Quebec Inclusif demands mobilization against charter

CTV Montreal: Battling the Charter With Quebec's controversial charter of values now on the table, many groups are mobilizing to fight it. Rob Lurie reports.

On Nov. 7, the Parti Quebecois officially tabled Bill 60, its proposed charter of values.

While the party has said the legislation is necessary in codifying secularism and equality across the province, the bill has been met by a flurry of opposing voices that say otherwise.

Quebec Inclusif is a group of professionals and academics that was formed specifically to denounce the PQ’s tabled charter.

The group says that the legislation is unconstitutional and is the biggest attack on freedom of religion that modern Quebec has ever seen.

At a news conference on Nov. 8, Quebec Inclusif’s president Remi Bourget voiced some of the group’s concerns and frustrations.

Bourget pointed to the PQ’s failure to respond to the public’s feedback concerning the tabled legislation.

“A lot of voices told him he was going too far, but we’ve realized that the minister only listens to people that think like him,” Bourget said. “He is not listening to the city of Montreal, to the hospitals, or to the daycares.”

Bourget said that while the charter is supposed to target government employees, he believes it will have a trickle-down effect, affecting private-sector subcontractors.

The group is calling for Quebecers to mobilize in opposition to the charter, and fight against the possibility of it moving forward.

Quebec Inclusif has published an online manifesto to publically explain its reasoning for denouncing the tabled legislation.

The document highlights the group’s four main concerns with the proposed charter: its inconsistency, exclusionary effect, focus on fear of the other, and its potential to result in a slippery slope effect.

The group’s statement concludes by making a plea to the population to not sit idly by and accept the legislation.

“We urge our fellow citizens to resist being seduced by populist proposals responding to unfounded fears, and to educate themselves on the potential consequences of such proposals,” it reads.

It also demands that the government reconsider.

“We urge the government to abandon any project that would increase the vulnerability of a segment of the population and erode the fundamental rights on which social peace, which is so dear to Quebecers, is based.”