海角大神

Seeba Chaachouch had never pictured her future on the prairies. The third-year law student from Montreal had always envisioned herself practicing in her home province of Quebec.

But that changed after Quebec banned some civil servants from wearing religious symbols on the job 鈥� and Ms. Chaachouch, who wears a hijab, saw an ad in her local newspaper from Manitoba鈥檚 government wooing Quebecers like herself.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to just take my stuff and leave for Manitoba immediately, but it is something to consider, whether it is Manitoba or Toronto or any other province in Canada,鈥� she says on a recent day on her campus at McGill University,聽鈥渁 place that respects diversity or embraces it, lives with it and is happy about it.鈥�

Placed by Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister in November, the ad was a political statement more than a recruitment effort. It was called 鈥�21 reasons why you will feel at home in Manitoba,鈥� a play on the controversial Bill 21 that was adopted in June. The law bans some civil servants in Quebec from wearing what it describes as 鈥渞eligious symbols鈥� 鈥� which authorities have said will apply to hijabs for Muslim women, turbans for Sikhs, and crosses for 海角大神s 鈥� to keep religion out of the government sphere. It鈥檚 the first ban of its kind in North America.

Reason No. 21 is what stood out the most for Ms. Chaachouch: 鈥淢anitobans embrace diversity and know that multiculturalism is a strength.鈥�

The ad predictably angered supporters of the bill, who see it as another example of 鈥淎nglo鈥� Canada misunderstanding its French-speaking minority. Yet as Quebec follows other European countries to have enacted similar limitations, critics say the law is outdated in increasingly diverse Canada. And while the law wins votes, it could also backfire, they say, in a province where labor is needed and diversity is increasingly a fact of life that depends on peaceful co-existence. Many of Quebec鈥檚 religious minorities come from French-speaking immigrant families who were sought to help bolster the French language.

鈥淭here is a deep structural contradiction that [Quebec鈥檚 leaders] are facing. And none of the measures they are taking is going to address this dilemma,鈥� says Abdie Kazemipur, author of 鈥淭he Muslim Question in Canada.鈥� 鈥淚t is out of date with the realities on so many different fronts.鈥�

Protection of religion, or protection from religion?

Quebec鈥檚 anxieties over how to integrate minorities into a French-speaking population 鈥� one that is itself a minority within North America 鈥� have grown since the 2000s, and unease over language has been eclipsed by unease over religion. Various political parties have proposed bans on symbols in the name of public security (in the case of full head coverings) or gender equality.

But none of them was successfully implemented until this summer, after Fran莽ois Legault鈥檚 Coalition Avenir Qu茅bec (CAQ) won provincial elections and legislated the secularism law, a key platform. Even as it faces court challenge at home, the federal election highlighted its popularity, with the surprise surge of the Bloc Qu茅b茅cois, which supports it.

Outside Quebec, the law clashes with Canada鈥檚 notion of itself as a haven of multicultural tolerance, although polling shows support for such bans across Canada 鈥� 44% in other provinces, according to a September Leger survey, compared with 64% in Quebec. And it was only tepidly criticized during the federal race 鈥� in part from fear that it will raise Quebec鈥檚 defenses and rekindle separatism, which has been politically dormant, and for fear of losing votes in the populous province. Yet public commentary and columns continue to vociferously condemn it as racist, while Quebec maintains it has nothing to with discrimination.

The gulf traces back to different concepts of what constitutes secularism. In English Canada, like in the United States, secularism is understood as separation of church and state that protects religious minorities. In Quebec, 濒补茂肠颈迟茅, a principle rooted in the French Revolution, is more broadly understood as protection of state from religion. Defenders of Bill 21 trace it back to the province鈥檚 Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, which battled against Roman Catholic hegemony. 鈥淚n Anglo-Saxon countries, people cannot understand 濒补茂肠颈迟茅, because for them, it鈥檚 the government intervening,鈥� says Frederic Bastien, a Quebec historian, 鈥渨hereas in Latin countries like France, Italy, Spain, Belgium,聽濒补茂肠颈迟茅 serves to protect people from religion.鈥�

鈥淚t is not about race. It鈥檚 not about ethnicity,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about religion in the public sphere.鈥�

That argument is challenged as a distortion of history, though, as the fight against the Catholic Church鈥檚 power never encompassed individual expression of religion, even at work. And in fact while the law may score votes, complaints about authority figures wearing religious symbols are scant. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an answer to a non-question,鈥� says the Rev. Michael Coren, a Toronto-based writer who has criticized the law.

