Drainville Cancels Concordia Appearance

Last-Minute Cancellation Leaves Charter Debate One-Sided

NewsAndrew Brennan — Published November 29, 2013

Despite Bernard Drainville’s last-minute cancellation over security concerns, Concordia held a debate on the proposed Charter of Quebec Values Thursday afternoon between members of other provincial parties.

Drainville, the Parti Québécois minister responsible for the charter, told reporters that Concordia could not guarantee the safety of participants to the minister’s staff, prompting the MNA for the South Shore riding of Marie-Victorin to bow out of the debate.

“Here we see a group of people who threatened to disrupt our holding of the debate, in order to deprive us of a democratic discussion. I sincerely regret this situation,” the minister said in a subsequent press release.

Members of the Concordia community did hold protests against the charter of values, but there were no incidents of violence and the debate itself was conducted in a largely respectful manner by all attendees.

Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota said the university told Drainville’s staff it was next to impossible for a university to completely guarantee the safety of everyone involved at the event.

The remaining debate panellists—Kathleen Weil, Liberal MNA for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Official Opposition Critic for Employment and Social Economy, and André Frappier, former president of Québec solidaire—both expressed disappointment with Drainville’s absence and stated they were against the charter bill.

“I am convinced we would have had a very respectful debate here at Concordia and I hope there will be another opportunity [to hold one],” added Weil.

Debate organizer Vignesh Shankar, VP External of the Concordia Graduate Students’ Association—which coordinated the event—echoed Weil’s sentiment, telling The Link he believes the minister’s claims of a security threat were unfounded.

The protest was organized by Concordia’s chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group.

If passed, the secular charter would prohibit employees of the provincial government from wearing overt religious clothing and symbols. It would also ban the users of government services from covering their faces, effectively prohibiting the wearing of religious headdresses like burqas and niqabs in public spaces by default.