QUEBEC, Que. — Failing to adopt Bill 21 could be a step back in time and could lead to the return of the presence of religion in public schools, a veteran Quebec sociologist says.
Guy Rocher told reporters he believes the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s legislation is a natural step in the evolution of Quebec society since the days of the Quiet Revolution when Quebec put religion aside, including the presence of symbols .
Failing to adopt it would be a mistake, said the retired professor, who taught at the Université de Montréal.
“If we don’t adopt (Bill 21), we place ourselves in a worrisome dynamic for the future; that is to say the progressive re-confessionalization of public schools,” Rocher said, arriving for his presentation to the committee studying the bill.
“If we allow people to wear ostentatious symbols, it might also lead to the installation of crucifixes and statues. Remember, a law is not just for the present, it is for the future.”
Rocher, who is 95 and during the 1960s sat on the Parent commission on the state of education in Quebec, said that unlike the old days when Quebec was able to remove religion from public schools with relative ease, the atmosphere today is different, even acrimonious.
There are now many more different minority religions and, “speaking sociologically,” not all minority religions are equal, he said.
“Some are rich, closer to power or more visible than others,” he said. “It happens that currently one religion that is visible is Islam.
“That is its choice and that is the problem it poses at this time. Forty years ago, the religion which was visible was Catholicism.
“This is not an anti-Islamic bill. If one religion is more visible, the others don’t have to accept this. Society doesn’t have to accept this.”
And Rocher said he d isagreed with his sociologist colleague Gérard Bouchard, who told the committee last week that he thinks the bill takes away rights — from teachers in particular.
“Are we taking away rights or giving them,” Rocher asked. “In my view, we are in the process of giving them. Over the last 50 years, teachers did not ask for such rights.
“It’s sudden, now, over the last few years. They are new rights. We are not taking them away. I don’t understand Mr. Bouchard saying we are taking away rights.”
Rocher argued that allowing teachers to wear symbols now is a slippery slope even if he concedes there is no proof wearing a symbol can influence students to follow that faith.
On the other hand, nobody knows for sure, he said.
“Because we don’t know, we have to practise the principle of precaution,” Rocher said. “As we are in a state of uncertainty, we have to protect.”
Asked if he thinks Bill 21 is being fuelled by a certain level of Islamophobia, Rocher said he does not know.
“I hope not. If this is true, it is unfortunate. I am not part of this.”
The hearings resume later Tuesday with a much anticipated appearance by Mayor Valérie Plante , who will argue against the bill.
She will be followed by the Quebec English School Boards Association, which also opposes the bill.
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Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
