L’accommodement raisonnable, outil d’égalité face à la diversité religieuse et culturelle au Québec
The concept of reasonable accommodation, erroneously perceived as a means for ethnic and religious minorities to enjoy special privileges, has plunged Quebec society in social unrest. Indeed, recent years non-western-based immigration contributed to changing Quebec society ethnic mix, leading to important social concerns by Quebecers of French Canadian descent and ultimately to the “accommodations crisis” (2006-2007).  Such social crisis raises numerous questions: How can we live together with a common identity when each one of us defends his/her religion? And also: have we not fought for those rights to be guaranteed for every person?  Far from privileging minority groups, reasonable accommodations are a flexible judicial tool allowing all citizens access to equality and protection against discrimination.  As religion is only one of several motives for discrimination, it is erroneous to believe that reasonable accommodations solely concern religious and cultural matter.  Nonetheless, religious freedom, a fundamental right guaranteed by the Canada and Quebec charters, should be protected as such.     Reasonable accommodations reveal another benefit: they are a key contribution to collective thinking regarding social coexistence and living together, a means to manage Quebec’s pluralism and to facilitate minority integration.  But how to accommodate religious minorities while preserving Quebec’s identity, characterized by secular values? Our analysis shows that a balance between neutral state requirements and fundamental individual rights can be reached.  Specifically, Quebec’s open secularity and interculturalism, are choices harmoniously blended in other social values: they call for the integration of cultural minorities into society through a common set of cultural values.
Discrimination Religion Immigration Fundamental rights Discrimination Identity Interculturalism Open secularity Minorities Religion Immigration