Quebec’s provincial assembly will vote Friday (June 14) on Bill 21, a controversial measure that would ban public-sector workers in positions of authority from wearing any sort of religious symbolism while at their job. If passed, the law would bar Muslim women who wear the hijab, Sikhs wearing turbans and Jewish men wearing kippas, among others, from being able to work as teachers, police officers and judges. Christians would also have to remove their crosses.
More drastically, however, Bill 21 would also prohibit anyone from wearing religious symbols while receiving services from government bodies, including transit, doctors and dentists, school boards or subsidized day cares. If it passes, women wearing religious covering — including the niqab — would not be able to use a bus without revealing their faces.
The governing Coalition Avenir Quebec hopes to pass the law before heading on summer break.
An overview of Bill 21
The measure, which CAQ promised to pass in last fall’s electoral campaign, aims to protect the secularity of the province. According to the text of the law, it also “attaches importance to the equality of women and men.”
The proposed bill immediately drew criticism from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called it “unthinkable” that “in a free society we would legitimize discrimination against citizens based on their religion,” while legal scholars maintain that the bill clearly violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Quebec Premier François Legault on March 28, 2019, as
his government voted on Bill 21. The crucifix behind him
would likely disappear if the legislation is passed. (The
Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)
The U.N. has also weighed in on the legislation, warning that the bill could lead to the violation of rights, including rights to health or education.
Quebec Premier François Legault insists that the bill is not discriminatory and that what voters want is to settle the issue of religious symbols in the public sphere once and for all.
What impact will it have?
Groups representing religious minorities are largely unsupportive of the bill and say it is discriminatory.
“What it does is disadvantage the women who want to practice their faith from participating in the labor market,” said Nuzhat Jafri, who is executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
“We’re not talking about large numbers of people foisting their religion on anyone,” Jafri said. “Women are practicing their faith and at the same time they want to be full participants in Quebec society.”
During public hearings on the bill in May, Amrit Kaur, the World Sikh Organization’s vice president for Quebec, said the bill was “offensive to neutrality or secularism in the public sector and does nothing to advance the cause of gender equality.” According to the WSO, passing the bill would set a dangerous precedent that would undermine the rights of women and minority religious groups in the province.
But those in support of the bill insist such measures are necessary to preserve Quebec’s religious neutrality.
“For us, democracy is inseparable from secularism,” said Diane Guilbault, president of Pour les droits des Femmes (For the Rights of Women).
“We are not asking for the end of religions. We are asking for the state to disassociate itself completely from them in its relations with citizens,” she said, pointing to how people use religious pretexts to deny rights to women.
“The majority of Quebecers — of all backgrounds — support a secular state,” she said.
Fourth time’s the charm?
CAQ’s bill is the fourth attempt in the legislature to ban religious symbols in the public sector. In 2010, Premier Jean Charest presented a bill requiring individuals to show their face when receiving government services. In 2013, Premier Pauline Marois, with the nationalist Parti Quebecois, tried to pass the Charter of Values, which would have affirmed “state secularism and religious neutrality” while also ensuring the equality of men and women.
Like Bill 21, the charter would have banned all public workers, including teachers and those working in the health professions, from wearing conspicuous religious symbols, though smaller pieces of jewelry with religious markings would be permitted.
The controversial bill never passed, as Marois lost an April 2014 election she had called to gain an outright majority. Her loss was attributed in part to deep-seated opposition to the charter.
The Liberal government that replaced Marois’, however, passed its own religious neutrality bill in October 2017, which banned all public workers and those receiving government services from covering their faces. That law is undergoing legal challenges.
CAQ came to power promising to take action on the issue, emphasizing that people were growing tired of the debate.
There are differences between the bills, said Daniel Béland, the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.
“CAQ is going farther than the Liberals,” he said. “The Liberals supported a much more restrictive approach to secularism, while CAQ is closer to the Parti Quebecois in some areas. In the case of the CAQ, it’s a blanket approach, and it’s easier to implement.”
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Source: Religion News Service
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