Reasonable accommodation
Encyclopedia
A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment made in a system to "accommodate" or make fair the same system for an individual based on a proven need. Accommodations can be religious, academic, or employment related and are often mandated by law. Each country has its own system of reasonable accommodations. The United Nations
use this term in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
, even whose refuse is defined to be discrimination
. In that convention a reasonable accommodation is defined as:
to refer to the theory
that equality rights set out in provincial and federal anti-discrimination laws and in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
demand that accommodation be made to various minorities. (The origin of the term "reasonable accommodation" is found in labour law jurisprudence, specifically O'Malley and Ontario Human Rights Commission v. Simpsons-Sears, [1985] 2 S.C.R. 536 and is argued to be the obligation of employers to change some general rules for certain employees, under the condition that this does not cause "undue hardship".)
, the question on what was and will be the national identity has been contested, such as the court decision in Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite‑Bourgeoys.
Also controversial was the initial "code of conduct" passed by the municipal council in the town of Hérouxville
. The document states that stoning women or burning them alive
is prohibited, as is excision
(female genital cutting). The motion explains many practices considered normal in Western culture. These standards also state that carrying a weapon to school (a reference to the Sikh ceremonial kirpan
), covering one's face (some particular forms of the Muslim veil
), and the accommodation for prayer in school will not be permitted. It attests that "Our people eat to nourish the body, not the soul," in reference to Jewish
and Muslim
dietary laws, and that health-care professionals "do not have to ask permission to perform blood transfusions."
A discussion was started early in 2007 when a YMCA
set up clouded windows to shelter ultra-Orthodox Jews who had complained that youngsters had to watch women in gym attire. The subjects of balloting while clothed in a niqab
or burka
along with the forbidding of hijab
s in athletic contests have also produced plenty of debate and conflict in the province.
An "accommodation" was reached between the provincial government and the Roman Catholic Church on the disposal of underused churches in an overwhelmingly secular province. Local parishes were given the opportunity to develop the buildings as community centres, for example, rather than give way to condominium construction.
ice hockey
team, refused to play several key matches because they fell on a Jewish holiday
. Some claimed the Jews
would end up forcing the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
to reschedule all their matches on Fridays and Saturdays. In fact, Rubin and the Olympiques came to an agreement, and "he will only miss a handful of games." He has since left the team.
(veil) or burka
will be allowed to vote in all upcoming national elections, byelections and referendums without showing their faces, Elections Canada
has said. The same policy applies to all Canadians under federal Bill C-31, in that photo ID is not strictly required, if two other pieces of acceptable official ID are provided, or another voter vouches for them.
The proclamation has caused much conflict in Quebec, where there is a considerable Muslim community and angry antagonism to this and other classes of accommodation. Premier Charest entitled the happening a "bad decision" and said further that the discussion had already occurred in his province, which forbade the practice.
The national Conservative government challenged Canada's chief electoral officer, Marc Mayrand, to examine his conclusion to permit Muslim women to vote with their faces hidden. The federal Liberals and the Bloc Québécois
also requested such a reversal, to demand all voters show their faces in order to vote, even those whose faces are normally covered for religious reasons. They joined other federal and provincial politicians from Quebec who attacked the decision.
Sarah Elgazzar, an advocate for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
in Montreal, declared that it is improbable that very many Muslim women will have hidden faces when voting. Elgazzar insisted that women using niqabs usually take them off to distinguish themselves and do not sport them for photo IDs. This fact was echoed by Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal.
Several girls have been banned from competing in sporting events in Canada for wearing the hijab while playing.
of the province stated several non-negotiable values, such as "the equality of women and men; the primacy of French; the separation between the state and religion".
Several commentators have avowed that the debate caused support for the conservative ADQ
party to increase, such that it formed the official opposition in the provincial legislature for one term from 2007 to 2008, until the increasing prominence of the global economic crisis relegated reasonable accommodation to an issue of less importance.
demonstrated that Quebec has the lowest newcomer employment rate in Canada. The newest immigrants endured an unemployment ratio of 17.8% in 2006, or almost three times the 6.3% ratio of native-born help. In contrast, joblessness among current newcomers in Ontario is 11% contrasted with 4.4% among the Canadian-born. In British Columbia, the numbers are 9.5% and 3.7%, respectively.
