In the News: Quebec City Hospital Restores Crucifix

After outcry, Quebec hospital restores crucifix taken down in interest of ‘religious neutrality’, Graeme Hamilton, National Post, 2017-03-01

After a patient complained last month about the presence of a large crucifix on the wall of the publicly funded Saint-Sacrament Hospital in Quebec City, management determined that in the interest of the “religious neutrality of the state,” it should come down.

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After being confronted with a violent threat, a scolding from government ministers and a petition signed by more than 13,000 people, the hospital announced Wednesday that it was restoring the crucifix to its place inside the main entrance.

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An online petition said taking down the crucifix showed a lack of respect to the nuns who helped build Quebec. […]
Bernard Drainville […] urged listeners of his Quebec City radio show to sign the petition.

This decision is anti-secular and a victory for fundamentalists. Worst of all is the fact that Bernard Drainville supported the return of the crucifix to its place in the hospital. In 2013-2014, Drainville piloted the Charter of Secularism proposed by the PQ government of which he was a cabinet minister. In January of 2015, as a candidate for the leadership of that party, he proposed a new Charter which was a very diluted version of the original. And now, he has apparently abandoned secularism completely.

Secularism means removing symbols of ALL religions from public institutions, including the religion of the Catholic majority, not just symbols of minority religions.