Quebecois tend to be more belligerent than English speaking Canadians when it comes to defending their own culture. English Canadians have no culture. They like to say that their culture is multiculturalism, by which they mean blind tolerance of any alien culture, no matter how intolerant. Three cheers for the Quebecois women who pulled off this stunt.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has very specific rules for Visa applicants. Every application must include two identical photographs showing full facial features: “If you must wear a head covering for religious reasons, make sure your full facial features are not obscured”.

Elections Canada, however, won’t back down on veiled voting.

Veiled women will not have to show their faces at polling stations in upcoming elections, but they may be asked for sworn statements in some situations to verify their identities, Canada’s chief electoral officer said Monday.

The issue came up last in Quebec’s federal bye-elections September 17, 2007. Irate Quebecois threatened to show up at the polls wearing ski masks. French speaking Catholics were not in an accommodating mood.

With a federal election looming, Mr. Harper’s Conservative Party needs votes in the French-speaking province of Quebec to win a majority in Canada’s Parliament. In Quebec, where the debate erupted in general elections in March, many Quebeckers told the province’s Reasonable Accommodations Commission that they are in no mood for accommodations.

Many French-speaking, Catholic Quebeckers, a minority within Canada, told the government-appointed commission — created in response to veiled voting and other issues — they are tired of accommodating Quebec’s minorities while their own culture fades.

Lashing out at Muslims, Jews, English speakers, homosexuals and even evangelical Christians, many Quebeckers said they have had enough, and the audience cheered them on.

“I endured them then and now I have to endure them again,” said Remi Lefebre, a speaker at the first session in Gatineau, Quebec, who said he lived in Egypt in 1956.

“The only people making accommodations are Quebeckers,” he added. “For me, I say zero accommodation.”