Conclusion: Religion, Culture, and the State
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Howard Adelman and Pierre Anctil
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Abstract
Newcomers should give up their cultural traditions and become more like everybody else. Thls was the position of a majority of Québecers polled by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies1 a year after Bouchard and Taylor released their report. Further, the trend line of anxiety about and resistance to incorporating other cultures became worse in the year after the B-T Report came out. Forty per cent of francophones viewed non-Christian immigrants as a threat to Québec society, compared with 32 per cent in 2007, while only 32 per cent of non-francophones harboured the same fears, a figure that declined compared with 34 per cent in 2007. B-T clearly did not change the attitudes of francophone, allophone, or anglophone Québecers, except perhaps to exacerbate Québécois' fears. Why did this occur? Why the enhanced anxiety? Some explain minority fears in terms of group economic insecurity. Antonius Rachad argued that 'Focusing on cultural differences is the wrong approach.'' What minorities really want and need is both equality of opportunity and results. Economic integration produces change. But the polls suggest other more important factors -age, for example. Fifty-six per cent of 18-to 24-year-olds polled approved wearing hijabs in public schools, but only 30 per cent of those 55 and over agreed. The linguistic group to which an individual belongs also counts. Sixty-three per cent of non-francophones approve wearing headscarves in public schools, but only 32 per cent of French-speakers agreed. And only 25 per cent of francophones thought they had a responsibility to make a greater effort to accept minority groups' customs, while 74 per cent of non-francophones thought they should make a greater effort.
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Religion, culture, and the state: reflections on the Bouchard-Taylor report