Bill 21 hurting minorities: study
Some response this morning to a study showing Bill 21, the secularism law, is having a devastating effect on religious minorities. I’m not sure what people think their commentary will achieve because the law is working exactly as intended. Of course people will feel bad – and so they should, some think – and of course some of them will leave.
Recently there was also a fuss because HEC ran an ad in Algeria showing a woman studying here – in hijab – and Lisée got into a snit, reducing hijab to a sign of female submission. The woman’s a real HEC student, not a model – Rima Elkouri spoke with her and found that the situation is not what Lisée claims to think.
Update, of a sort: I may have missed it, but I cannot find any mention of the study mentioned above, which was covered by CBC, CTV, Global and the Gazette, in any francophone media. It may yet turn up.
Another update: Toula Drimonis tweeted a link to a piece about the study on L’actualité.
Thursday morning: La Presse reports on the study.
CultMTL reports on the study. Toula Drimonis points out an important finding: A majority of 64.5% of Quebecers think it is important for the Supreme Court to rule on whether the law is discriminatory. If courts determine law violates the charters, support for it would drop by 18% to below the majority mark (from 63.7% to 47%).
But also: more than 30% of Quebecers equate opposition to the law with disloyalty as a Quebecer.
JaneyB 01:06 on 2022-08-11 Permalink
It would be nice if politicians like Lisée would consider that the Muslim world is much, much more than the banlieues of Paris. Even Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are a tiny part of that world. He needs to put down his French newspapers and go walk through some of Quebec’s science and engineering faculties. While he’s at it, he should start meditating on how Quebec will protect the declining populations of its small towns without immigrants. I assume he will be whining about burkinis soon. This is a miserable moment in Quebec history.
Chris 08:56 on 2022-08-11 Permalink
>reducing hijab to a sign of female submission
Fun fact: did you know the word ‘islam’ means ‘submission’?
>the Muslim world is much, much more than the banlieues of Paris
Quite right of course!
But also: it’s much, much more than the Westernized/liberalized Muslims of North America. Just take a look at the polling.
Kate 09:11 on 2022-08-11 Permalink
Chris, the people living here and concerned by this law are the Muslims of North America. It doesn’t affect Muslims in Pakistan or Indonesia, it affects our neighbours.
Kevin 09:14 on 2022-08-11 Permalink
I’m beginning to wonder if our local commentators are jealous that Iran’s revolution is just so much more domineering and controlling than what happened here, and if they see the parallels between Iranian women protesting head coverings and local protests against laws that oppress minorities.