Quebec could review the funding
of religious schools
(Quebec) With its new model of "national integration" of newcomers, Quebec could review the funding of religious schools, said Minister Jean-François Roberge. A scenario that François Legault ruled out last fall.
"It will be part of the reflection because there is this bill, which is a framework law," explained the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, who tabled the legislative text on national integration on Thursday. Bill 84 creates a framework advocating Quebec values for the reception of newcomers to Quebec.
Minister Roberge had expressed his intentions in an interview with La Presse1 as the Legault government put the identity issue back at the forefront of the new parliamentary session. Quebec promises to strengthen its arsenal of prosecularism.
Its new model will in a way guide government action in terms of integration, the minister explained. In this sense, it is timely to review public funding for religious schools, he said. However, in the wake of the Bedford school scandal, the Prime Minister said that he saw "no problem" with public funding of religiousschools.2
"[Mr. Legault] mentioned that in the short term, it was not the decision that had been made [to end public funding]. What I am telling you is that I now have the mandate of the Prime Minister to evaluate all the issues of secularism in all sectors of society, and then there are reflections that are being made in this regard," he said without further elaborating on his thoughts.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville has already announced his intention to strengthen the principles of secularism in the Education Act. As for Mr. Roberge, he is still evaluating the possibility of reopening Bill 21 while François Legault wants to ban prayers in public.
According to Mr. Roberge, the integration model he proposes is "clearly incompatible" with the fact that some state-funded daycares have the religious or ethnic affiliation of the children among their selection criteria, as reported by La Presse in November3.
The law on integration will now ensure, precisely, government coherence. We will make sure that, in all government bodies, in all ministries, in our schools, in our CPEs, everywhere, we respect these principles.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration
The minister also revealed at his press conference that he would revise the values test submitted to newcomers to take into account his law. Jean-François Roberge compares his intentions to a "social contract" between the state and immigrants to succeed in their integration in Quebec.
The bill also provides for an amendment to the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to "state that human rights and freedoms are exercised in accordance with the Quebec model of national integration."
"It's precisely because we wanted to be sure that people don't invoke our charter, our Quebec laws to try to invalidate certain principles of this fundamental law," he said.
Funding of organizationsIn addition, Quebec is giving itself the power to withdraw funding from organizations that do not respect the integration model. "In very concrete terms, when the bill is implemented, the government will only fund activities and organizations that respect its fundamental principles," said the minister. However, he had difficulty explaining how this could be applied.
"We don't forbid groups or communities to gather or have parties. But when the state organizes, coordinates or finances, we want there to be notions of national integration, whether it is in this activity that we invite people who are not just people from the community or that we bring in artists who are not from the community," he illustrated.
Mr. Roberge gave the example of a show by the organization Vision diversité that he attended and where "we had musicians from everywhere" who covered Quebec songs. "There were people in the room from everywhere. I think that's great for integration, for welcoming and rooting people versus a festival of a type of X music intended for people, for a community that only likes that, where we're a bit in a silo, in a ghetto. We don't want to encourage that," he added.
The bill also provides for the development of a national policy on integration into the Quebec nation and the common culture.
"It will be part of the reflection because there is this bill, which is a framework law," explained the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, who tabled the legislative text on national integration on Thursday. Bill 84 creates a framework advocating Quebec values for the reception of newcomers to Quebec.
Minister Roberge had expressed his intentions in an interview with La Presse1 as the Legault government put the identity issue back at the forefront of the new parliamentary session. Quebec promises to strengthen its arsenal of prosecularism.
Its new model will in a way guide government action in terms of integration, the minister explained. In this sense, it is timely to review public funding for religious schools, he said. However, in the wake of the Bedford school scandal, the Prime Minister said that he saw "no problem" with public funding of religiousschools.2
"[Mr. Legault] mentioned that in the short term, it was not the decision that had been made [to end public funding]. What I am telling you is that I now have the mandate of the Prime Minister to evaluate all the issues of secularism in all sectors of society, and then there are reflections that are being made in this regard," he said without further elaborating on his thoughts.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville has already announced his intention to strengthen the principles of secularism in the Education Act. As for Mr. Roberge, he is still evaluating the possibility of reopening Bill 21 while François Legault wants to ban prayers in public.
According to Mr. Roberge, the integration model he proposes is "clearly incompatible" with the fact that some state-funded daycares have the religious or ethnic affiliation of the children among their selection criteria, as reported by La Presse in November3.
The law on integration will now ensure, precisely, government coherence. We will make sure that, in all government bodies, in all ministries, in our schools, in our CPEs, everywhere, we respect these principles.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration
The minister also revealed at his press conference that he would revise the values test submitted to newcomers to take into account his law. Jean-François Roberge compares his intentions to a "social contract" between the state and immigrants to succeed in their integration in Quebec.
The bill also provides for an amendment to the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to "state that human rights and freedoms are exercised in accordance with the Quebec model of national integration."
"It's precisely because we wanted to be sure that people don't invoke our charter, our Quebec laws to try to invalidate certain principles of this fundamental law," he said.
Funding of organizationsIn addition, Quebec is giving itself the power to withdraw funding from organizations that do not respect the integration model. "In very concrete terms, when the bill is implemented, the government will only fund activities and organizations that respect its fundamental principles," said the minister. However, he had difficulty explaining how this could be applied.
"We don't forbid groups or communities to gather or have parties. But when the state organizes, coordinates or finances, we want there to be notions of national integration, whether it is in this activity that we invite people who are not just people from the community or that we bring in artists who are not from the community," he illustrated.
Mr. Roberge gave the example of a show by the organization Vision diversité that he attended and where "we had musicians from everywhere" who covered Quebec songs. "There were people in the room from everywhere. I think that's great for integration, for welcoming and rooting people versus a festival of a type of X music intended for people, for a community that only likes that, where we're a bit in a silo, in a ghetto. We don't want to encourage that," he added.
The bill also provides for the development of a national policy on integration into the Quebec nation and the common culture.
