Past remarks promoting diversity in Quebec’s schools have come back to annoy Premier Pauline Marois as her government tries to pass legislation forbidding the display of overt religious symbols in the public service. But the premier says there’s no contradiction between what she says now and what she said then.

Opposition Liberals raised a 1998 policy on school integration that was signed by Marois when she was the provincial education minister. In it, she encourages the “visibility” of religious diversity “by school personnel.” She goes on to note in the 40-page document, which was co-signed by then-immigration minister Andre Boisclair, that the province’s “common values” include “openness to diversity in ethnocultural, linguistic and religious matters.”

“The credibility of the discussion over the openness of ethnocultural and religious diversity is supported in good part by the visibility of this diversity among school staff,” the document says. The document also states that “the mere wearing of the hijab cannot be prohibited in Quebec schools” because it does not break any laws or the Canadian or Quebec charters of rights.

Under the values charter proposed by Marois’ government, religious headwear such as hijabs would be banned in schools. The charter, which still has to be passed by the provincial legislature, would ban public sector employees from wearing any obvious religious objects or clothing.

Continue reading →