Human Rights A Day

Quebec town adopts popular “standards” that challenge religious differences. Although in 2007 all residents of Hérouxville, Quebec had been born in Canada, the town council decided the community would welcome immigrants – as long as any immigrants followed the town’s clearly established and democratically elected rules. On January 25, 2007, the mayor and six councillors of this rural community of 1,300 adopted a set of “standards” that included the following: “We would like to invite, without discrimination, in the future, all people from outside…to move to this territory. ‘Without discrimination’ means to us, without regard to race or to the color of skin, mother tongue spoken, sexual orientation, religion or any other form of beliefs.” Prospective newcomers were told, “the lifestyle that they left behind in their birth country cannot be brought here with them and they would have to adapt to their new social identity.” The standards went on to state, “We consider that killing women in public beatings, or bur