Unreasonable Accommodation

"The idea of meeting requests from major ethnic and religious organizations on our territory, when it causes no prejudice to other citizens or to the city, is something that is natural for us and has been for nearly 30 years, without incident."
Marvin Rotrand, councillor, District of Snowdon, Montreal

"We cannot start saying we are going to change the highway code and the parking signs according to different religions. It will never end. We will have parking signs for Jewish holidays, then we will have parking signs for Catholic holidays, and after that parking signs for Muslim holidays. It makes no sense. We cannot manage a society like that."
Bernard Drainville, Minister of Democratic Institutions, Quebec

Evidently Montreal has turned an accepting, if not a blind eye to "parking tolerance" on Jewish high holidays. Restrictions on street parking are lifted for a few blocks around the vicinity of synagogues, allowing orthodox Jews who will not drive on holidays to avoid traffic tickets if they are unable to move their vehicles when a holiday coincides with a day designated for street-sweeping.

Street sweeping; how often is that done in any municipality? One designated day in early spring, after a long, hard winter.

But it was a very gentle gesture, no doubt appreciated by the orthodox Jewish community many of whose members live relatively close to their synagogues. And whose depth of faith forbids them to drive on Friday night and through the day Saturday. This forgiving attitude has been current since 1984. Now, however, the Parti Quebecois is back in power and the Minister of Democratic Institutions (now that's a new ministry, existing in no other province) won't have it.

"It" being the existing courtesy exhibited to a wider audience through a television report showing a few No Parking signs city workers had covered for the holiday of Shavuot. Multi-ethnic Montreal seemed to be all right with this accommodation to orthodox members of the Jewish faith. But Mr. Drainville is focused on the PQ's Secularism Charter which would have the effect of banning public servants from "conspicuous" religious symbols like the hijab and yarmulke being worn as inimical to Quebec values.

Mr. Drainville discussed the parking issue with radio host Benoit Dutrizac on air. Mr. Dutrizac took the opportunity during their Wednesday conversation of warning Mr. Drainville to take care when taking on the Jewish community. "They will send you emails to intimidate you. I've experienced it, and I imagine you have also. You cannot say about the Jewish community what can be said about all other communities, including old-Stock Quebecers", helpfully advised the radio host.

He should know, after all. He was found last year to have breached broadcasting standards in his comments relating to Jews, in 2011. A panel representing the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council found he had made "abusive and unduly discriminatory remarks about Jewish people when he called them 'mentally ill retards' and he stereotyped them by suggesting that they were trying to impose their will on Quebec society."

Religious belief, stresses Mr. Drainville is a personal matter. He was not prepared to judge other people's convictions, but neither is he prepared to accept the status quo. "From the moment that you are in the public space, and public regulations apply, you cannot come and say, 'I impose my personal beliefs on the rest of society and I ask that the regulations governing the whole society be adjusted to my particular situation."

His Charter would make "clear rules" to prevent such "unreasonable" accommodations as the temporary parking exemption.

Thank heavens for all of that. Who do the Jews think they are, after all? Montreal residents, Quebecers?

Then, act like it! No anti-Semitic implications here.