http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=11141

MONTREAL - Chassidic men reportedly requesting that male evaluators only be in the car with them when they take Quebec Automobile Insurance Board driving tests became the latest in a series of incidents in recent months that purportedly demonstrate the lengths to which Quebecers must go to satisfy religious and cultural minorities.

The Quebec Public Service Union and the Fédération des femmes du Québec complained that asking female evaluators to defer to their male colleagues violates the principle of the equality of men and women.

The insurance board defended the practice as simply good customer service. Moreover, it said, about 80 per cent of the evaluators are male, and only about 100 chassidim take a driving test each year.

Days before, a group of employees of Quebec’s largest school board, the Commission Scolaire de Montréal began circulating a petition against the fact their Jewish and Muslim co-workers are allowed to take paid time off for their religious holidays – generally two or three extra days per year. They said the policy is unfair and increases the workload of non-Jews and non-Muslims. Among other irritants, the group also cited the banning of pork from the menus of the commission’s day-care centres.

The commission contends that it must pay for the days off because of a 1994 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that upheld the right of three Jewish teachers working for the school board in Chambly, Que., to be paid when they took a day off on Yom Kippur.

Nevertheless, the Montreal board said it would create a committee to look into the “reasonable accommodations” that are accorded its staff.

By contrast, spokesperson Michael Cohen said time off for religious holidays had never been an issue at the English Montreal School Board. The matter is dealt with in the collective agreements of the four different unions that the board’s employees belong to.

In the case of teachers, Jews are permitted three paid days and other faiths two days per year. Support staff can take up to two days, while other professionals, such as guidance counsellors and communications specialists like himself, have the flexibility to borrow days from the holiday breaks or summer vacations or use overtime compensation.

He said there are even Orthodox Jews in the head office who also take Sukkot off without there being an issue.

B’nai Brith Canada urged the Montreal commission to uphold Jewish and Muslim teachers’ right to paid religious holidays. “This petition is but the latest in a recent barrage of incidents in Quebec that have called into question the extent to which reasonable accommodation should be afforded to minority groups. We are concerned that mounting tensions in the province are contributing to an increased climate of hostility toward religious and ethnic communities, with the potential to overshadow the positive and amicable relationships that these groups have traditionally enjoyed.”

The question of “reasonable accommodation” of minorities has been a hot topic in Quebec for months, with the debate intensifying in the new year with the publication of a poll that concluded the majority of Quebecers are racist. Fifty-nine per cent described themselves as at least “slightly” racist. Thirty-eight per cent had a negative opinion of Jews, while half disliked Arabs to some degree. Although the poll’s methodology was questioned, the result shook Quebecers’ self-perception as open and tolerant. The response was defensive in some quarters, and incident reports have been piling up that give the impression that minorities – most often Muslims and Orthodox Jews – are asking for too much.

The news last fall that Park Avenue YMCA’s acquiesced to a neighbouring chassidic yeshiva’s request that it obscure its windows so the women exercising inside the Y could not be seen – something that actually took place last spring – pushed the debate to a higher pitch.

That frosted windows flap was referred to in another incident last week. Montreal police officer Philippe Gouin, a 15-year veteran, gained notoriety for posting and singing on the website of Quebec Humour a parodic song that expresses exasperation with minorities and suggests if they are not happy they can leave. Accompanying visuals show Muslims and chassidim. He is under investigation by the force, but still on the job and was not expected to be disciplined.

The French media in particular have been highlighting what may seem like minor matters, such as who gives driving tests to chassidim, almost daily.

It’s a favourite topic on talk shows and in web blogs, and one million viewers tuned in last month to a debate on reasonable accommodation on the TVA network. The issue also dominated the opening of the current session of the National Assembly last month. Mario Dumont, leader of the Action Démocratique du Québec, has attempted to capitalize on a mood among Quebecers that things have gone too far and they are in danger of losing their own culture. Premier Jean Charest accused him of demagoguery and insists Quebecers are no more racist than anyone else.

Parti Québécois leader Andre Boisclair soon found himself under attack after he said in interview that he favours removing the crucifix from the National Assembly.

One small town also took what it believes is positive action to put immigrants and minorities on notice that if they want to live in the municipality, they will have to comport themselves like its homogeneously francophone Catholic residents.

After taking a survey on reasonable accommodation among the 1,300 inhabitants in December, the council of Herouxville, which is near Shawinigan, drew up a five-page list of “norms” prospective newcomers can expect to live by. The norms emphasize the Christian character of the town and the equality of men and women – for instance, saying that women can drive cars and can’t be stoned, beaten, burned or circumcised.

Although no minority is specifically mentioned, Herouxville would likely not be a comfortable place for an observant Jew. For example, the norms state: “If our children eat meat… they don’t need to know where it came from or who killed it. Our people eat to nourish the body, not the soul.”

There are also warnings that women and men, often together, can be seen through windows when they are exercising, and that they will have to respect any Sûreté du Québec officer, whether male or female, who they encounter – an apparent reference to another controversy last November when Montreal police reacted against a suggestion that female officers defer to their male colleagues when dealing with chassidic men.

By last week, the town had received by some 2,000 e-mails expressing support for it stance, and there are indications other municipalities want to draw up their own codes of behaviour.

The Quebec government is expected to soon release its first formal policy on racism and discrimination. B’nai Brith’s Adel urged the Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities to lend support to governmental, corporate and/or community partnerships designed to sensitize the public and promote intercultural dialogue to stem what he sees as a growing backlash against immigrants and ethnics.