Quebec law bans symbols of faith in public sector
Canada, unlike the US, does not have a bill of rights explicitly endorsing freedom of religion.
Quebec’s provincial assembly on June 16 passed a controversial measure banning public-sector workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols while at their job. It bars 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 also have to remove their crosses.
More drastically, however, Bill 21 also prohibits anyone from covering their faces while receiving services from government bodies, including transit services, doctors and dentists, school boards, or subsidized day care. For example, women wearing religious garments such as the niqab are not able to ride a bus.
The measure, which the governing Coalition Avenir Québec 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.”
