protest and told the route of any demonstration that includes 50 or more people.

Hours after the vote thousands of protesters marched in downtown Montreal to condemn the legislation, which students and supporters say limits their ability to demonstrate their disapproval of the fee hikes. "They pulled the plug instead of trying to develop something constructive through talks, " said participant Felix Siry, 22. "I think this will just make things worse."

Police officers in riot gear and others on horseback watched as the loud and energetic crowd made its way downtown, chanting: "No special law will break us!"

Molotov cocktails were thrown causing police to declare the demonstration illegal. Police used pepper spray and one man was arrested. Some people threw objects at a small group of helmeted police who were forced to retreat but charged back firing teargas. » | Associated Press in Montreal | Saturday, May 19, 2012

Related »

Quebec Rocked by Student Protests

THE GUARDIAN: Students clash with police as Quebec introduces emergency laws to close universities and crack down on tuition fee demonstrations

Quebec's provincial government, facing the most sustained student protests in Canadian history, has introduced emergency legislation that would shut some universities and impose harsh fines on pickets blocking students from attending classes, as it looks to end three months of demonstrations against rises in tuition fees.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in downtown Montreal on Thursday night as the government introduced the bill, with protests spilling over onto an expressway between stalled cars. Tuesday will mark 100 days since the demonstrations began.

Authorities said 122 people were arrested on Wednesday as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Montreal. Bank windows were smashed and missiles thrown at police. » | Associated Press in Montreal | Friday, May 18, 2012

«Le Québec reste une partie très importante de notre pays...», dit Harper

LA PRESSE: (Ottawa) Stephen Harper se défend de négliger le Québec depuis qu'il dirige un gouvernement majoritaire avec une faible représentation de la province. Il dit avoir réglé des dossiers québécois importants au cours des derniers mois et soutient que les ministres du Québec jouent un rôle prépondérant au sein de son cabinet.

M. Harper répond ainsi à certains de ses détracteurs au Québec, dont Peter White, le président de l'Association du Parti conservateur de Brome-Missisquoi, qui l'a accusé, dans une récente lettre au magazine Maclean's, d'avoir tourné le dos à la province. » | Joël-Denis Bellavance, La Presse | samedi 04 février 2012

Prince William and Kate Heckled by Protesters in Quebec

THE GUARDIAN: Anti-monarchist seperatist movement tells 'parasite' Duke and Duchess to go home

Prince William and the royal party could have been forgiven for not noticing, but there was a part of Quebec that had no intention of welcoming him and his wife, except with whistles, saucepan lids, vuvuzelas and, incongruously, bagpipes.

The prince – a rare British royal venturing into the heart of francophone, would-be separatist Quebec – received a formal welcome and inspection parade outside the city hall by the bearskin-helmeted members of the locally recruited 22nd regiment, known as "Les Van Doos". The mayor's words of welcome were warm, and even the regimental goat, Baptiste, looked benignly upon him.

So far, all in a day's work. But a few streets away, around 300 demonstrators had a different message. Mostly young, T-shirt clad and some facially studded, but with a scattering of older folk, they had gathered outside an Irish pub to bellow, toot and whistle the message that the monarchy should get out of Canada.

Blue and white fleur-de-lys Quebec flags were waved, as was the green, white and red standard of the failed insurrection of 1837. Their handmade banners told the story: "Parasite go home" said one, "And don't come back" added another. "Pay for your trip" said a third. "William dégage" was the message. Even more bluntly and in English: "Kate go UK yourself". And one for students of Britain's victory over France in the seven years war: "We are still waiting for your excuses for 1755." » | Stephen Bates | Sunday, July 03, 2011

Looking for Ben Ali's Daughter... In Their Canadian Residence

Québec: Be Aware of Islam

Prince of Wales' Tour of Canada Marred by Anti-monarchy Protests
THE TELEGRAPH: The Prince of Wales' tour of Canada has been marred by an anti-monarchy protest, with Quebec separatists clashing with riot police during a demonstration in Montreal.

Canadian riot police moved to the top of the street around 15 minutes before the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall were due to arrive. Photo: The Telegraph
A hardcore group of more than 50 people, some wearing balaclavas or with their faces obscured by scarves, chanted slogans and held anti-royal placards outside the headquarters of The Black Watch of Canada Regiment which is due to receive new colours from Charles.

They gathered outside the building in the centre of Montreal chanting "majesty go home" and "majesty, majesty hey, hey - goodbye".

The separatists want the state of Quebec to become a country in its own right.

Canadian riot police moved to the top of the street around 15 minutes before the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall were due to arrive.

They walked down the street in lines pushing the protesters back but they soon escalated into ugly scuffles with the protesters being hit by the shields.

At one point one man was dragged out of the crowd and held down by around four officers before being taken away.

