Canada: Quebec National Assembly

Pauline Marois Dept: There are nearly 1,500 incidents of anti-Semitism reported in Canada, and prejudice and discrimination against visible minorities, aboriginal Canadians, gays and women are constantly in the news, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the 1850s onward, and especially after thousands of European immigrants from non-British and non-English-speaking countries arrived in Canada between 1897 and 1913, there was widespread fear the country's British core values -- white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant -- were under threat. This was despite the fact non-British immigrants were a tiny minority and quebec Premier-elect Pauline Marois has vowed that the Parti Qu b cois will pass a "Charter of Secularism" that would bar any public employee from wearing a "conspicuous religious sign"-- Jewish kippahs or skullcaps and Muslim headscarves, for instance. The one exception is the wearing of a crucifix since Christianity and crosses, such as the large one which hangs in the Quebec National Assembly, are ingrained symbols of Quebec's history and culture. She would also prohibit non-French speakers, who currently do not reside in Quebec, from holding public office. Finally she intends to further limit the rights of anglophone parents and students. Pierre Trudeau was right: the xenophobic "distinct society" he warned about in the early 1990s has showed its true colours. Canadians like to believe they are most tolerant people on Earth and always have been so. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.