Quebec Bans Christmas Carols In Government-Subsidized Day Care Centres

(December 29, 2010) Quebec’s family minister, Yolande James, has banned all religious instruction in government-subsidized day care centres. Since 1997, the province has subsidized 85% of day care costs, with parents paying $7 per child per day. “I want the young Quebecers who attend our day care services to do so in a spirit of openness to others and diversity,” said Quebec’s family minister. Under the new regulations, subsidized day care centres are permitted to set up Christmas trees and Nativity scenes, but are forbidden to identify Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as figures in the scene, according to two Canadian newspaper reports. Christmas carols are also forbidden. “At a Montreal day care centre run by Catholic nuns, a parents association was so terrified at the prospect of losing governmental subsidies that it decided to apply the guidelines six months before they’ll be implemented,” according to Globe and Mail columnist Lysiane Gagnon. “So the week before Christmas, the little kids sang insipid Bing Crosby ballads instead of beautiful traditional carols such as ‘Silent Night.’” To help enforce the regulations, the government is tripling the number of its day care inspectors. “We view it as explicit discrimination against the rights of religious communities to educate their children in the values and principles they hold dear,” said the president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, which plans to file a lawsuit.