Bill 60 : Statement by Commission President Jacques Frémont
Thank you for being here. As you may have gathered, this media briefing was unplanned, but given the decision by La Presse to publish our brief on Bill 60, Charter affirming the values of State secularism and religious neutrality and of equality between women and men, and providing a framework for accommodation requests, without our knowledge and before it was officially presented before the Committee on Institutions, we really had no choice.
I am Jacques Frémont, President of the Commission. Here, with me are most of the members of the Commission. We are meeting today for our monthly meeting.
We deplore this leak that was beyond the Commission’s control. We would have preferred to go through normal channels and present the brief directly to the Members of the National Assembly in a setting that allows for discussion and detailed explanation. We will do so when we are called on to speak before the Committee on Institutions.
Our brief is an in-depth legal analysis containing more than 100 pages based on our previous opinions founded on Québec, Canadian and international law and on the Commission’s expertise.
Our approach is purely legal and above all, is not political. The Commission is not expressing an opinion as to the appropriateness of a secular charter. It speaks on the strength of its leading expertise in rights and freedoms and its mission to ‟ensure that the principles set forth [in the Charter] are upheld” (section 57) and to ‟point out any provision in the laws of Québec that may be contrary to this Charter” (section 71 , subparagraph 6 of paragraph 2).
Our brief is clear. Numerous provisions of the bill are contrary to the spirit and letter of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and should not be adopted.
In the Commission’s view, this bill is a clear setback for human rights and freedoms and is likely to create more opportunities for conflict and disputes in Québec society.
While the government’s purported objective was to clarify questions related to managing religious diversity, superimposition of a secular charter over the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms will instead increase confusion and complicate the processing of requests for reasonable accommodation.
Furthermore, there is risk that the proposed amendments to the Charter could weaken the protection of human rights and freedoms in terms of real equality, notably between women and men and with regard to freedom of religion.
Our brief reiterates the argument we made in October when we commented on the government policy paper, namely, that a ban on the wearing of religious symbols by public sector employees would not pass the Charter test without recourse to the notwithstanding clause.
Bill 60 presents a flawed interpretation of the concepts of the secularism of the State and its religious neutrality defined within the framework of Québec’s system for protecting human rights and freedoms.
Lastly, as for reasonable accommodation, the Commission fears that this bill will cause even greater confusion in introducing a distinction between requests for accommodation on religious grounds and the duty to accommodate already largely established for all grounds of discrimination provided for in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, including disability.
The brief is available at www.cdpdj.qc.ca/storage/app/media/publications/memoire_PL_60_charte_valeurs.pdf (In French only)
A summary of the brief is available at: www.cdpdj.qc.ca/storage/app/media/publications/memoire-resume_PL_60_charte_valeurs.pdf (In French only)
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Contact :
Patricia Poirier
514 873-5146 or 1 800 361-6477 extension 358
patricia.poirier@cdpdj.qc.ca
