More the Merrier??

A recent article in the Economist spoke of a bill introduced in the French-speaking province of Quebec which would prohibit the wearing religious symbols, which many believe specifically targets the hijab worn by Muslim females. Here's the link:

 http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21594328-debates-over-immigration-are-often-toxic-not-canada-more-merrier

The government states the ban is needed to promote state secularism, others, naturally, vehemently disagree. What is interesting is that Quebeckers, along with most Canadians, promote mass immigration and believe immigrants are a boost to the economy. This has been the case for decades with Canada adopting ‘multiculturalism’ as a maxim for tolerance in the 70’s but at the same time expecting them to integrate. In Quebec the government prefers the doctrine of ‘interculturalism’ which emphasizes assimilation into the dominant culture. 

The cultural intolerance of the Quebec government illustrates how often the dominant culture will perceive, or disregard, a minority group’s ‘primary socialization’ identifiers and instead treat them as ‘secondary socialization’ identifiers as discussed in Alex Frame’s, ‘Cultures, Identities and Meanings in Intercultural Encounters’. In other words, your culture is second to the primary culture you are now surrounded by. This static view of the culture lacks a deep understanding of the ever changing nature of culture, comforted by the illusion of one’s own culture as imperious to change at the expense of altering another’s. Furthermore, one does not need to search in between the lines too long to realize that while Quebeckers claim such a laid back status to potential immigrants laws of this kind make it plain to see that Muslim-immigrants should look elsewhere.