a challenge to Bill 21<\/a> later this year, and depending on the outcome of that process, opponents of Bill 9 have already signalled they intend to challenge this new law as well.<\/p>\nAs with Bill 21, the Quebec government used Section 33 of the Canadian Constitution, the so-called \u201cnotwithstanding clause\u201d, to shield Bill 9 from charges it breaches rights outlined in the Quebec and Canadian charters. The Supreme Court ruling on Bill 21 will clarify, among other things, whether there are any limits on how governments can use the notwithstanding clause.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, here is a breakdown of what this new law does:<\/p>\n
Extends the ban on wearing religious symbols to daycares, private schools<\/p>\n
While Bill 21 banned certain public servants in positions of authority or involved in educating children from wearing religious symbols (such as teachers, school principals and vice-principals, police officers, judges, Crown prosecutors, prison guards, government lawyers, etc.), as of September 2026, Bill 9 extends that ban to employees of:<\/p>\n
subsidized daycare centres and the co-ordinating offices of home daycares;<\/p>\n
subsidized private schools (the government can revoke accreditation and subsidies if these schools don\u2019t comply to the new rules within three years of Bill 9\u2019s enactment);<\/p>\n
private health institutions under agreement with the government (such as privately-operated long-term care homes);<\/p>\n
intermediate resources (such as government-subsidized seniors homes run by private or community organizations);<\/p>\n
family-type resources (such as foster families for children in youth protection, or home-based settings for adults with disabilities);<\/p>\n
the youth protection system (DPJ), and those involved in youth justice supervision or custody; and<\/p>\n
those providing welcome, francization or integration programs for immigrants.<\/p>\n
Extends the ban on face coverings<\/p>\n
The new law requires people to have their faces uncovered when they are:<\/p>\n
receiving a service from a daycare;<\/p>\n
receiving a service from a university or CEGEP;<\/p>\n
in a place under the authority of a daycare centre, university or CEGEP; or<\/p>\n
receiving education, training or professional development services from certain government-subsidized entities.<\/p>\n
Prohibits collective religious practice on public roads or in parks <\/p>\n
Bill 9 forbids \u201ccollective religious practice,\u201d such as praying in a group, in public roadways or parks unless a municipality specifically authorizes it. In order to authorize such an activity, the municipality must ensure it does not compromise public safety, is of short duration, is accessible to all and does not impede access to the public domain.<\/p>\n
Religious practice is defined as \u201cany action that could reasonably constitute the manifestation of a religious conviction or belief.\u201d The Supreme Court defined a \u201creligious belief\u201d in a 2004 ruling as \u201ca practice or belief that one exercises sincerely with the aim of communicating with a divine entity or within the framework of a spiritual faith.\u201d Critics argue this clause could lead to the banning of all kinds of activities, including outdoor yoga or meditation classes or Christmas concerts.<\/p>\n
Prohibits religious practice in public institutions <\/p>\n
Bill 9 forbids religious practice in public institutions such as universities and CEGEPs, private institutions subsidized by the government, intermediate resources and family-type resources (such as foster homes), childcare centres (CPEs), subsidized daycare centres, recognized home childcare providers, and anyone contracted to provide services to those types of institutions.<\/p>\n
Exceptionally, religious practice will be allowed in certain university chapels, including Loyola Chapel at Concordia University, Marie-Guyart Chapel at Universit\u00e9 Laval, Birks Heritage Chapel at McGill University, and St. Mark\u2019s Chapel at Bishop\u2019s University.<\/p>\n
Prohibits disruption of religious practice within a place of worship<\/p>\n
The law says \u201cNo one may prohibit, limit, hinder or disrupt a religious practice within a place of worship or impede access to such a place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Puts new limits on requests for accommodation on religious grounds<\/p>\n
The bill prohibits public institutions such as hospitals, schools, etc., from offering exclusively a diet based on a religious precept or a tradition when providing restaurant services. If they offer kosher meats, for example, they must also offer non-kosher meat options. The government has not yet decreed the date at which this new rule will come into force.<\/p>\n
When dealing with a request for accommodation on religious grounds, the body must ensure the request is consistent with equality rights of men and women, and does not impose undue cost or hardship on the body receiving the request. <\/p>\n
No accommodation may be granted in connection with a request that a service be provided by a person based on that person\u2019s sex, gender identity or gender expression, unless it is a medical service or unless the provision of the service involves physical contact with the person who receives it. <\/p>\n
When an employee requests time off work on religious grounds, consideration must be given to, among other things, \u201cfairness with regard to the employment conditions of the other personnel members.\u201d<\/p>\n
If a request for accommodation concerns a child\u2019s absence from school or daycare, the centre or school must ensure educational goals are not compromised.<\/p>\n
New rules for subsidized private schools<\/p>\n
Subsidized private schools can no longer offer educational services based on religious standards or precepts during regular class hours, on the transmission of religious convictions or beliefs, or on religious practice, and cannot select students or staff based on religious criteria.<\/p>\n
mlalonde@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quebec\u2019s National Assembly adopted another secularism bill last week, turning Bill 9 into law. The legislation includes a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[80276,49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-592513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-bill-21","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}