OTTAWA | French President Emmanuel Macron said he was counting on Quebec to help explain the French model of secularism, often “misunderstood” in the “Anglo-Saxon” world.
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“France does not claim to impose this model throughout the world,” said Mr. Macron at a press conference in Montreal, flanked by Justin Trudeau. She simply intends that it is sometimes better respected when tempers become heated.”
Its former prime minister Gabriel Attal offered a vibrant plea for this model of state secularism last spring, during a visit to Quebec.
“Secularism is the condition of freedom, the condition of equality and the condition of fraternity!” he declared during his speech to the National Assembly.
Emmanuelle Macron offered a similar explanation, emphasizing that “the French model of secularism is not a model of exclusion of religions.”
“Secularism is a law of freedom. This is why, whatever your religion, nothing justifies you turning away from the laws of the Republic,” he said.
Mr. Macron noted that French-style secularism has often had a bad press in the English-speaking world, including the United States and Canada.
“I have often been able to read in recent years, having had to experience the moments when tempers were heating up, in the Anglo-Saxon world, a lot of criticism to caricature, to transform what French secularism is,” said he argued.
“I am counting on our Quebec friends to help explain the French model.”
