ICSA TODAY 26
Report From France and French-
Speaking Countries
Catherine Perry
Jehovah’s Witnesses (Quebec and
Switzerland)
With respect to religion, Quebec
news has recently been dominated
by the death, on October 12, 2016, of
Éloïse Dupuis at the hospital Hôtel-
Dieu in Lévis, near Quebec City.
After giving birth to her first child
through an emergency Cesarean
section, with significant loss of blood,
this 26-year-old Jehovah’s Witness
allegedly refused a life-saving blood
transfusion. Her decision was based on
an interpretation of Acts 15:28, 29 and
other scriptures by Jehovah’s Witnesses
since 1945, by which members have
been ordered to abstain from ingesting
blood. There are an estimated 25,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec at
this time, and most carry a “blood
card” that indicates their refusal to
receive a blood transfusion in any
circumstance. Had Éloïse Dupuis
accepted the transfusion, she would
have disassociated herself from the
organization—a term that replaces
the formerly used expulsion this
means that she would have taken full
responsibility for her exclusion. She
died after 6 days of agony, leaving an
orphan son.
Quebec law stipulates that, so long as
they are in command of their faculties,
adult patients (18 and older) cannot be
forced to accept a medical treatment.
In reference to this case, Philippe
Couillard, current Premier of Quebec,
reaffirmed the incontrovertible
freedom of patients to refuse medical
treatment if they so will. Quebec law
endorses the freedom of religious
beliefs, no matter how unusual they
may seem. Should the state decide to
impose life-saving medical treatments
through legislation, notions of
democracy and individual freedom
would be endangered. Nonetheless,
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec are not
authorized to refuse blood transfusions
for their children.
Because it is unclear whether Éloïse
Dupuis reached her decision freely, her
death has triggered an intense debate
on free agency, the grip of beliefs, and
the power of manipulation. Her aunt
Manon Boyer, who is not a Jehovah’s
Witness but was close to her niece,
is convinced that Éloïse Dupuis was
unable to voice her decision freely
because not only were her husband
and parents with her at the hospital,
but three elders of the organization
were also present in her room and
denied nonmedical access to her.
Thus, she may have been subjected to
cultic pressures from “blood police.” An
inquiry by the coroner of Quebec, Luc
Malouin, is now ongoing to determine
whether she clearly voiced her refusal
to receive a blood transfusion. The
results were scheduled for release
in March 2017. Although there have
been similar tragic outcomes among
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec,
the death of Éloïse Dupuis stands
out as exemplary on account of
its circumstances. Calls to reform
Quebec’s Civil Code are now mounting
in response to this case.
By way of contrast, in 2015 the
hospital of Neuchâtel in Switzerland
adopted a health-care directive that
requires doctors to administer blood
transfusions to women in labor or
childbirth in the case of hemorrhages
if all other medical and reasonable
efforts have failed. Jehovah’s Witnesses
have protested this directive in
the name of freedom of belief and
conscience. However, on March 24,
2017, the Federal Tribunal of Neuchâtel
ruled that their objections were not
admissible.
The Hasidic Community and State
Education (Quebec)
Debates over the rights of minorities
and religious versus personal
freedoms have been ongoing in
Quebec, especially with respect to the
education of children from the Hasidic
community. The Hasidim, a minority
formed in 18th-century Eastern
Europe in reaction to persecutions,
reside mostly in Israel and North
America, with approximately 20,000
residents in Montreal. The religious
and cultural curriculum of Montreal’s
private Hasidic schools, which focuses
on the Torah and the Talmud and
also Yiddish, is not recognized by
Quebec’s Education Ministry. These
schools operate without a legal permit,
and many of their personnel are not
formally qualified to teach. At the same
time, the existence of such schools is
guaranteed by the Quebec Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. Critics point out
that children emerging from Hasidic
schools without a state-approved
secular education are unprepared
for professional life in 21st-century
Quebec, and that they are not only
indoctrinated, but also trapped
by their community. Some have
proposed that the schools be closed,
a measure that would counter the
fundamental rights of these Quebec
citizens and would potentially open
the way to further abuses. A somewhat
controversial compromise has been
reached through a mandatory home-
schooling program, which places the
education of nearly 600 children from
the Hasidic community under the
supervision of the English Montreal
School Board. And on February 7, 2017,
two Hasidic schools received favorable
reviews from the Advisory Board of
Private Education (CCEP): the Beltz
school in Outremont and the Beth
Rivkah Academy for girls.
As an intensification to the
controversies around this minority
group, on November 20, 2016, citizens
of the mainly French-speaking district
of Outremont in Montreal voted to
uphold a zoning bylaw that bans new
places of worship on two commercial
avenues. With a 60% turnout, 1,561
people voted for and 1,202 voted
against the bylaw. The district’s
growing Hasidic community—25%
of Outremont’s approximately 25,000
inhabitants—feel targeted by the
ban, which they consider to be
discriminatory because it will further
marginalize them by forcing them to
worship in a remote industrial zone.
Since they cannot operate a vehicle
on the Sabbath, they will have to walk
greater distances, a hardship in winter.