"She notes that it will be some time before she and her colleagues can do enough analysis to say much about the causes of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, Quebec does seem to favour a more extreme version of this (syndrome) than other provinces. Several factors are the devaluation of allegedly inadequate foreign credentials, language tests that have little to do with professional performance and "Canadian experience" requirements that serve as an all-purpose excuse to lock out job applicants who don't already have a job.
"In both Quebec and Canada as a whole, 26 per cent said their biggest employment problem was a demand for Canadian experience and 21 per cent said it was would-be employers who wouldn't recognize foreign credentials or experience."
Quebec also offers the highest levels of state welfare of any province of Canada. This may be a contributing factor to slow down the integration of immigrants into the workforce.http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=c4bcd283-4d7a-4307-b5fd-802929628992
André Boisclair
noted, "We're not talking about reasonable accommodation [if] it has nothing to do with public services," Boisclair said. At the same time, Boisclair blamed Premier Jean Charest
for pandering to Quebecers who balk at adjustments made for immigrants in civil society.
Charest declined to defend them when girls wearing hijab
were prohibited from soccer and tae kwon do, and when prejudiced remarks were offered about Jews.http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/256056
Mario Dumont
, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec
(ADQ) said in an interview in La Presse that Quebec needs more immigration for economic and demographic reasons. But believes that Quebec had met its limits of immigrant acculturation, and that any further increase in rates of immigration would create ghettos. (At present, the province accepts a smaller percentage of newcomers than elsewhere in Canada http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30.)
He criticized Charest for a plan to raise such levels when the Liberal government has cut funds for integration of newcomers into French culture. 'We're a linguistic minority...and immigrants need francization,' Dumont said. 'It's quite a challenge.'http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070814/Quebec_immigration_070814/20070814?hub=Politics
Current Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois said that Quebec should assume all control over its immigration, not the 60% that it has now under a bilateral agreement with the government of Canada. She also said the province should make the message clear to immigrants that Quebec is a francophone "state", not officially bilingual as is Canada and Quebec's neighbouring province New Brunswick
.
Ms. Marois avows that Quebec is in need of more immigrants, to offset with a declining birth rate for future labor needs. She further believes that Quebec is a francophone state in where the rights of the anglophone minority are respected, and where all the inhabitants live in French http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2c1f14fb-f55f-45a9-abee-4167c3b702c6&k=58090.
Charest criticized his political adversaries in the provincial legislature, and blamed them for encouraging "intolerance" in the continuing controversy. He published an open letter in regional dailies, saying he is worried the province's image of openness will diminish outside Quebec.
Dumont's statements about immigration, he said, led to the passing of a code of conduct by the town of Hérouxville that notified Muslims that face veils or stoning women would not be accepted there.http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071030/charest_lashesout_071030/20071030?hub=Canadahttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30
, citing several instances of "unreasonable" accommodation, advised
the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
to appoint a two-man commission in February, 2007, to investigate the issue of reasonable accommodation, and report back by March 31, 2008. The formal title for the Commission is the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences, and it is sometimes called the Bouchard-Taylor Commission. Its commissioners are professors Charles Taylor
, a well-known federalist philosopher, and Gérard Bouchard
, a sovereigntist historian and sociologist. Doubt was cast on Bouchard's fitness to serve as an impartial chair, as before the commission held even one public hearing, he announced in an interview that sovereignty was the solution to calm Franco-Quebeckers' cultural insecurity. Co-chair Taylor stated, however, that Quebecers need to demonstrate the "openness and generosity of spirit" that majorities should have towards minorities.
The commission conducted conferences in various Quebec regions. The committee listened to individuals, organizations, and experts on Quebec identity, religion, and integration of so-called cultural communities (minority groups).
Before formal proceedings began, Bouchard and Taylor said they found an insecurity in Quebec's pure laine population in focus groups across the province. The commissioners hoped to dispel misconceptions like the one that Muslims were somehow taking over Canadian society, a view that does not match with reality.
The ADA is divided into five sections, Titles I-V. Title II provides that “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subject to discrimination by any such entity.”
