Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

October 17, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Art Director: Dave Escuadro david.escuadro@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9358 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Could controversial Quebec policy normalize discrimination? Ban on symbols would affect public officials in positions of authority BY MARCEL VANDER WIER e political battle to ban religious symbols from Quebec's public sector has emerged once again fol- lowing the latest provincial election. Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) leader and Premier-designate François Legault has indicated his party will ensure public officials in positions of authority do not wear religious symbols — and will invoke the charter's notwithstanding clause if nec- essary to force the issue. Legault's electoral platform also includes plans to take in 10,000 fewer immigrants per year, and to test new residents on French and Quebec values within three years of their arrival. e outgoing Liberal government's legislative attempt to have public sector employees work with their faces uncovered is also facing a court challenge. e CAQ cabinet will be sworn in Oct. 18. Le- gault's ban would affect the likes of teachers, judges, police and correctional officers. e hardline stance would see workers who refuse to remove religious symbols assigned to different jobs or dismissed. "ose people will be free to relocate to another job that will not be in an authority situation," said CAQ member Geneviève Guilbault, according to the Canadian Press. "It will be up to them at that point to make the necessary choice." Trickle-down effect e move marks a very controversial beginning to the CAQ's rule in Quebec, said Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations in Montreal. "at's a very pervasive intrusion on the part of government to regulate people's code of dress and everything — freedom of belief, freedom of con- science, freedom of expression. at's very disturb- ing and that's where the government got a lot of negative reaction from the teachers' unions." e issue has been hotly debated over the last decade in Quebec, due to cultural insecurities and inappropriate stereotypes — often at the expense of minority rights, said Niemi. "As long as the notion of the protection of minor- ity rights is absent as a fundamental Quebec value, then we continue to have this kind of dynamic tension." And if an anti-religion mindset becomes en- trenched in the public sector, it will eventually drift into the private sector, he said. "Once its legal and it's legitimate to discriminate against… in this case, Muslims in the public sec- tor for those category positions, over time, it will become the new normal," he said. "at's exactly what we believe and what we fear." Social backlash may eventually force the CAQ to waver on its agenda — such as consideration of a "grandfather clause" on the issue — said Julius Grey, senior partner at Grey Casgrain in Montreal. "It's so clear that the idea is silly," he said. "is type of egalitarianism — 'Everybody has to be dressed the same way' — does nothing for substan- tive equality." "ere are fewer things that make less sense than imposing such restrictions. It means debating un- important issues and excluding immigrants from positions… (and) by excluding the immigrants from those professions, you're making their inte- gration more difficult," said Grey. "You can see that immigrants have made a very important contribution to all sorts of professions, so excluding them is counterproductive." Advice for employers Identifying core values and implementing policy are essential for employers looking to guard against tac- tics threatening diversity and inclusion, said Niemi. "You have to spend time to work out a policy which outlines, among other things, your organi- zation's core values and mission," he said. "ose core values (are) very important because it sets the tone and it also creates the foundation from which internal and external behaviours and conduct will be defined." From there, a framework can be created to estab- lish and guide HR policy — especially in terms of culture, religion and diversity, said Niemi. "Part of the policy's usefulness is to help avoid arbitrary decisions on the part of individuals who… may commit a mistake, and that can really spoil, among other things, human and labour relations." Private sector institutions will benefit if they en- sure inclusive policies are in place, he said. "e potential negative effects will be many," said Niemi of a ban on religious symbols, such as a further rural-urban divide, a decline in future im- migration and reduction in corporate investment. "We live in a globally mobile economy. It's some- thing that people have to keep in mind. Because often the people who tend to be opposed to this re- ligious/cultural/racial diversity are the people who are most resistant to globalization." Employers must also remember that they are re- quired to accommodate employees up to the point of undue hardship, said Grey. "My advice to anybody would be that you tol- erate everything that can be reasonably tolerated," he said. "Accommodate very widely and generally, unless what is demanded is intolerable. And there are very few times there are intolerable demands."

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