Policy Options Sept. 2007 Issue on Reasonable Accommodation of Minorities

The Sept. 2007 issue of Policy Options, a journal of the Montreal think tank Institute for Research on Public Policy, contains a number of articles on the issue of reasonable accommodation of minorities, in particular religious minorities.

The issue was published just as public hearings of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission on state secularism, immigrant integation and relations between minorities and the French-speaking majority of the province get underway in Quebec.

Among the articles in the current issue are:

• "Neutralité de l'État et accommodements : convergence ou divergence ?" by José Woehrling
• "Reasonable accommodation in a global village" by Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Baha Abu-Laban
• "The paradoxes of reasonable accommodation" by Julius Grey
• "De convictions et d'accommodements" by C. Allard, M. Blanchard, M. Bourque, A. León-Germain, S. Gervais, C. Giguère, J. Maclure, et F.-N. Pelletier
• "Secular logic and faith: a dialogue of the deaf?" by David Mendelsohn
• "Des balises pour une société ouverte et inclusive" by Marie Mc Andrew
• "Reasonable or mutual accommodation? The integration debate in Germany" by Rita Süssmuth
• "Un débat inachevé qui refait surface" by Rachida Azdouz

See my August 15, 2007 Library Boy post entitled Quebec Hearings on Reasonable Accommodation of Minorities Begin Next Month:

"The Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences was created by the provincial government last spring after a number of incidents involving clashes or controversies between members of minority groups, in particular religious minorities, and the members of the highly secularized French-speaking majority that overthrew the restraints of its earlier conservative Catholic culture more than 40 years ago during the 'Quiet Revolution' of the 1960s. The Commission's consultation document is available online".