The tour has also attracted controversy for the Duchess of Cornwall's wearing of fur. On the first day, she wore a rabbit stole. >>> Andy Bloxham | Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Waafa Sultan – Québec: "Be Aware of Islam"

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback/Broché – Canada) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback/Relié – Canada) >>>

Barbara Kay, Quebec Shock Jock Is Accused by the Usual Suspects of a Hit Job on a Hijab
NATIONAL POST: There's a witch hunt going on in Quebec, and as all too often in this country's linguistically fractured country, what is happening in Quebec seems to be staying in Quebec. This is annoying, because it's a free-speech issue that concerns us all.

Here is the story, with details provided from Richard Martineau's post in Canoe, the Journal de Montreal's comment blog. On September 10, outspoken 98.5 FM radio host Benoît Dutrizac interviewed NDP candidate for Bourassa riding, Samira Laouni. Ms Laouni is an observant Muslim (she wears the hijab) and has worked as project manager for the Canadian Islamic Congress, a militant lobby for Islamic interests, including, most troublingly, the introduction of Sharia law. Dutrizac has a reputation for impertinence - in fact, many Quebec radio show hosts permit themselves the kind of shock-jock licence you would never find in the rest of Canada - so nobody is suggesting the interview wasn't meant to provoke discomfort in Ms Laouni.

Dutrizac pressed hard on such issues as the CIC's reputation for extremist views, where Ms Laouni stands on Sharia, whether she is prepared to defend the rights of homosexuals, and does she find it unacceptable that ten-year old girls have to wear the hijab. He also asked her if she had to ask her husband's permission to launch her political campaign (she said no). Ms Laouni stood up well to the challenge, the mood was playful, relaxed and warm, and both laughed frequently. Listen for yourself. Even if you don't speak French, you can sense that both are very much at ease, that Dutrizac holds no personal animosity, and that Ms Lauoni is totally on top of the situation. At the end of the interview, Dutrizac asked NDP big wig Thomas Mulcair, who had accompanied Ms Laouni to the station, if he was happy with how it had gone. Mulcair flashed him a smile and a two-thumbs-up.

Against the backdrop of Dutrizac's career-long history of aggressive and even what many would call at times offensive tactics, this was completely normal. But reaction from the hard left was swift and heated. The left wing "The Dominion" wrote that "Madame Laouni has been viciously attacked by a racist, misogynist and Islamophobic host." The Ontario branch of CUPE said "Dutrizac must resign and the CRTC should lead an inquiry into the hate-filled and sexist words directed to a Muslim candidate." The Canada-Arab Federation demanded that "The Corus network should review its policies in the area of hate speech and enforce harassment training on all its personnel." Barbara Kay, Quebec Shock Jock Is Accused by the Usual Suspects of a Hit Job on a Hijab >>> By Jonathan Kay | September 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Canada) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Canada) >>>

Les Québécoises Say 'NON' to the Removal of the Crucifix from above the Speaker’s Chair in Parliament
Photo of M. Charest, the Premier of Québec, courtesy of the BBC. M. Charest said the crucifix will remain in Quebec's parliament. “The crucifix is about 350 years of history in Quebec that none of [us] are ever going to erase, and of a very strong presence, in particular of the Catholic Church”
BBC: The government of the Canadian province of Quebec has rejected a proposal to remove a crucifix from above the speaker's chair in the parliament.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest said the crucifix was related to 350 years of history that could not be erased.

The proposal was made in a report into how Quebec's French-Canadian - and traditionally Roman Catholic - population can accommodate minorities.

The report was commissioned to address a perceived identity crisis in Quebec.

'Reasonable accommodation'

Quebec has struggled in recent years as the birth rate of its white, French-Canadian population has fallen and immigration - much of it from Asia and the Middle East - has increased. Quebec Rejects Removing Crucifix >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Canada)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Canada)

Will Québec Decide to ‘Reasonably Accommodate’ Islam?
MIDDLE EAST FORUM: As religious prescriptions for living lately have come to be infused into daily life in novel and provocative ways, the question is often posed: Has the presence of Islam changed the face of social relations in the West? The question has especially animated Canada's bilingual Quebec province - a political entity that seeks to apply the rule of law to all its residents, without exception. This is a debate we'd do well to consider, as voices raised to implement and to protest exceptions to the law become more frequent, more strident, and more divisive.

In the beginning was the town of Hérouxville (motto: Carpe Diem), whose municipal council unanimously adopted a code (in English and in French) of "societal norms" in January. These applied to the town's 1,300 residents, but concerned future resident immigrants, especially. Most noted was language condemning public stoning of women and genital excision.

The point? The fact that "men and women have the same value." And that from this derives

"a woman's right to drive an automobile, vote her conscience, sign checks, dance, and decide for herself."
The town's normative code also remarks that Quebeckers are wont to decorate Christmas trees and patronize physicians of either gender, that cuts of pork and beef may very well mingle on the butcher's table, and that girls and boys do swim together.

This being, the charter continues,

"we consider it unacceptable to stone women to death in the public square, or to burn them alive, disfigure them with acid, or subject them to genital mutilation."
It also requires residents to expose their faces, at all times, in public, for purposes of identification (All Hallow's Eve excepted). Will Quebec Decide to 'Reasonably Accommodate' Islam? >>> By R John Matthies, American Thinker | September 16, 2007

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Canada)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Canada)