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
use this term in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities...
, even whose refuse is defined to be discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
. In that convention a reasonable accommodation is defined as:
Canada
In CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to refer to the theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
that equality rights set out in provincial and federal anti-discrimination laws and in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
demand that accommodation be made to various minorities. (The origin of the term "reasonable accommodation" is found in labour law jurisprudence, specifically O'Malley and Ontario Human Rights Commission v. Simpsons-Sears, [1985] 2 S.C.R. 536 and is argued to be the obligation of employers to change some general rules for certain employees, under the condition that this does not cause "undue hardship".)
Examples
In Quebec, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and FreedomsCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
, the question on what was and will be the national identity has been contested, such as the court decision in Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite‑Bourgeoys.
Also controversial was the initial "code of conduct" passed by the municipal council in the town of Hérouxville
Hérouxville, Quebec
Hérouxville is a parish municipality in Quebec , located in the Regional county municipality of Mékinac, and in the administrative region of Mauricie. It was founded in 1897...
. The document states that stoning women or burning them alive
Immolation
Immolation, from Latin immolare, "to sacrifice", originally "to sprinkle with sacrificial meal" , in modern English since the 16th century may refer to:* Fire sacrifice** Holocaust * Cremation...
is prohibited, as is excision
Excision
Excision is the alias of Jeff Abel, a dubstep DJ and music boss from British Columbia, Canada. He frequently works with fellow Canadian dubstep producers Datsik and Downlink. As one of the first dubstep producers and DJs in North America, he has played a significant role in the genre's growth in...
(female genital cutting). The motion explains many practices considered normal in Western culture. These standards also state that carrying a weapon to school (a reference to the Sikh ceremonial kirpan
Kirpan
The kirpan is a ceremonial sword or dagger carried by orthodox Sikhs. It is a religious commandment given by Guru Gobind Singh at the Baisakhi Amrit Sanchar in CE 1699, all baptised Sikhs must wear a kirpan at all times....
), covering one's face (some particular forms of the Muslim veil
Veil
A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...
), and the accommodation for prayer in school will not be permitted. It attests that "Our people eat to nourish the body, not the soul," in reference to Jewish
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
and Muslim
Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
dietary laws, and that health-care professionals "do not have to ask permission to perform blood transfusions."
A discussion was started early in 2007 when a YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
set up clouded windows to shelter ultra-Orthodox Jews who had complained that youngsters had to watch women in gym attire. The subjects of balloting while clothed in a niqab
Niqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...
or burka
Burka
A burka is a dress made from felt or karakul . Karakul being quite expensive, burkas were usually sewn from felt treated to look like karakul...
along with the forbidding of hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
s in athletic contests have also produced plenty of debate and conflict in the province.
An "accommodation" was reached between the provincial government and the Roman Catholic Church on the disposal of underused churches in an overwhelmingly secular province. Local parishes were given the opportunity to develop the buildings as community centres, for example, rather than give way to condominium construction.
Judaism
Benjamin Rubin, a forward with the Gatineau OlympiquesGatineau Olympiques
The Gatineau Olympiques are a major junior ice hockey team playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League out of Gatineau, Quebec. The Olympiques play out of the Robert Guertin Centre. The club, then known as the Hull Festivals, was granted membership in the QMJHL in 1973. The Olympiques have...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team, refused to play several key matches because they fell on a Jewish holiday
Jewish holiday
Jewish holidays are days observed by Jews as holy or secular commemorations of important events in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov or chag or ta'anit...
. Some claimed the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
would end up forcing the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...
to reschedule all their matches on Fridays and Saturdays. In fact, Rubin and the Olympiques came to an agreement, and "he will only miss a handful of games." He has since left the team.
Islam
Muslim women wearing the niqabNiqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...
(veil) or burka
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
will be allowed to vote in all upcoming national elections, byelections and referendums without showing their faces, Elections Canada
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
has said. The same policy applies to all Canadians under federal Bill C-31, in that photo ID is not strictly required, if two other pieces of acceptable official ID are provided, or another voter vouches for them.
