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An as-yet-unpublished survey conducted by the Quebec Human Rights Commission paints an alarming picture of attitudes toward religious diversity in the province — especially toward Muslims:

43 per cent of respondents said you should be suspicious of anyone who openly expresses their religion.

45 per cent said they had a negative view of religion.

48.9 per cent — roughly one out of two — said it bothered them to be attended to by a woman wearing a hijab.

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(That’s compared to 5.5 per cent who said they were bothered by someone wearing a cross, 25 per cent by someone wearing a Jewish kippa, and 30.5 per cent who were bothered by someone providing services while wearing a turban. )

These are some of the results presented Friday at an international symposium on Islamophobia by the president of the Commission, Jacques Frémont.

Frémont said he has been reticent to publicize the survey while the province studied its contentious Bill 59 — legislation to prevent hate speech and speech inciting violence — and during the recent electoral campaign, in which the niqab, a face veil worn by an unknown but small number of women in Quebec, dominated headlines for weeks.