Quebec's 'accommodation' hearings to start in September

Quebec's public hearings on so-called reasonable accommodations for immigrants are to start next month, it was announced in Montreal Tuesday just as the province's three party leaders were again squabbling over immigration policy.

Philosopher Charles Taylor and sociologist Gérard Bouchard, brother of former premier Lucien Bouchard, will chair the proceedings in 17 communitiesacross the province.

Premier Jean Charest announced the hearings last March after a lengthy and sometimes acrimonious public debate on the integration of immigrants.

Thedebate continued on the weekend when Action Démocratique du Québec leader Mario Dumont told La Presse newspaper that Quebec had reached its capacity for immigration.

Premier Jean Charest accused Dumont of being narrow-minded on the issue.

Parti Québecois leader Pauline Marois also questioned Dumont's remarks. She said her big concern is that the federal government has too much control over immigration in Quebec and immigrants are not required to learn French.

"I say when you come here you will have to speak French. You will have to learn if you want to live in this country, if you like to participate in this community, you will have to understand the language."

Taylor, co-chair of the reasonable accommodation commission,said Tuesday he will listen to all sides when the first of 37 public meetings opens in the Outaouais, just across the river from Ottawa,at the beginning of September.

The debate over accommodating immigrants was sparked earlier this year when the small town of Herouxville passed a code of conduct for immigrants, which included a rule against stoning women.

There has also been significant debate about whether women should be allowed to wear head scarves while playing sports.

A Tae Kwon Do team of mainly Muslim girls withdrew from a tournament after they were barred from taking part while wearingtheir hijabs.

In February, an 11-year-old Muslim girl from Ottawa was asked to remove her hijab at a soccer tournament in Laval, north of Montreal, due to safety concerns. She refused and her team pulled out of the tournament.

A Montreal Muslim woman recently complained that she was forced to choose between her hijab and a job as a prison guard.

A few months ago, a Montreal community health centre was under fire for holding women-only pre-natal classes to make Muslim, Sikh or Hindu women feel more comfortable.

Quebec, a French minority within North America, considers itself a secular society that encourages immigrants to integrate into its francophone culture.

But the debate about "reasonable accommodation" became so intense Charest felt compelled to strike a committee to study the issue.