Raymond de Souza: The hole left by crucifix's removal says much about Quebec today

Perhaps it could be stored beside other relics of Quebec’s past, like religious liberty and a parliamentary tradition of moderation

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-de-souza-the-hole-left-by-crucifixs-removal-says-much-about-quebec-today

The crucifix that hung in the National Assembly of Quebec since 1936 was removed on Tuesday. Despite all-party support for the crucifix over the speaker’s chair in recent years, it became untenable in the face of the CAQ “secularism” law, which bans the wearing of religious garb by public sector workers.

Premier François Legault had attempted to have it both ways, arguing that the crucifix was not “religious” but rather a cultural or historical item. It could be religious and cultural and historical, but it was absurd to say it was not religious. Quebec’s Catholic bishops long ago said that the decision about what hung in the chamber was up to the National Assembly but, whatever the decision, the crucifix could not be reduced to a cultural vestige or historical souvenir.

I don’t lament the removal of the crucifix. The empty space above the speaker’s throne is a better representation of Quebec’s public culture today, and much of what transpires in the chamber is at odds with Quebec’s Catholic history in any case. Yet the confusions about the crucifix also illustrate why the Quebec government is floundering on its secularism law ...