Quebec wants to limit religious teaching in private family daycares, as it already has done in the CPEs and subsidized daycare.  The prohibition bans religious prayers, crafts and songs, including Christmas carols.  Religious symbols such as Christmas trees, crucifixes and menoras can be displayed as “cultural expressions,” but their religious meaning shouldn’t be explained and they cannot be used in crafts.  

Étienne Gauthier said, “We’re in the process of elaborating a directive, in the same spirit as that which we presented last year and which went into effect last spring, but we need to take into account the particularities of the family situation.”  Quebec’s Family Minister Yolande James told the media, “When we want to apply a directive like this, there’s a process to follow so that it’s well-crafted.  We’re working with our partners to identify the applicability.”  It is unclear how the ban will be enforced.

One Aylmer minister told the Bulletin that the province’s actions were “total-itarian,” while Georges Buscemi of the Quebec Pro-Life Campaign criticized the province’s actions, commenting, “Can any reasonable person not see that this is a continuation of a steady and growing persecution of people of faith in Quebec?  First they remove religion from the schools, next from public daycares, next from subsidized home care.”  However, under Quebec’s current curriculum, primary and secondary schools teach students about all world religions, though they no longer focus on Catholicism.

“Springtime Festivity Spheres”

Anick Martel, the owner of a private home daycare in North Aylmer, told the Bulletin, “When parents are okay with celebrating the holidays, I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to.  It would be ridiculous to outlaw Christmas or Easter.”  She added that a report on the radio indicated that one school renamed Easter eggs “Springtime Festivity Spheres” so as to avoid any religious reference. 

Others have argued that the separation of church and state means publicly-funded education should be secular. “Catholic and Jewish schools want government funds, but they don’t want the public to put conditions on those funds,” one Aylmer parent told the Bulletin.