Legault warns radical Islam threatens Quebec’s values

Quebec Premier François Legault and his secularism minister are sounding the alarm, warning that radical Islamist groups pose a threat to the province’s secular values and urging Quebecers to wake up.

Source: Facebook, Francois Legault

Quebec Premier François Legault and his secularism minister are sounding the alarm, warning that radical Islamist groups pose a threat to the province’s secular values and urging Quebecers to “wake up” to the danger.

Speaking in the National Assembly on September 30, Legault denounced religious movements that he said are challenging Quebec’s “common values,” particularly state secularism and gender equality.

“Let’s be honest, it is mainly radical Islamists who attack these values with the most intensity,” Legault said.

“I want to be very clear, I am not targeting Quebecers of Muslim faith or who come from Muslim countries.”

He said such groups attempt to impose their own values and specifically undermine women’s equality rights.

“We are not going to let anyone attack the hard-won freedom of Quebec women. Never!” Legault declared.

The next day, Minister of Secularism Jean-François Roberge urged Quebecers to be vigilant. “We must not wait until it is everywhere, in all our institutions, to wake up. Let’s wake up now!” he told reporters.

Roberge pointed to Montreal’s Bedford School as an example, citing a report that found Islamist teachers had infiltrated the institution.

Legault himself also cited the case when asked to clarify his comments, saying the imposition of rules that forbade girls from taking physical education classes was “no small thing in Quebec.”

The Coalition Avenir Québec government has made defence of secularism central to its platform, including through Bill 21, which bans some public employees from wearing religious symbols on the job.

The law has drawn the Liberal government to attempt to limit the notwithstanding clause in the courts, something that former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney told True North would undermine national unity, describing the move as “strange and dangerous.”

In August, polls suggested the CAQ was headed for a devastating election loss next year, with the separatist Parti Québécois in the lead.