What led to the Bouchard-Taylor Commission being formed?
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The Bouchard-Taylor Commission was formed in response to several incidents. It arose directly from public discontent surrounding what was known as the “reasonable accommodation debates” — debates that encompassed the extent to which immigrant cultural and religious practices were viewed through a Western lens and how they should be accommodated in Quebec. The commission was a government consultation tasked with studying interculturalism, multiculturalism, secularism, and national identity in Quebec.
In “Reasonable Accommodation in Quebec: The Limits of Participation and Dialogue”, Gada Mahrouse presents several cases that led to the creation of this commission. These include the case of a Sikh boy who wanted to wear his kirpan to school, an 11-year-old girl who was not allowed to wear her hijab during soccer practice, a Montreal synagogue that requested the YMCA blur its windows to avoid seeing women in tight gym wear, and, lastly, a town in Quebec called Hérouxville that banned its residents from practicing female circumcision, stoning, and immolation in an attempt to “protect” Quebec from foreign and non-Christian practices.
These cases, recognized by the media, led people to believe that Quebec’s identity was in danger by cultural and religious identities from immigration. This perception, heightened by anxieties around national identity, prompted the provincial government to establish the Bochard-Taylor Commission in February 2007–ensuring the accommodation practiced aligned with “Quebec’s values.”