It would put limits on public prayers in parks and inside public institutions, and extend a ban on religious symbols already to workers in subsized daycares.<\/p>\n
The bill has already drawn criticism from religious groups and civil liberties advocates, who argue minority groups would be targeted for political gain.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how the province arrived at this latest chapter.<\/p>\n
Before the CAQ<\/p>\n
The secularism debate has been simmering in the province well before the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) came to power.<\/p>\n
In 2007, the Liberal government under Jean Charest ordered a report on how to address the accommodation of religious minorities. <\/p>\n
The commission came after heated debates in the media over whether, for instance, a YMCA in Montreal’s Mile End district should frost its gym windows at the request of a neighbouring Hasidic synagogue, or whether publicly funded daycares should serve halal meals. <\/p>\n
The commission, led by two academics, Charles Taylor and G\u00e9rard Bouchard, held hearings across the province. <\/p>\n
![\"two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764300075_269_default.jpg\")
G\u00e9rard Bouchard, left, and Charles Taylor, during a session at the commission on reasonable accommodations in Quebec City in 2007. (Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Their report, released in 2008, recommended what was described as an \u201copen secularism\u201d that would reinforce state neutrality and limit visible religious symbols for state agents in positions of coercive authority, such as police officers.<\/p>\n
The minority Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois introduced a \u201cCharter of Values\u201d in 2013 that went further than those recommendations, but it never passed into law. <\/p>\n
The party lost the election the following year.<\/p>\n
The next government, the Liberals under Philippe Couillard, tried to settle the issue in 2017 with Bill 62, which required face coverings to be removed when accessing public services.<\/p>\n
Portions of that law were subject to a constitutional challenge<\/a> \u2014 and opposition politicians, including Legault, argued it didn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n Bill 21 <\/p>\n When Legault won a majority in 2018, one of his first priorities was a secular charter that went further than the Liberals\u2019 religious neutrality law.<\/p>\n The CAQ made good on that promise with Bill 21, the secularism law passed the following year.<\/p>\n The legislation prohibited public school teachers, government lawyers, judges and police officers from wearing religious symbols while at work. (An exemption was made for those who were already in their roles.)<\/p>\n WATCH | History of secularism in Quebec: Why secularism is still such a big issue in Quebec politics<\/p>\n For the last 20 years, one issue has kept resurfacing in Quebec politics. It\u2019s not language or separatism, but the relationship between Quebec society and religion \u2014 often one religion in particular.<\/p>\n The CAQ tried to shield the law from legal challenges by using the constitutional notwithstanding clause to override certain sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n Legault said back then the debate over religious accommodation had been playing out for long enough and that it was time to \u201cturn the page.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s good for what we call the vivre ensemble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But in the years since, the government has not closed the book on the secularism debate.<\/p>\n This year, the Legault government has adopted Bill 94<\/a>, which extended the province\u2019s ban on religious symbols to everyone who interacts with students in schools, as well as another bill <\/a>requiring immigrants to embrace the common culture of the province.<\/p>\n Bill 94 came after a 2024 report about a Montreal elementary school, which found that a group of teachers had created a toxic environment at the school.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764300076_716_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764300076_475_default.jpg\")
Protesters against the Quebec government’s laicity law, known as Bill 21, outside Quebec’s Court of Appeal in 2022. (Ivanoh Demers\/Radio-Canada)Bill 94<\/p>\n