Quebec’s National Assembly has adopted further legislation reinforcing laïcité, or secularism, in the province, while opponents say it threatens freedom of religion.
Bill 9 builds on existing laïcité legislation, including Bill 21, which prohibits members of certain professions from wearing religious symbols at work. That bill recently faced a constitutional challenge in Canada’s Supreme Court.
The hearing, which was one of the longest in the Supreme Court’s history, took place over four days in March with 50 intervenors arguing against the 2019 law. A ruling is expected later this year.
Expanding on Bill 21, the latest legislation outlined by Bill 9 includes a ban on religious symbols in daycares and private schools – and prohibits “collective religious practice,” such as praying in a group, in certain public spaces, unless a permit is obtained from the municipality. The bill, passed on 2 April, also restricts “all religious practice” in institutions like colleges and universities.
The Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) intervened in the Supreme Court challenge to Bill 21 in March and has also expressed concerns about Bill 9 to the Quebec National Assembly’s Committee on Citizen Relations.
“CLF’s concern is that this conception of laïcité purports to be advancing religious neutrality, but it is promoting the exact opposite: a public square which is largely closed, not neutral, toward religion – and by extension, toward openly religious people,” CLF’s Executive Director, Derek Ross, told en.
“Individuals are not required to be religiously neutral – the government is,” he said. “These laws represent a marked departure from the constitutional state-religion framework articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada – which prohibits excluding or disadvantaging religion categorically. CLF will continue to advocate for the full and equal participation of religious citizens in public life.”
“We are concerned, and to be honest, a little weary about all the legislation, provincial and federal, that is curtailing religious freedom for all Canadians in order to address abuses by small militant minorities that have broken basic conventions by blocking streets to pray, holding rallies in front of other religious groups’ places of worship and trying to impose their religious norms to public institutions,” said Jean-Christophe Jasmin, Advisor to the Quebec Evangelical Roundtable.
Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s Minister for Secularism, said last year that limits on public prayer were a reaction to groups praying at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the province.
“The government’s inaction was followed by broad over-reaction that will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and religious liberty, and will affect the ability of religious groups to operate independent institutions and live their faith publicly,” Jasmin said.
