In my experience, yes - they have a problem.
The very statement that Quebec is a racist province could be termed racist itself. However, the recent
ejection of a female Muslim soccer player for
wearing the hijab is merely one incident in a long line of incidents that just reinforce the belief that Quebecers, despite crying foul for being discriminated against by English Canada, themselves have a problem with racism.
Consider:
A Toronto Sun report last month found that Quebec was the province where a majority of the people saw themselves as racist (59%). A day later, a private Muslim girls' school in Montreal was vandalized, with hooligans shattering 15 windows and damaging a school bus. [Canoe]
In a diverse society, "religious symbols have no place in public space," Parti Quebecois Leader Boisclair said.
Mario Dumont, leader of the Action democratique du Quebec, said Quebec should quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities.
"We must make gestures which reinforce our national identity and protect those values which are so invaluable to us," Dumont wrote in a letter to be sent to Quebecers.
Unpopular with his political opponents, Dumont's position seemed to strike a chord with some Quebecers.
A Montreal elementary school had to hire guards last April after a Filipino mother alleged that her son was chided by a lunch hall monitor for the way he ate. The school's excuse - "Oh it had nothing to do with the traditional Filipino manner of eating, but bad manners."
Two Orthodox Jewish schools have been firebombed in the past couple of years.
Hérouxville, a small town in Quebec, published a new code of conduct for immigrants, stereotyping Muslims and Sikhs amongst others. It banned kirpans and head scarves except on Halloween, and said women can drive and write cheques but cannot be stoned to death.[CBC]
It was Quebec that had a problem with a kirpan.
My own experiences in Quebec has not made a favourable impression on me. As a rule, many Quebecers of French descent has behaved rudely with me when they found out I did not speak French. Why is it that when the rest of Canada has no problem with reasonable accommodation for diverse cultural and religious practices, it is Quebec that must make a fuss, all the time?
