François Legault’s government passed a ban on some public servants wearing religious symbols in a final vote late Sunday night, enshrining into law a measure decried by opposition parties, minority groups and human-rights observers as an affront to personal liberty.
The National Assembly debated Bill 21 under closure in a marathon special weekend session that ended with Mr. Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government forcing passage of the law by a 73-35 vote, with backing of the Parti Québécois. Earlier Sunday, the CAQ used its majority to push through Bill 9, a law that enables new French-language and values tests that the government says will protect Quebec identity while refocusing immigration on economic interests.
The Globe And Mail - Quebec passes bill banning public servants from wearing religious symbols
Religious expression is under attack in Canada – and not just in Quebec
Last month, the Assembly of Quebec passed Bill 21, the controversial law banning many government workers from wearing religious symbols of any kind while on the job. While an Angus Reid poll found that two-thirds of Quebeckers support the bill, it has been denounced by human-rights advocates in Canada and around the world for its sweeping incursion on religious freedom and for disproportionately targeting religious minorities.
A legal challenge has already been launched by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Council of Canadian Muslims, and a Quebec court heard preliminary arguments this week.
The Globe And Mail - Religious expression is under attack in Canada – and not just in Quebec
We asked 12 Canadian premiers about Quebec's controversial secularism law
Last week, Asiyah Robinson, a 22-year-old Muslim woman, presented an impassioned speech that woke the ghosts of an otherwise eerily stoic Victoria city council chambers. Robinson added her voice to a chorus of concerned Canadians speaking against a recent secularism bill passed into Quebec law.
If Robinson were a Quebec citizen, she couldn’t pursue a job as a teacher, lawyer, judge nor police officer while practicing her religion, wearing a hijab, as she has done since she was nine years old. A controversial new Quebec law would prohibit her and any other public service employees in positions of authority who practiced their faith wearing a hijab, turban, kippa, cross and more from doing so, while delivering services to the public.