Canadian Jewish Congress Seeks Constitutional Changes in Quebec

The Canadian Jewish Congress has called for major constitutional changes in the Province of Quebec which would give Jews a voice in the administration of education and which would provide for legislation outlawing discrimination in various fields. They were submitted in a memorandum to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Constitutional Problems of the Province of Quebec, and will be followed by an appearance of a CJC delegation before the Commission.

On the question of discrimination, the CJC memorandum urged legislation barring discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, although it noted that such a legislative program would have to be accompanied by an educational campaign to be effective. It referred to the successful use of anti-discrimination legislation in parts of the United States and Canada, as an argument for enactment of such measures in Quebec.

In the field of education, the memorandum noted that Jewish taxpayers have not the right to act in administrative or advisory capacities in the education of their children, nor have they a voice in the distribution of school-tax funds. It asked that Jews be given the right to act within the administrative set-up which receives tax funds. In this province the government turns over school funds to parochial schools which provide public education.