Others have called hypocrisy, underlined recently when Mr. Legault met with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and told him blithely that all French Canadians are Catholic.

The primary concern of cultural survival

Secularism laws are also written from a 海角大神 perspective that tends to misinterpret how hard it is to separate self from symbol in some religions, argues Efe Peker, an expert on state-religion relations at the University of Ottawa. 鈥淔or a Muslim woman, separating the veil from herself is not the same thing as not wearing a cross for a 海角大神 woman,鈥� he says.

Ms. Chaachouch only started wearing a veil in her later teens, but now she wouldn鈥檛 conceive of taking it off, which could conflict with her future goals, one of which is to practice criminal law. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been very modest in the way I dress. And when I tried it on, it just spoke to me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 felt like, this is adding to my modesty, and I love that.鈥�

Her parents are from Lebanon, educated in French, and the type of immigrant the province has sought to help preserve French language and shore up the economy as fertility rates decline. But seeking immigrants, primarily from former French colonies, brought in cultural and religious diversity that turned secularism into a rallying call in the province 鈥� something that wasn鈥檛 a point of mobilization during the Quiet Revolution.

鈥淭he language problem was partially resolved. But if you fast-forward 25 years, then the unintended consequence is that these people turned out to be Muslims, with the religious difference taking over the linguistic difference as the primary concern of cultural survival,鈥� says Dr. Peker.

The multiculturalism has been official policy in Canada since the 1970s. But in Quebec it was seen from the start as an attempt to dilute Francophone influence, rendering French Canadians one of many cultures. Instead they argue for 鈥渃ultural convergence,鈥� which Guillaume Rousseau, a constitutional law professor at Sherbrooke University who advised the CAQ government on Bill 21, says places French-speaking culture as the official one, while leaving room for others. To that end, Bill 21 is a perfect example, he says.

鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean that all other cultures are forbidden,鈥� Dr. Rousseau says. 鈥淭his society is more diverse. Great. Now we need to make sure that in some places it鈥檚 all about common values.鈥�

But that kind of rhetoric confounds Ms. Chaachouch. 鈥淚 do really feel excluded as a result of this because I was born here. I was raised here. I speak the language. I went to school here,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o when people ask me to respect our values, I鈥檓 just confused. ... It is a secular state. I respect that. I agree with that, and even if I鈥檓 wearing my religious symbol and I walk in to work, it means absolutely nothing for anybody else.鈥�

On Jan. 1, the CAQ government also began 鈥渧alues鈥� tests for some potential immigrants, fulfilling another key campaign pledge.

鈥淩eactive ethnicity鈥�

Defenders of Bill 21 argue that such bans are feminist, and some Muslim women have put their support behind it, happy to remove headscarves. But it鈥檚 also generated what University of Toronto sociologist Jeffrey Reitz, who does comparative research on Muslim integration in France and Canada, has called 鈥渞eactive ethnicity.鈥�

In France, which first outlawed conspicuous religious symbols in public schools in 2004 and full face coverings in public in 2011, some women have felt forced to withdraw from mainstream society, while others have donned聽headscarves increasingly as a form of protest. 鈥淭hese women were feminists,鈥� says Dr. Reitz. 鈥淭hey were expressing their strong sense of identity with France and the feeling that they should be able to wear whatever they want.鈥�

Quebec鈥檚 law might be an outlier in North America, but it鈥檚 increasingly familiar in Europe. As many jurisdictions have followed France, from Belgium to Austria to Denmark to Quebec, supporters here say they are on the right side of history.

But Dr. Kazemipur, who is also a professor at the University of Calgary, says that their popularity does not equate to solution. 鈥淎uthorities say, 鈥榃e want you to put your religion outside the door before you enter the classroom or your workplace,鈥� but that is not how religions function.鈥�

While聽Dr. Kazemipur鈥檚 research shows that policymakers overemphasize the role of Islam 鈥� after 9/11 immigrants once called Pakistani or Lebanese were suddenly labeled Muslim 鈥� his newer work shows that religion is finding a bigger place in Canadian society.

鈥淚n an environment like that, you cannot just legislate religion out,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f there are concerns about the lack of solidarity amongst people of different religious backgrounds, then the way to create that solidarity is to create the bonds and the emotional connections and the sense of belonging. With this kind of legislation, you will achieve the opposite.鈥