Toe the Line, or Else!

A few weeks ago we had an article about Herouxville, Quebec, which has one immigrant family in its population of about 1,300, and is 160km (100 miles) north-east of Montreal.

It is attempting to attract new citizens and its council published (with tongue in cheek) the new rules for immigrants on the town's website.

"We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," the declaration reads.

"We consider it completely outside norms to... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them, etc."

It points out that women are allowed to drive, vote, dance and own their own homes.

The rules ban Sikh children from carrying ceremonial daggers to school, even though the Supreme Court has ruled they can.

The man behind the declaration, councillor Andre Drouin, told the National Post newspaper the rules were not racist.

"We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us, but we want them to know ahead of time how we live," he said.

Mr Drouin said there had been a number of recent incidents of culture clashes that meant the new rules were needed.

Mr Drouin said most e-mails were supportive of the new declaration.

However, the president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, Salam Elmenyawi, condemned the council, saying it had set back race relations decades.

He told Reuters news agency: "I was shocked and insulted to see these kinds of false stereotypes and ignorance about Islam and our religion."

In response to Mr. Elmenyawi I would like to quote some of the rules that my wife had to follow when she was in Saudi Arabia with her first husband back in the 1980's!

1. You must live in a walled compound supplied by the Saudi government. Living anywhere else is forbidden.
2. Women are NOT allowed to drive.
3. Women cannot go out of the compound without a male companion.
4. Women must always wear an Abaya when outside. (This is a long cloak that covers you from head to foot.
5. You must surrender your passport when entering Saudi Arabia and obtain an "exit visa" when wishing to leave. Internal travel papers must be issued to foreigners.
6. No personal photographs or magazines allowed in the country that have pictures of women with bare arms or legs.
7. No crucifixes or Star of David medallions to be displayed or worn. No church or Synagogue services allowed.
8. Any and all T.V. programs will be censured by the Saudi Government!

Now, just so you know, here is the complete declaration from the town of Herouxville and it doesn't seem very Draconian at all. Tongue in cheek or not!

Municipalité Hérouxville
Publication of Standards

The social development and territory security are some of the major objective goals of the democratically voted individuals in our MRC. Hérouxville being part of the MRC, we share these same objectives. To do this, we would like to invite, without discrimination, in the future, all people from outside our MRC that would like to move to this territory.

Without discrimination means to us, without regard to race or to the color of skin, mother tongue spoken, sexual orientation, religion, or any other form of beliefs.
So that the future residents can integrate socially more easily, we have decided unanimously, to make public, certain standards already in place and very well anchored in the lives of our electors.

These standards come from our municipal laws being Federal or Provincial, and all voted democratically. They also come from the social life and habits & customs of all residents of our territory.

Our objective is to show that we support the wishes of our electors and this being shown clearly by the results of our poll regarding this issue. And our goal is to inform the new arrivals to our territory, how we live to help them make a clear decision to integrate into our area.

We would especially like to inform the new arrivals that the lifestyle that they left behind in their birth country cannot be brought here with them and they would have to adapt to their new social identity.

Published by The mayor and 6 city counselors of Hérouxville, democratically elected.

Municipalité Hérouxville

The Standards

Our Women

We consider that men and women are of the same value. Having said this, we consider that a woman can; drive a car, vote, sign checks, dance, decide for herself, speak her peace, dress as she sees fit respecting of course the democratic decency, walk alone in public places, study, have a job, have her own belongings and anything else that a man can do. These are our standards and our way of life.

However, we consider that killing women in public beatings, or burning them alive are not part of our standards of life.

Our Children

Our children are required to attend public or private schools to insure their social development and to help integrate into our society. Any form of violence towards children is not accepted.

Our Festivities

We listen to music, we drink alcoholic beverages in public or private places, we dance and at the end of every year we decorate a tree with balls and tinsel and some lights. This is normally called “Christmas Decorations” or also “Christmas Tree” letting us rejoice in the notion of our national heritage and not necessarily a religious holiday. These festivities are authorized in public, schools, and institutions and also in private.

Our Health Care

In our old folks homes men and women are treated by responsible men and women. Please note that there is no law voted democratically that prohibits a woman treating a man and a man treating a woman.

In our hospitals and CLSC’s woman doctors can treat men and women and the same for the men doctors. This same principle applies for nurses, firemen and women, ambulance technicians. These responsible people do not have to ask permission to perform blood transfusions or any task needed to save a life.

