The first thing you see when you enter Montreal’s newly renovated city hall is a veiled woman.
On the poster that wishes us “Welcome”, to illustrate the diversity of the citizens who make up the city, we have 1 – a young man with a cap, 2 – an old man with glasses and 3 – a woman… wearing the Islamic veil, who hides her body under a loose tunic over her pants.
The one and only representation of a citizen of Montreal who has favor in the eyes of the Plante administration is the one who wears an ostentatious religious symbol?
The crucifix was removed in 2019 to be replaced in 2024 by another religious symbol?
A MEDIOCRE MUSEUM
After five years of renovations that cost $211 million (no typos, it is $211 MILLION), City Hall reopened in early June. “Citizens are now invited to ‘take ownership’ of City Hall,” said Valérie Plante. That’s what I decided to do last Friday.
I wanted to take a closer look at the “museum space with a permanent exhibition” that we were promised. With 211 million works, I expected something grandiose. I found Plexiglas cubes containing Lego figurines, supposed to tell us the history of the City, in a beige and white place. La-men-ta-ble!
But what is most shocking is the contrast between the veiled woman in the poster at the reception and the rest of the entrance hall.
In a section called “Religious Montreal,” the crucifix that adorned the city hall was placed under a cube.
The crucifix is taken out through the back door, but the veil is brought in through the front door.
On the “Laïcité montréalaise” poster, we are told that Montreal was founded by “pious people”, that it is “the city of a hundred bell towers”, but that “since the Quiet Revolution”, “religion has become more of a private matter”.
On the “Symbols” card, we are informed that in 2002 the symbol of the crucifix “was questioned in society” and that it was removed in 2019 “following the adoption of a law on secularism by the government of Quebec”.
On the “Pioneers” card, we are told that “the evolution of mentalities” and “the result of feminist struggles” led to the election of Valérie Plante. And an entire segment is devoted to the “visibility of Montreal women” who have been able to take their place.
How can we be praised for the merits of feminism and secularism AND offered a model of citizenship that is neither secular nor feminist?
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?
Last week, the Secular Movement issued a statement denouncing the “lack of imagination, creativity and respect for the law when it comes to illustrating diversity that seems to be made visible only by a sexist religious symbol.”
I ask Valérie Plante: how can you, on the one hand, celebrate the “visibility” of women and, on the other, glorify a symbol (the veil) which, on the contrary, erases them and makes them invisible?