The proclamation has caused much conflict in Quebec, where there is a considerable Muslim community and angry antagonism to this and other classes of accommodation. Premier Charest entitled the happening a "bad decision" and said further that the discussion had already occurred in his province, which forbade the practice.
The national Conservative government challenged Canada's chief electoral officer, Marc Mayrand, to examine his conclusion to permit Muslim women to vote with their faces hidden. The federal Liberals and the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
also requested such a reversal, to demand all voters show their faces in order to vote, even those whose faces are normally covered for religious reasons. They joined other federal and provincial politicians from Quebec who attacked the decision.
Sarah Elgazzar, an advocate for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations is a national Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in Canada. CAIR-CAN is an Ottawa-based, nonprofit organization with a grassroots membership...
in Montreal, declared that it is improbable that very many Muslim women will have hidden faces when voting. Elgazzar insisted that women using niqabs usually take them off to distinguish themselves and do not sport them for photo IDs. This fact was echoed by Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal.
Several girls have been banned from competing in sporting events in Canada for wearing the hijab while playing.
Media exposure
There was extensive coverage of related issues in Quebec's news media in 2006 and 2007, which some analysts attributed more to the pressure of competition than to citizen concern. The media play reached such an extent that the premierPremier
Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
of the province stated several non-negotiable values, such as "the equality of women and men; the primacy of French; the separation between the state and religion".
Several commentators have avowed that the debate caused support for the conservative ADQ
Action démocratique du Québec
The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....
party to increase, such that it formed the official opposition in the provincial legislature for one term from 2007 to 2008, until the increasing prominence of the global economic crisis relegated reasonable accommodation to an issue of less importance.
Employment integration
A recent examination from Statistics CanadaStatistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
demonstrated that Quebec has the lowest newcomer employment rate in Canada. The newest immigrants endured an unemployment ratio of 17.8% in 2006, or almost three times the 6.3% ratio of native-born help. In contrast, joblessness among current newcomers in Ontario is 11% contrasted with 4.4% among the Canadian-born. In British Columbia, the numbers are 9.5% and 3.7%, respectively.
"She notes that it will be some time before she and her colleagues can do enough analysis to say much about the causes of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, Quebec does seem to favour a more extreme version of this (syndrome) than other provinces. Several factors are the devaluation of allegedly inadequate foreign credentials, language tests that have little to do with professional performance and "Canadian experience" requirements that serve as an all-purpose excuse to lock out job applicants who don't already have a job.
"In both Quebec and Canada as a whole, 26 per cent said their biggest employment problem was a demand for Canadian experience and 21 per cent said it was would-be employers who wouldn't recognize foreign credentials or experience."
Quebec also offers the highest levels of state welfare of any province of Canada. This may be a contributing factor to slow down the integration of immigrants into the workforce.http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=c4bcd283-4d7a-4307-b5fd-802929628992
Political reaction
Former leader of the Parti QuébécoisParti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
André Boisclair
André Boisclair
André Boisclair is a politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and separatist party in Quebec....
noted, "We're not talking about reasonable accommodation [if] it has nothing to do with public services," Boisclair said. At the same time, Boisclair blamed Premier Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
for pandering to Quebecers who balk at adjustments made for immigrants in civil society.
Charest declined to defend them when girls wearing hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
were prohibited from soccer and tae kwon do, and when prejudiced remarks were offered about Jews.http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/256056
Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont is a television personality and former politician in the province of Quebec. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec , and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec , from 1994 to 2009...
, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec
Action démocratique du Québec
The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....
(ADQ) said in an interview in La Presse that Quebec needs more immigration for economic and demographic reasons. But believes that Quebec had met its limits of immigrant acculturation, and that any further increase in rates of immigration would create ghettos. (At present, the province accepts a smaller percentage of newcomers than elsewhere in Canada http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30.)
He criticized Charest for a plan to raise such levels when the Liberal government has cut funds for integration of newcomers into French culture. 'We're a linguistic minority...and immigrants need francization,' Dumont said. 'It's quite a challenge.'http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070814/Quebec_immigration_070814/20070814?hub=Politics
Current Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois said that Quebec should assume all control over its immigration, not the 60% that it has now under a bilateral agreement with the government of Canada. She also said the province should make the message clear to immigrants that Quebec is a francophone "state", not officially bilingual as is Canada and Quebec's neighbouring province New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
Ms. Marois avows that Quebec is in need of more immigrants, to offset with a declining birth rate for future labor needs. She further believes that Quebec is a francophone state in where the rights of the anglophone minority are respected, and where all the inhabitants live in French http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2c1f14fb-f55f-45a9-abee-4167c3b702c6&k=58090.