For the last few years men have been allowed into the delivery room to assist in the birth of their baby. They have been with their wives to prenatal courses to help them in this task.

In the said establishments the patients are offered traditional meals. There is often music playing in the background. There are magazines or news papers available and any other form of multimedia that shows our community spirit and our way of life.

Our Education

In our schools certified men and women teach our children. The women or men teachers can teach boys or girls with no sexual discrimination. They do not have to dress any different to accomplish their tasks.

In our schools the children cannot carry any weapons real or fake, symbolic or not. The children can sing, play sports or play in groups.

To promote decency and to avoid all discrimination some schools have adopted a dress code that they strongly enforce.

For the last few years to draw away from religious influences or orientation no locale is made available for prayer or any other form of incantation. Moreover, in many of our schools no prayer is allowed. We teach more science and less religion.

In our scholastic establishments, be private or public, generally, at the end of the year you will possibly see “Christmas Decorations” or “Christmas Trees” The children might also sing “Christmas Carols” if they want to.

Many of our schools have cafeterias that serve traditional foods. Students may decide to eat elsewhere.

The history of Quebec is taught in our schools. Biology lessons are also given.

Our Sports & Leisure

For the longest time boys and girls have played the same games and often play together. For example, if you came to my place we would send the kids to swim together in the pool, don’t be surprised this is normal for us.

You would see men and women skiing together on the same hill at the same time, don’t be surprised this is normal for us. You would also see men and women playing hockey together, don’t be surprised this is normal for us.

In our public swimming pools we have men and women lifeguards for our security to protect us from drowning, don’t be surprised this is normal for us.

All the laws adopted that permit these phenomenons have followed a strict democratic process. You would appreciate this new life style and share our habits & customs.

Our Security

Our immense territory is patrolled by police men and women of the “Surete du Quebec”. They have always been allowed to question or to advise or lecture or to give out an infraction ticket to either a man or woman.

You may not hide your face as to be able to identify you while you are in public. The only time you may mask or cover your face is during Halloween, this is a religious traditional custom at the end of October celebrating all Saints Day, where children dress up and go door to door begging for candy and treats.

All of us accept to have our picture taken and printed on our driver’s permit, health care card and passports. A result of democracy.

Our Work Place

The employers must respect the governmental laws regarding work conditions. These laws include holidays known and accepted in advance by all employees. These work conditions are negotiated democratically and once accepted both parties respect them.

No law or work condition imposes the employer to supply a place of prayer or the time during the working day for this activity. You will also see men and women working side by side. We wear safety helmets on work sites, when required by law.

Our Business

Our businesses are governed by municipal, provincial and federal laws. In our busi-nesses men and women work together and serve the clientele whether they be man or woman.

The products sold by these businesses can be of any kind. Food products for example must be approved by different governmental agencies before being offered to the general public. You might see in the same store several different types of meat, eg. Beef , chicken, pork and lamb.

Other stores offer their clientele a place and equipment to exercise. These places have windows that their clientele can look outside while exercising and are composed of men and women dressed in clothing appropriate for exercising.

Our Families

You will appreciate that both parents manage the children needs and both have the same authority. The parents can be of the same race or not, be from the same country or not, have the same religion or not, even be of the same sex or not.

If a boy or girl wants to get married, they may, they have the liberty to chose who their spouse will be. The democratic process is applied to ensure each and everyone’s liberty to choose.

In our families, the boys and girls eat together at the same table and eat the same food. They can eat any type of meat, vegetables or fruit. They don’t eat just meat or just vegetables they can eat both at the same time and this throughout the whole year.

If our children eat meat for example, they don’t need to know where it came from or who killed it.Our people eat to nourish the body not the soul.

Other

You might still see crosses that tell our past. They are an integrated part of our history and patrimony and should be considered as such.

To publish all the laws and standards of Municipalité Hérouxville would be a tedious task.

The standards published above are just a sample so the new arrivals to this territory can clearly identify with us before making their decision to move here.

Certainly, being the elected members, we would give the new arrivals the assurance that the conditions that they have fled from in their country would not happen again here in our territory.

Signed jointly by the mayor and 6 city counselors of Hérouxville, all democratically elected.

Makes sense to me! Except of course that since we are talking about a village in Quebec, all the street and store signs have to be predominately in French.

Your "common sense" scribe;
Allan W Janssen