MONTREAL - Men banned from pre-natal classes at a Montreal community health centre so as not to offend Muslim, Sikh or Hindu women.
The windows at a community gym obscured so that boys at the Orthodox synagogue across the street couldn't see the Spandex-clad women inside.
Most recently, a suggestion that it's time to remove a large wooden crucifix from the Quebec national assembly.
Is it political correctness run amok or the natural growing pains of an increasingly multicultural society?
That's the debate in Quebec, where politicians, minority advocates and everyday residents are weighing in on what is "reasonable" accommodation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities in what is an increasingly diverse society.
Mario Dumont, leader of the Action democratique du Quebec, said Quebec should quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities and, instead, set out in law reasonable compromises to be granted to religious and ethnic groups.
"We must make gestures which reinforce our national identity and protect those values which are so invaluable to us," Dumont wrote in a letter to be sent to Quebecers.
Unpopular with his political opponents, Dumont's position seemed to strike a chord with some Quebecers.
"We're tired of empty political shells who have no firm position," one man wrote to a Montreal newspaper. "For us, Mario Dumont is a breath of fresh air."
Then, Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair entered the fray by suggesting it may be time to remove the crucifix that has adorned the Quebec national assembly since 1936.
In a diverse society, "religious symbols have no place in public space," Boisclair said.
It was just the latest clash:
- A Montreal elementary school had to hire guards last April after a Filipino mother alleged that her son was chided by a lunch hall monitor for the way he ate. The school said the reprimand had nothing to do with the traditional Filipino manner of eating, but bad manners. The mother said it did and made a complaint to the Quebec Human Rights Commission. The school received threats and the incident prompted a small demonstration outside the Canadian embassy in Manila.
- A few months ago, an internal Montreal police magazine suggested female officers step aside to let male colleagues deal with Hasidic Jews. The police union was furious while a Hasidic Jewish leader wondered why the article was written at all. He said there had never been any complaint about dealing with female officers.
- Last fall, some members of a Montreal YMCA were upset that windows in their exercise room were frosted at the request of the Orthodox synagogue across the street.
And it's not just Quebec.
Last month, an Ontario judge caused an uproar when she ordered a Christmas tree removed from the lobby of a Toronto court house so as not to offend non-Christians.
"These are growing pains that are not limited to Quebec," said Al-Yassini Ayman, executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
Ayman said the rights of minorities should be accommodated "as long as that doesn't infringe on the rights of the majority."
Randall Hansen, Canada Research Chair in Immigration and Governance at the University of Toronto, said people have the right to religious freedom but not to force their religious precepts on others.
"What people (in some of these cases) are expecting is that others alter their behaviour," Hansen said.
"When it involves denying individual rights for other people, that's where the limits need to be drawn."
Fo Niemi, executive director of the Montreal-based Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, said considering the number of minorities living in Montreal alone, the problems are being "blown way out of proportion."
It reflects intolerance and "a certain cultural insecurity on the part of many francophones," Niemi said.
He worries these incidents overshadow real problems.
Last week, 20 windows were smashed out of a private Muslim school in Montreal and two Orthodox Jewish schools have been firebombed in the past couple of years.
The Quebec government has ordered a series of public hearings into racism and the integration of cultural communities into the province.
A report is expected this year.
