Opening Up To Humanity: Growing Pains Of A Society

(Note: although the following deals with what has been happening in my own province, I feel that the subject of the matter and its dénouement are quite à propos for any secular, free and "open" society - especially with regards to the still on-going debates about immigrants and immigration)

The Bouchard-Taylor Commission on cultural differences and immigrant integration in Québec launched a series of public hearings in September 2007, travelling throughout the province in order to hear from individual citizens, groups and institutions, in addition to experts on cultural communities, immigrant issues, religion and Québec's identity.

The commission, headed by philosopher Charles Taylor and sociologist Gérard Bouchard, aimed at capping the often bitter public debate on reasonable accomodation and integration of immigrants in the province.

The report has been released and is now available online for public consultation (the english version is to come "shortly").

The commission was not without its detractors from the get-go. On the one side, there were those who feared (irrationally) that both the reasonable accommodation debate in Québec, and the commission itself, were rooted in xenophobia, racism and sexism (two examples here and here). On the other side, there were those who feared (irrationally) that the commission would act as a mouth-piece for promoting multi-culturalism and "unreasonable" accomodation to immigrants, thus severely diminishing the french culture and identity of Québec (two examples here and here).

What the two opposing sides missed is that such a debate was needed, badly. And yes, some ugly things were aired out - but such things are always better being expressed and discussed than left festering inside, forcing us to face our reality instead of clinging to myths about our society being open and tolerant or, worse, inflating stereotypes about immigrants. Likewise, immigrants participating in such a debate can not only express their concerns and experiences, but also get a full spectrum measure of the concerns and experiences of the society they have adopted and which yet remain "foreign" to them culturally.

From my own (ahem) point of view, the whole question boiled down to this: Can there be too much reasonable accomodation? Yes. Can there be not enough accomodation? Also, yes. Must we first shed our intellectual sloth-driven fears in order to find paramount? Definitely.

Thus the main conclusions of the Bouchard-Taylor commission (emphasis added):

The time has come for Quebec to get over its collective identity crisis and adapt to the realities of a secular, pluralistic society, says a provincial commission report on the thorny issue of reasonable accommodation.

"The foundations of collective life in Quebec are not in a critical situation," said the Bouchard-Taylor commission, in its final report on the state of so-called reasonable accommodation of religious and cultural beliefs.

"What we are facing, instead, is the need to adapt," and the government must play a leading role in establishing better guidelines for "interculturalism," the report concludes.

(...)

The commission said that the insecurity in the province was largely fuelled by a crisis of perception, stoked by distortions in media reports on cases of accommodation. It also emphasized that Quebecers of French-Canadian descent, even though they are a minority in North America, remain the ruling majority in Quebec, where they have nothing to worry about.

The province needs to define its secular nature to improve relations between the majority and ethnic minorities, said the commission.

That includes greater measures, statutes and guidelines to counteract discrimination.

But accommodation should not be overly legislated, the commission said. Rather, it noted that it’s up to individuals and community groups to work out how they will accommodate each other on a case by case basis, respecting provincial guidelines.

And all I can add to this is: hear, hear!

Québec's Prime Minister Jean Charest expressed determination in following suit on the commission's report:

Premier Jean Charest promised (...) to act quickly and concretely following the release of a report into the accommodation of Quebec immigrants but he rejected the idea of a provincial constitution that would set out the fundamental values of Quebec society.

Charest said that an action plan would have the "greatest impact and most immediate impact."

The premier said the plan would defend the "profound" values of Quebecers, which are the "rule of French, gender equality (and) the separation of church and state."

Truth be told, it doesn't reality matter whether we adapt through legislation or through writting a provincial constitution (although that in itself would be problematic and play right into the hands of nationalistes/séparatistes, who still cling to the self-serving fearmongering tactic of claiming that our French-Canadian language, culture and identity ever remain in danger of being eradicated - but I disgress) - because we already have our Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms as as guide and template.

It is indeed time for all Québecois and Québecoises of French-Canadian descent to grow up and adapt to the realities of welcoming different cultures into our own, just like it is time for all our neo-citizens to undertake some measures of adaptation to the secular society they have chosen to live in.

In this last respect, I have no qualm that this is not only happening but will keep on happening. Why am I so confident? Simple: whenever I see a Muslim, Haitian, Eastern European, Asian - or so on and so forth - speaking French with the "Québecois" accent, including the use of typical Québecois expressions and (gasp!) cusses, or being fans of Québecois artists, I know that my culture has been adopted in large part by my fellow neo-citizen compatriots of mine, and that their children will do (or are already doing) so as well.

And I smile - because at the same time, I see and hear things from my fellow French-Canadian compatriots that they have clearly borrowed in turn from their neo-citizen compatriots - whether in music, dancing, litterature or use of expressions.

That is what I call opening up to Humanity - without intellectual sloth-driven fear, ignorance and hate.

Oh sure - there remains a tiny minority of parochial xenophobes and/or religious intolerants, just like there remains a tiny minority of immigrants who stubbornly refuse to accept little, if anything, of the culture they have elected to move into - especially its secularism.

But as years and decades go by, these two opposing minorities will slowly but surely disappear, eventually vanishing into the dark night of irrelevance while the rest of us, and our descendants, keep moving forward into the future.

Provided of course that our society and its overwhelming majority of citizens remain courageous, dedicated and vigilant to that effect.

My humble hope is that what happened here in Québec with regards to the Bouchard-Taylor commission, and what will result/is resulting from its travails, will  serve as an example on how to confront and deal with the growing pains of any society who has the courage to open up to the rest of Humanity - in all its various colors and cultures.

Let's move on to the future indeed and explore it ... together.

Food for thought, eh?

(Cross-posted from APOV)