From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
October 24, 2007 at 4:38 AM EDT
TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QUE. â€" There was the woman who feared that Quebec would be overrun by Muslims. There were anecdotes about Muslims unwilling to integrate. Mentions of massacres in Muslim countries.
For an area where Muslims make up less than 0.7 per cent of the local population, Islam repeatedly came up as a source of anxiety last night as the public commission looking at religious accommodations stopped in the Mauricie area, midway between Montreal and Quebec City.
It was in this region that the village of Hérouxville made headlines last year with its "code of conduct" warning prospective newcomers that practices such as wearing face veils or stoning women would not be tolerated.
While the code was decried by pundits as a mean-spirited caricature of Islam, its initiators say they have been flooded with supportive mail from across Quebec.
On the one hand last night, there were people like Jean-Pierre Trépanier, who made the first remarks at the open-mike forum attended by more than 180 people.
"I am ashamed to be a Quebecker when I hear the stupidities and inanities such as those of Hérouxville," Mr. Trépanier said.
But most who followed him had gripes against minorities.
"When someone imposes something on you, it's up to them to stop imposing it if it bothers you," said André Drouin, a Hérouxville municipal councillor who was behind the code.
Mr. Drouin and Bernard Thompson, another originator of the Hérouxville code, are presenting a brief today where they will argue that no accommodations should be granted to religious minorities.
"If they're not happy and they're unsatisfied, let them go back to their country and make it better," Jacques Landry said to applause, as he thanked the people of Hérouxville.
Jacques Deschesnes complained about a relative treated at a Jewish hospital who couldn't mix milk and meat when she ate lunch.
Andréa Richard had fears for the future, warning of an Islamic onslaught.
"Would you like to see your grandchildren become Muslims? Would you like to see your granddaughters wear the veil?" she told the commission's co-chairs, academics Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor.
"I am not racist but ..." began Denise Béland as she explained her fears that the hard-earned equality of sexes here is foreign to newcomers.
"I say 'tolerance zero,' " said André Plamondon, talking about "those people."
"Only with the Muslims do we have problems," said Paul Garneau, talking about religious massacres in Algeria or Iraq. The co-chairs sometimes had to step in. One woman complained that Christian minorities are disappearing in Turkey. Mr. Taylor told her that non-Muslims were protected under the Ottomans and their persecution took place under secular governments.
Jacqueline Guillemette, a local woman who converted to Islam, concluded the evening with a call for mutual concessions and tolerance.
"There's a lot of ignorance," Ms. Guillemette said afterward in an interview. "They should look at regular [Muslims], not the fundamentalists."
One woman stopped and told her it was sad that Ms. Guillemette had to wear a headscarf. "Lady, the Holy Virgin wore a veil too," Ms. Guillemette replied.
The commission, which has until now travelled mostly in outlying areas, has heard mostly from white francophones, with some calling for more tolerance for minorities. For example, Stéphane Gendron, an outspoken radio host, called the people behind Hérouxville's code "twits" and "a national shame."
He said Quebeckers have no business expecting immigrants to integrate quickly when it took three generations for French-Canadians who moved to New England to fit in.
The co-chairs are to issue their recommendations next spring.
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