OTTAWA – An open line show on TV station TQS which discussed a Brossard school’s decision to barricade the windows of the swimming pool while three young Muslim women took a swimming test fell within the broadcasters’ code of ethics, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled this week.
The hosts of L’Avocat et le diable on May 9, 2006, discussed the case where the girls’ religion forbids them to show skin in public. The program’s question of the day was “How far should we go to accommodate the ethnic requirements?”
The hosts and the majority of callers expressed the view that such accommodations should not be made for minority groups, says the CBSC release. Some of the callers made specific reference to Muslims and suggested that, if they disagree with this position, they should “go back where they came from”. One of the program hosts also commented that Islam does not have any respect for women and that a report on Radio-Canada had revealed that a provision in the Qur’an even gives a man the right to beat his wife.
One female Muslim caller argued that this was not true, says the decision.
The CBSC received a number of complaints about this episode from people who identified themselves as Muslims. They complained that the episode incited hatred and contained discriminatory comments about Muslims and Arabs. TQS responded that the purpose of the episode was to discuss a controversial news story and that all of the comments were justified. The Quebec Panel agreed that the station was entitled to broadcast critical comments about this political issue and that any negative comments specifically targeting Muslims were countered by the hosts.
"The point is that the discussion of such matters is in and of itself entirely consistent with the entitlement, if not responsibility, of any broadcaster to discuss controversial issues. Nor is it a breach of any codified standard for the co-hosts or callers to take the position that schools and other public institutions ought not to cater to the demands of other religions or traditions," wrote the Quebec CBSC panel.
"In other words, there was not, in the view of the Panel, any abusive or unduly discriminatory comment with respect to the discussion of any of the foregoing issues. It is, however, undeniable that one caller uttered the ugly statement, [translation] “They are pigs; they are swine’’, but there was a quick negative reaction to it by the co-host Desmarais, who said “Shu, shu.”… And when the caller followed up with a supplementary comment regarding their [Muslims’] sexual proclivities, co-host Gendron quickly countered by saying [translation] “Yes, but listen, there are French Canadians who are also pretty focused on sex.’’ There was, in other words, counterpoint to the comments. Nipped in the bud, they were permitted no life or existence by the co-hosts. They did not, in the circumstances of their utterance, amount to abusive or unduly discriminatory comment.
