Quebec accommodation hearings are serving a 'great need,' co-chair says

The men leading a Quebec commission on cultural accommodation defended the hearings as a necessary exercise to move the debate ahead on the place of immigrants in the province.

Philosopher Charles Taylor and sociologist Gérard Bouchard closed the week's hearings Thursday with a statement recapping what the commission has heard so far this fall.

The commission was created in response to a "great need" and it would have been foolhardy not to hold hearings about immigrants in modern Quebec, Bouchard said.

Quebecers are very welcoming toward immigrants and their cultures, and they don't adopt an attitude of exclusion, contrary to the impression created by media reports, he said.

"It's certain that there were presentations that attracted more attention than others," but the majority of presentations were "interventions of the moderate majority,"Bouchard added.

Media coverage has contributed to a negative image of the commission by focusing on the most explosive and controversial presentations, Bouchard and Taylor suggested.

The commission has come under fire for dividing Quebecers and giving a voice to people who hold racist and xenophobic views about immigrants.

Taylor and Bouchard said that critique is an exaggeration because most of the views expressed have been moderate.

"I think that this whole set of meetings has served to carry the debate forward," Taylor said.

"There were very hard things said by certain people, very hard things said about minorities, but if you look at the whole picture, these were the minority of statements made at these meetings," he added.

The commission will release a report next week reflecting that most of the comments were positive, Taylor said.

Several observers have called the commission a waste of money and time that has tarnished Quebec's reputation elsewhere in Canada and abroad.

The hearings travel to Montreal next week.