The youth wing of the Parti Québécois (PQ) is set to debate the party’s position on religious neutrality at its national congress in Victoriaville over the weekend.
While the PQ has softened its stance since the Quebec Mosque shooting last month that saw six men inside the mosque gunned down during evening prayers, some members of the youth wing believe the party needs to take a stand.
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Party Leader Jean-François Lisée maintains that provincial workers who are in a position of authority should be forbidden from wearing religious symbols while on the job, a view also shared by Coaltion Avenir Québec and Québec Solidaire, the two other opposition parties at the National Assembly.
The Laurentian’s regional youth committee however feels that all workers in the public sector should be prohibited from wearing religious symbols; a position once held by the PQ and promoted in the 2013 Quebec Charter of Values.
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The youth wing however is proposing to include a grandfather clause, meaning that those already employed as public servants would see their acquired rights protected, and as such, would be exempt from the rule.
Earlier this week, Charles Taylor, who co-wrote a 2008 report on secularism in Quebec in favour of legislating a ban on religious symbols had a change of heart. Taylor said Quebec shouldn’t take any more steps that could further “stigmatize minorities.”
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Other topics up for debate over the weekend include the idea of imposing Bill 101 at the CEGEP level and creating a professional order for journalists.