Quebec Charter: Charter

Charter: Many critics have noted that such proposals would be incompatible with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Its understandable they might think our national Charter is the place to deal with such a Quebec Charter if it became law. But that view misses the point, according to The Star. This changes everything. Of course such issues of balance cant be properly dealt with by the Canadian Charter, with its fussy one-dimensional focus on rights. No, this is a matter for equalization and Details of the forthcoming Charter of Quebec Values that leaked out last week have been met with stern condemnation. Most Canadian pundits agree that the Parti Qu b coiss proposal to ban public employees from ostentatiously wearing religious symbols such as headscarves, kippahs and crosses goes too far toward intolerance and even totalitarianism. Looked at carefully, the Quebec Charter is no mere assault on human rights rather, its an exquisitely calibrated attempt to find social balance. So says Quebec democracy and citizenship minister Bernard Drainville, who promised amid last weeks uproar that Canadians will find his forthcoming bill to be very balanced, a happy equilibrium between respect for human rights and respect for the common values of Qu b cois. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.