Quebecers forbid the stoning of women

Andre Drouin, municipal councilor of Hérouxville ©Danielle Delaloye-Suter

Herouxville, a small Canadian town in Quebec, published on January 25 2007 a declaration on the town’s website, forbidding immigrants to stone women in public as well as burning them alive or with acid.
These regulations caused a stir in a province already troubled by the tensions between Quebecers and immigrants.
About 10% of Quebec’s 7,5 million population were foreign born.

Hérouxville. Montreal and its immigrant communities are 100 miles away from Herouxville. The village battered by an icy rain on this afternoon of early April, has 1338 inhabitants but barely any foreigner. “When I was first asked about it, my first answer was: “No, there are no immigrants her”, says André Drouin, a municipal councilor of Herouxville. “And then I realized we had the Mitchell family. They are Black and come from the Caribbean islands. They have been living here for about 20 years. Gabriel, the husband, was even a town councilor. But they had been here for so long that I did not even remember they were foreign born. We also have four families from France but not Muslims yet”.

André Drouin speaks with a heavy Quebecer accent. The man, who welcomes visitors in the basement of the small town hall, is at the center of a heated debate in Quebec about how tolerant the province should be toward the traditions of foreigners The former Navy sailor and retired engineer devised the regulations for the future immigrants in his village. The text, published on January 25 2007 on the town’s website, forbade the stoning of women. It also forbade to burn them alive or to throw acid on them.

The reactions were so strong that Hérouxville decided to change its declaration, taking out any reference to the stoning or killing of women. But the town kept the rest of the regulations. These underline, that women are allowed to vote, drive, dance, and also defend the use of Christmas trees.

After hours of driving through the swampy, Christian and white Quebecer plains to get to Hérouxville, one cannot help but asking why this village with literally no immigrants published such rules: “We made projections for the next 10 years”, replies André Drouin. “The population of the village will double. We also noticed that the Canadian immigration ministry wants the migrants to move to the rural parts of our province. Imagine if we had to build a second swimming pool to accommodate girls from religions that forbid them to swim with boys. That is unthinkable”.

André Drouin, 60, defends himself against accusations of racism. After living all over the world and spending four years in Saudi Arabia, the councilor says he wanted to inform newcomers about the town’s way of life while trying to define the Canadian identity. His regulations are part of a wider debate over the “reasonable accommodations” in Quebec. The bill of rights and rules of the province states that any citizen can expect his special needs to be met by the authorities. The bill was primarily intended for disabled people but religious rights were also granted. André Drouin mentions regularly the example of Sikh boys, who were allowed to carry ceremonial daggers to go to school. The councilor also rejects the wearing of the veil in schools “We drove Christian religions out of schools, he says. I do not see why other communities should have special rights”.

The authorities of Hérouxville want the Canadian government to answer their questions about the integration of immigrants. André Drouin claims he will keep on his fight for secularism and for the Quebecer identity: “I am not religious at all, he says. But I have got four crucifixes at home. I will not let anybody take them away. They remind me of many things”.

Jean-Cosme Delaloye / Hérouxville (Canada)
This story was done in April 2007.

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