Charest criticized his political adversaries in the provincial legislature, and blamed them for encouraging "intolerance" in the continuing controversy. He published an open letter in regional dailies, saying he is worried the province's image of openness will diminish outside Quebec.
Dumont's statements about immigration, he said, led to the passing of a code of conduct by the town of Hérouxville that notified Muslims that face veils or stoning women would not be accepted there.http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071030/charest_lashesout_071030/20071030?hub=Canadahttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071030.wreasonable30
Commission on Reasonable Accommodation
Premier Jean CharestJean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
, citing several instances of "unreasonable" accommodation, advised
Advice (constitutional)
Advice, in constitutional law, is formal, usually binding, instruction given by one constitutional officer of state to another. Especially in parliamentary systems of government, Heads of state often act on the basis of advice issued by prime ministers or other government ministers...
the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec : Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec, or : Lieutenant-gouverneure du Québec) is the viceregal representative in Quebec of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions...
to appoint a two-man commission in February, 2007, to investigate the issue of reasonable accommodation, and report back by March 31, 2008. The formal title for the Commission is the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences, and it is sometimes called the Bouchard-Taylor Commission. Its commissioners are professors Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Charles Margrave Taylor, is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec best known for his contributions in political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, and in the history of philosophy. His contributions to these fields have earned him both the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the...
, a well-known federalist philosopher, and Gérard Bouchard
Gérard Bouchard
Gérard Bouchard is a historian, sociologist and writer from Quebec, Canada, affiliated with the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Born in Jonquière, Quebec, he obtained his master's degree in sociology from Université Laval in 1968 and later obtained his PhD degree in history from the University...
, a sovereigntist historian and sociologist. Doubt was cast on Bouchard's fitness to serve as an impartial chair, as before the commission held even one public hearing, he announced in an interview that sovereignty was the solution to calm Franco-Quebeckers' cultural insecurity. Co-chair Taylor stated, however, that Quebecers need to demonstrate the "openness and generosity of spirit" that majorities should have towards minorities.
The commission conducted conferences in various Quebec regions. The committee listened to individuals, organizations, and experts on Quebec identity, religion, and integration of so-called cultural communities (minority groups).
Before formal proceedings began, Bouchard and Taylor said they found an insecurity in Quebec's pure laine population in focus groups across the province. The commissioners hoped to dispel misconceptions like the one that Muslims were somehow taking over Canadian society, a view that does not match with reality.
United States
In the US reasonable accommodations are made for employment, education, courts and public venues. The Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by former President George H. W. Bush, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) changed the way courts serve individuals with qualified disabilities. The intent of this landmark legislation is to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities and ensure they have the same opportunities available to persons without disabilities. Courts achieve equity by providing reasonable accommodations to disabled people in order to level the playing field.The ADA is divided into five sections, Titles I-V. Title II provides that “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subject to discrimination by any such entity.”
Employment
The US Department of Justice defines A reasonable accommodation as "any modification or adjustment to a job or the work environment that will enable a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions. Reasonable accommodation also includes adjustments to assure that a qualified individual with a disability has rights and privileges in employment equal to those of employees without disabilities."Sources
- Charest enters the fray
- Charest raps opposition's closed-minded view of immigrants
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- Damaged commission: Reasonable accommodation commissioner already has made up his mind
- Dumont criticizes PQ, Liberals over referendum hang-ups in election campaign
- Immigration hearings aim to sort fact from fiction
- Intolerance costly, says Charest
- L'affaire Herouxville born out of fear: experts
- Media stir up storm over 'accommodation'
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- Minorities excluded from public institution jobs
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- Racism vs. reasonable accommodation of minorities sparks debate in Quebec
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- Quebec towns reject Hérouxville immigrant code
- Segolene Royal speaks to packed Que. auditorium