26
Correspondents
,
Reports
Report From France and French-
Speaking Countries
Catherine Perry
Jehovah’s Witnesses (Quebec and
Switzerland)
With respect to religion, Quebec
news has recently been dominated
by the death, on October 12, 2016, of
Éloïse Dupuis at the hospital Hôtel-
Dieu in Lévis, near Quebec City.
After giving birth to her first child
through an emergency Cesarean
section, with significant loss of blood,
this 26-year-old Jehovah’s Witness
allegedly refused a life-saving blood
transfusion. Her decision was based on
an interpretation of Acts 15:28, 29 and
other scriptures by Jehovah’s Witnesses
since 1945, by which members have
been ordered to abstain from ingesting
blood. There are an estimated 25,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec at
this time, and most carry a “blood
card” that indicates their refusal to
receive a blood transfusion in any
circumstance. Had Éloïse Dupuis
accepted the transfusion, she would
have disassociated herself from the
organization—a term that replaces
the formerly used expulsion this
means that she would have taken full
responsibility for her exclusion. She
died after 6 days of agony, leaving an
orphan son.
Quebec law stipulates that, so long as
they are in command of their faculties,
adult patients (18 and older) cannot be
forced to accept a medical treatment.
In reference to this case, Philippe
Couillard, current Premier of Quebec,
reaffirmed the incontrovertible
freedom of patients to refuse medical
treatment if they so will. Quebec law
endorses the freedom of religious
beliefs, no matter how unusual they
may seem. Should the state decide to
impose life-saving medical treatments
through legislation, notions of
democracy and individual freedom
would be endangered. Nonetheless,
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec are not
authorized to refuse blood transfusions
for their children.
Because it is unclear whether Éloïse
Dupuis reached her decision freely, her
death has triggered an intense debate
on free agency, the grip of beliefs, and
the power of manipulation. Her aunt
Manon Boyer, who is not a Jehovah’s
Witness but was close to her niece,
is convinced that Éloïse Dupuis was
unable to voice her decision freely
because not only were her husband
and parents with her at the hospital,
but three elders of the organization
were also present in her room and
denied nonmedical access to her.
Thus, she may have been subjected to
cultic pressures from “blood police.” An
inquiry by the coroner of Quebec, Luc
Malouin, is now ongoing to determine
whether she clearly voiced her refusal
to receive a blood transfusion. The
results were scheduled for release
in March 2017. Although there have
been similar tragic outcomes among
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec,
the death of Éloïse Dupuis stands
out as exemplary on account of
its circumstances. Calls to reform
Quebec’s Civil Code are now mounting
in response to this case.
By way of contrast, in 2015 the
hospital of Neuchâtel in Switzerland
adopted a health-care directive that
requires doctors to administer blood
transfusions to women in labor or
childbirth in the case of hemorrhages
if all other medical and reasonable
efforts have failed. Jehovah’s Witnesses
have protested this directive in
the name of freedom of belief and
conscience. However, on March 24,
2017, the Federal Tribunal of Neuchâtel
ruled that their objections were not
admissible.
The Hasidic Community and State
Education (Quebec)
Debates over the rights of minorities
and religious versus personal
freedoms have been ongoing in
Quebec, especially with respect to the
education of children from the Hasidic
community. The Hasidim, a minority
formed in 18th-century Eastern
Europe in reaction to persecutions,
reside mostly in Israel and North
America, with approximately 20,000
residents in Montreal. The religious
and cultural curriculum of Montreal’s
private Hasidic schools, which focuses
on the Torah and the Talmud and
also Yiddish, is not recognized by
Quebec’s Education Ministry. These
schools operate without a legal permit,
and many of their personnel are not
formally qualified to teach. At the same
time, the existence of such schools is
guaranteed by the Quebec Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. Critics point out
that children emerging from Hasidic
schools without a state-approved
secular education are unprepared
for professional life in 21st-century
Quebec, and that they are not only
indoctrinated, but also trapped
by their community. Some have
proposed that the schools be closed,
a measure that would counter the
fundamental rights of these Quebec
citizens and would potentially open
the way to further abuses. A somewhat
controversial compromise has been
reached through a mandatory home-
schooling program, which places the
education of nearly 600 children from
the Hasidic community under the
supervision of the English Montreal
School Board. And on February 7, 2017,
two Hasidic schools received favorable
reviews from the Advisory Board of
Private Education (CCEP): the Beltz
school in Outremont and the Beth
Rivkah Academy for girls.
As an intensification to the
controversies around this minority
group, on November 20, 2016, citizens
of the mainly French-speaking district
of Outremont in Montreal voted to
uphold a zoning bylaw that bans new
places of worship on two commercial
avenues. With a 60% turnout, 1,561
people voted for and 1,202 voted
against the bylaw. The district’s
growing Hasidic community—25%
of Outremont’s approximately 25,000
inhabitants—feel targeted by the
ban, which they consider to be
discriminatory because it will further
marginalize them by forcing them to
worship in a remote industrial zone.
Since they cannot operate a vehicle
on the Sabbath, they will have to walk
greater distances, a hardship in winter.
26
Correspondents
,
Reports
