Madam Speaker, as the veterans affairs critic for the official opposition, I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate. However, we cannot expect the debate on the motion moved by the hon. member for Windsor-St. Clair to provide us with the answer to a
problem involving the rights of the individual and the rights of the community. We can explain our respective positions and comment on them, but it would be hazardous for anyone to claim that he or she has the answer.
After establishing the principle of human rights a number of years ago, we started to establish the boundary between individual rights and the rights of agencies, corporations or companies. We know that these two kinds of rights-individual and collective rights-may or may not clash, depending on how tolerant or intolerant people are.
Individual rights have been recognized for many years by various charters of rights and freedoms. One that stands out is the charter adopted unanimously by the Quebec National Assembly in 1975. These charters recognize the right to fundamental freedoms such as freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association.
Some of these individual or collective rights may impinge on one another. We all know this fundamental principle: one person's freedom extends to where the other person's freedom starts. However, although Parliament can indicate how we should see the nature of this boundary between my rights and the rights of my neighbour, it is up to the courts to make a decision in disputes that may arise between conflicting rights. We can suggest where the boundary should lie, without actually changing anything. In this case, we think that, in time, a consensus will develop in favour of greater tolerance.
Tolerance, and by that I mean accepting the differences of the other person, is not always easy to accept when we are directly involved. Tolerance can quickly turn into resistance when we are directly confronted with a total departure from what we see as normal.
In this particular case, the Legion tells us that the wearing of the Sikh turban and the Jewish kipa is not allowed in the facilities of the legion, any more than any other head coverings. To the legion, the religious aspect of certain head covering is irrelevant. The Royal Canadian Legion argues that an organization has the right to impose certain rules and practices within the framework of its activities.
This position is not consistent, however. A spokesperson for the Canadian Jewish Congress pointed out last June that the Legion had no trouble with cowboy hats or baseball caps. Why the inconsistency?
At a Christmas party in 1987, a branch of the legion in Alberta barred a Sikh wearing a turban from entering its premises, although the hall had been rented for the occasion and the Sikh was not a member of the legion. He then filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission. A tribunal finally asked the branch to apologize and amend its discriminatory regulations since the legion does not have the right to deny access to public activities. The branch made minor changes without allowing full access.
The 1990 turban scandal provoked strong negative reactions in many branches of the Royal Canadian Legion against legitimate differences that are not prejudicial to legion members in any way. On November 30, 1993, Sikh veterans participating in Remembrance Day ceremonies in Surrey, British Columbia, were denied access to royal legion facilities because they refused to remove their turbans.
In February 1994, the president of a local branch in Cornwall, Ontario was reinstated after being suspended by the provincial branch after he spoke against the wearing of turbans. Either to clarify the situation or to try to hold back the movement against the religious practices of fellow soldiers, the Royal Canadian Legion took the opportunity, at its annual convention in late May 1994, to urge participants to pass a resolution allowing Sikh members to wear religious head-dress on branch premises.
Those present rejected this proposal, forcing their national president to resign on the spot. Without a national policy, individual branches are still free to regulate access to their facilities as they see fit. This event has stirred up many reactions, here in the House of Commons as well as in the media. Local chapters of the legion that have formulated or maintained the restrictions concerning the wearing of head-dress have pointed out that they are exercising a right accorded to private organizations such as theirs.
In fact, the Royal Canadian Legion has its roots in a private organization formed on July 10, 1926, which through federal statute assented to on June 30, 1948 was incorporated as the Royal Canadian Legion. The best conclusion that I can offer this Chamber is undoubtedly the one that preceded us by 24 hours, in Montreal. Yesterday, the Quebec human rights commission published a legal opinion concerning the banning of the Islamic head scarf. It ruled clearly that such bans were a violation of freedom of religion.
In the same breath, however, it recalled that section 20 of the Quebec charter of rights and freedoms allows non-profit organizations to impose rules consistent with their objectives of a charitable, philanthropic, religious, political or educational nature. For the commission, this provision would not, however, allow interference with the freedom of conscience or religion of an individual.
The Quebec human rights commission is in a way proposing a set of rules under which the current debate on religious pluralism could take place. They set out clearly the legal principles that the courts should rely on in dealing with these issues. Although it emphasizes that the Quebec charter would prohibit any discrimination on the basis of religion, the commission does not recommend that the courts be asked to settle disputes.
Instead, it invites the opposing parties and the general public to arrive at a consensus on the broader issue of conflicting rights.
This is our choice. We hope that attitudes will evolve and that each of us will become aware of the worth of others, with respect for the self. We invite the Royal Canadian Legion to examine the opinions just published by the Quebec human rights commission.