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Now that the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is sworn in as Quebec\u2019s minority government, one of its immediate priorities is what children wear to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s non-negotiable. This is what we were elected to do,\u201d Education Minister Jo\u00ebl Arseneau said Wednesday when asked if his party will stand firm on its electoral promise to ban elementary students from wearing religious symbols in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll work to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PQ has promised to broaden provincial secularism laws, further tightening the rules put in place by the former Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) government \u2014 rules that already included banning religious symbols on some public employees, like teachers, from wearing religious symbols.<\/p>\n
A legal challenge of that law has made it to the Supreme Court of Canada, with lawyers claiming it raises serious concerns involving several Charter rights. Those legal proceedings are ongoing and a ruling is expected this fall.<\/p>\n
But the plan to increase restrictions prompted religious leaders and a civil liberties group to come together and condemn the policy push.<\/p>\n
Muslim group, rabbi condemn proposal<\/p>\n
In a statement Thursday, the Conseil National des Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Musulmans (CNQM) says Arseneau\u2019s announcement \u201chas raised serious concerns about religious freedom, equal access to public education and the place of religious minorities in Quebec society.\u201d<\/p>\n
School leaders have also warned that such a prohibition could undermine relationships between schools and families and that targeting children is not a good public policy goal, the statement says.<\/p>\n
CNQM CEO Stephen Brown challenged the message the policy would send to kids, saying the move was an attack on children and their right to spirituality. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat they\u2019re not a member of society,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that they are second-class citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added CAQ government originally said it was just going to be people in authority, but over the years the rules tightened to include daycare workers and public prayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need a permit to go pray,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we\u2019re going to bar children from entering school if they don\u2019t conform to the government \u2019s idea of what constitutes acceptable religious practice?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Stephen Brown, president of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says the proposed ban would send a message to many children that they are second-class citizens. (Natalia Weichsel\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, of the Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, said parents are opting into society by raising their children here and they want their kids to be good citizens and neighbours, but that \u201chas nothing to do with what they\u2019re wearing on their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have this put forward as a priority in the early days of office is definitely troubling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She challenged the notion that the garments or accessories in question are even religious symbols, explaining that in Judaism \u201cit\u2019s so much more about practice than belief \u2026 in Judaism, there\u2019s a real emphasis on what you do. To wear certain religious garb and do certain things, that\u2019s just part of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freedom of expression, religion<\/p>\n
Ana\u00efs Bussi\u00e8res McNicoll, who is with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said now the question is if the government is intending on using the notwithstanding clause to shield this legislation from the courts’ scrutiny.<\/p>\n
The notwithstanding clause has been used in previous provincial laws such as Bill 21 on secularism and Bill 96 on the French language.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a measure that infringes on freedom of religion and freedom of expression,\u201d she said, noting she is taking the proposal at face value, having not seen the fine print yet. \u201cIt\u2019s also a measure that will be discriminatory.\u201d<\/p>\n
The types of bills introduced in recent years are a barometer of where the province is heading, according to human rights lawyer Julius Grey, who said it appears \u201cQuebec is becoming an authoritarian state in a very funny way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pretend they\u2019re not. \u2018We\u2019re so democratic. We\u2019re so nice.\u2019 But, in fact, they do not seem to respect individual autonomy. This government or the CAQ government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said there is a lack of freedom in these laws, and he doesn\u2019t see it changing very quickly because the government is encouraged to push forward. He questioned what would happen if there were no check and balances in the National Assembly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they had full and total power, I think the present government would basically limit freedom in unacceptable ways,\u201d Grey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-952027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952027","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=952027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}