Groups representing publicly funded daycares (known as CPEs) and daycare workers in Quebec say the province’s new enhanced secularism law would create numerous challenges for the daycare network and likely weaken services to young children.
“We’re concerned that the problem raised and the means adopted by Bill 9 are not in line with the challenges and emergencies identified on the ground in the early childhood sector,” the association representing CPEs said in its memoir released Thursday to a National Assembly committee holding consultations on the bill this week.
Bill 9 prohibits workers in CPEs from wearing religious symbols while at work and bans CPEs from serving exclusively kosher or halal food.
Jean-Francois Roberge, Quebec’s minister responsible for secularism, has justified the bill saying religious neutrality of the state ensures equality for all.
“The bill does not improve either the quality of educational services offered or access to a healthy and safe learning environment,” the Association québécoise des centres de la petite enfance (AQCPE) said in its memoir.
In fact, daycares say the secularism law will exacerbate existing staffing shortages, add financial burdens and weaken trust between CPEs and some parents.
Solving problem that doesn’t exist
Pascal Coté, vice-president of the CSQ labour federation, which represents workers at CPEs, told CBC in an interview Wednesday the government has failed to provide a clear justification for the new bill.
“There are no studies that show that wearing a religious symbol transmits any religion at all to a child,” Coté said.
The AQCPE surveyed its members to see how many complaints they’d received about staff attire. Out of 705 respondents, more than 90 per cent said they had never received a complaint.
Among the few complaints received, the association said only about half were related to religious symbols.
The other half related to other clothing or appearance concerns including dirty hair, clothing that is too low-cut, or an educator who refuses to dress up for Halloween.
“This data demonstrates that, although the wearing of religious symbols is present in the network, it remains marginal and does not constitute a widespread problem or a source of recurring tensions for parents or educational teams,” the AQCPE said.
Report on secularism says hjjabs not neutral
Bill 9 is based largely on the recommendations of a government-commissioned report released last August from a committee that studied secularism, led by lawyers Guillaume Rousseau and Christiane Pelchat.
In that report, Pelchat and Rousseau said daycare staff wearing hijabs was not neutral.
“It provokes reactions and induces behaviours in young children, especially little girls, which is not surprising given their great susceptibility, linked to their age,” Pelchat and Rousseau’s report said.
The AQCPE says Pelchat and Rousseau misunderstood what was going on.
“They base this assertion on the testimony of six educators, some of whom say that ‘little girls dress up by wearing a headscarf,’” the AQCPE’s memoir said.
“Research in developmental psychology demonstrates that such mimicry should not be interpreted as an influence on identity or a risk to development,” the association said.
“Rather, it is a demonstration of ‘symbolic play’ — or pretend play — which is very important for a child’s development.”
Staffing shortages
Perhaps the biggest potential effect of Bill 9 on the daycare network would be to exacerbate an existing shortage of workers.
The AQCPE says daycares already face a “severe shortage” of qualified staff.
They say that means sometimes ideal ratios of staff to children aren’t met, the number of available spaces is reduced, replacements aren’t available, and shutdowns during summer and holiday periods become longer.
It says reducing the pool of potential staff even further by introducing a new restriction won’t help.
“This decline in qualified staff directly threatens educational quality throughout the network and risks worsening if Bill 9 reduces the number of future graduates eligible to work,” the association said.
The law that bans religious symbols for all school staff — not just teachers — includes an exemption for people who are already employed. But it only applies to those hired or promoted before the law was tabled in March. Unions representing school support workers say it’s causing all kinds of problems.
Bill 9 includes an acquired rights clause, meaning daycare staff who wear religious symbols and were already in place when the law was introduced could keep their jobs.
But if they moved to another daycare or tried to get another job, they could be denied.
Coté said many of his members switch jobs for various reasons, and that the acquired rights clause wouldn’t protect them, which could lead to further staff shortages.
Dietary restrictions could be costly
CPEs are also worried about the new provision that prevents them serving exclusively a menu based on a religious precept or tradition, meaning they can’t serve only halal or kosher food.
“Many child-care centres that purchase from suppliers offering only halal meat do so not out of religious choice, but because it’s the most economical and practical option,” the AQCPE said.
Bill 9, the CAQ government’s latest strengthening of secularism laws, forbids public institutions from exclusively serving food offerings that adhere to religious precepts or traditions. Some say this could create complex issues for places like public daycares.
“Complying with this provision could therefore lead to additional costs,” the association said.
It said that means that some daycare centres would have less money to invest in other services, and that some might have to increase their deficits.
The association is asking the government to clarify the rule and perhaps offer an exemption for CPEs that demonstrate they serve such menus for logistical or economic reasons and not on religious grounds.
Parents with face coverings
Another problem area identified by the AQCPE deals with Bill 9’s requirement that anyone who receives services from a child-care provider must do so with their face uncovered.
“We have several questions regarding the application of this requirement, particularly for mothers whose religion requires them to cover their faces in public,” the association said.
The AQCPE says unlike in schools, parents of daycare-aged children have daily contact with staff.
“Every morning, the parent enters the building to accompany their child to their classroom. In the evening, they pick up their child and dress them in the changing rooms,” the association said.
The AQCPE said the law could mean that staff would be forced to deny some parents access to daycare buildings.
“If educators are forced to engage in such practices, the relationship with parents could be severely damaged,” the association said.
More data needed
Both the AQCPE and the CSQ are asking the government to go back to the drawing board and gather more data about the necessity of such a law and its potential consequences.
“Put on the brakes, take the time to get some better analysis of the numbers of workers that could be affected, how the services could be affected,” Coté said.
He noted the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government never ran on a promise to ban daycare workers from wearing religious symbols.
“So what we’re asking is just abandon those laws, go to the election in October, and then we’ll see,” Coté said.