Saguenay mayor defends Catholicism at accommodation hearings

The Roman Catholic religion has played an important role in Quebec history and its imagery should remain in public institutions, said Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay at hearings into immigrant accommodation.

Catholicism is still very important for a majority of Quebecers and that heritage should be reflected in the public realm, he told the Bouchard-Taylor commission on Thursday.

"The Catholic religion is one of the nicest values we have in Quebec," the mayor declared at the second day of hearings in the Lac-Saint-Jean region, north of Quebec City.

Tremblay is one of a few mayors left in Quebec who stillstart council meetings with a prayer. He defended that practice.

"We are a little easy-going," he said. "When someone who represents three per cent of the population wants to do something, everyone bends. But when the mayor wants to say his prayer, we tell him to respect secular principles."

Speaking in French, Tremblay said: "I'm not saying the Catholic religion should crush others. But Catholics aren't respected. Religious freedom, it's for those who don't practice religion. We're losing our way."

He lambasted what he calls a lack of leadership among Quebec's politicians, and said the suicide rate in his citytwo a week on average indicates a deep malaise.

"Things haven't been going well since we've lost our fundamental values," Tremblay said. "People aren't as happy."

The hearings heard from other local residents who spoke out on everything from gender equality to kosher laws to the hijab.

Allowing women to wear a veil in public is a major impediment to assimilation because it is a personal and political act, said Marthe Asselin-Vaillancourt, a feminist activist who works with a local retired persons' association.

"Wearing a veil does not encourage integration. It produces negative effects. It irritates and bothers people," she said.

Asselin-Vaillancourt suggested future immigrants to Quebec be well-informed about the province's values of secularity and gender equality before they come to Canada.

"We have to send a clear message that when they choose Quebec, they are choosing and accepting to live in a society that supports equality between the sexes," she said.

A group of residents from Saint-Flicien told the commission about its positive experience with 23 immigrant familieswho have settled in the small community in recent years.

The town of 11,000 reached out to the families by pairing them up with locals, and organizing community activities such as corn roasts, sugar shack tours and skating parties, said co-ordinator Patrick Lalande.

The hearings also heard from Robert Dole, an American who has lived in Chicoutimi for nearly four decades and teaches at a local university. Dole told the commission how he integrated into Saguenay life. "I feel totally at home in Quebec."

Marcien Bisson, a retired Saguenay resident, suggested Quebec introduce a law to eliminate kosher foods he said are ubiquitous despite the province's small Jewish population.

Bisson also asked Quebec declare God's supremacy in order to respect the Canadian Constitution.