The crucifix installed in the council room of Quebec City Hall could contravene the religious neutrality of the State, according to the Legault government, which however leaves it to the Municipality to resolve this debate.
• Also read: The Marchand administration asks for an opinion on the removal of the crucifix from the municipal council chamber
“We can talk about heritage or artistic value, but if the crucifix in Quebec City Hall represented a desire to establish a religion or impose a religious norm, then that would go against the principles of neutrality. religion of the State and the separation between the State and religions,” the office of Jean-François Roberge, Minister responsible for Democratic Institutions, clarified on Wednesday.
But the decision whether or not to remove Christ on the cross rests with the municipal administration, we insist. “In the way the law [sur la laïcité de l’État] is written, we cannot demand to remove or modify something at city hall.”
Remember that the deputies of the National Assembly had decided to take down the crucifix which once dominated the parliamentary contest in the wake of the adoption of law 21 to store it elsewhere in Parliament. These religious symbols were also removed from courthouses in the months that followed.
Advisory Committee
This debate rebounded unexpectedly on Tuesday evening, towards the end of the Quebec City Council. A citizen asked, in writing, if the crucifix, which hangs to the left of the seat of the president of the municipal council, could be moved to “a neutral place” to “not give the impression that the City has a bias towards Catholicism.”
David Weiser, municipal councilor on Mayor Marchand’s team, responded that there will be “in-depth reflection” on this subject during the next meeting of the Advisory Commission for an Inclusive City, on February 20, 2025.
Reactions
At Quebec City Hall, Mayor Marchand’s entourage referred us on Wednesday to Mr. Weiser’s answers. We avoided reiterating the position expressed by candidate Marchand, during the 2021 electoral campaign, who suggested keeping the crucifix in its place and who qualified it as a “heritage” object.
Claude Villeneuve, leader of the municipal opposition, argued that “the crucifix in the council room has no liturgical function.” That said, the latter showed himself open to the debate taking place within the Advisory Commission created in May 2022 and chaired by Councilor Weiser.
For her part, Jackie Smith, head of Transition Québec, considered that the crucifix should be removed from the council room and moved “in a display case” located in one of the corridors of city hall. “When we talk about secularism, the principle is that all religions should be separated from the State,” she recalled. Having a clearly religious symbol in a political decision-making room has no place in a secular state.”
Patrick Paquet, unelected leader of Équipe Priorité Québec, did not want to react.
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