In 2019, the province of Quebec passed Bill 21 into law, officially referred to as the “Act respecting the laicity of the State.” The contents of the legislation effectively banned people from wearing religious symbols — like a turban, yarmulke, cross or hijab — if they were civil servants working as teachers, lawyers, police officers, and judges, to name a few.
The goal was to enhance state secularism (or laicity, as the Quebec government refers to it) by visibly separating the state from religion.
Instead, for six long years, many religious people living in Quebec have felt stifled — that their rights to religious expression, which are protected by Canada’s charter, have been stripped away.
Now, almost six years later, the Quebec government is planning an update. The proposed expansion, Bill 94, will widen the scope of jobs impacted by Law 21 in schools: janitors, office administration, daycare workers, librarians, and more will be asked to remove their religious symbols before they are hired for jobs. It will ban face coverings for students and teachers. Quebec’s Premier François Legault said he also wants to ban prayer in public.
These new stipulations will only further push people of visible faith — especially Muslim women — further into the margins of society.
The hijab is an important part of many Muslim women’s faith. Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an, instructs Muslim women to wear the veil. It’s worn as an expression of faith, commitment to God, and practice of modesty.
Not to mention, the hijab is visible; though it can be worn in different styles, different fabrics and different colours, it will always be seen wrapped around the head, hair, and chest. When Quebec tells women they need to remove it to do their job, it’s like asking them to tear an appendage apart.
Many hijab-wearing Muslim women in Quebec already feel as though they’ve been forced into a corner that’s impossible to get out of: to quit their jobs, leave the province, or take off their hijab.
Fatemah Anvari, a hijab-wearing teacher, recalled being let go from her in a reflection published in Maclean’s. She said her students asked her if it was her choice to stop teaching them. The question had broken her heart. Because of Law 21, her teaching career in Quebec had come to an end.
With Bill 94, many more might be pushed into that position.
Not only that but now the expanded legislation may be coming for students’ expression of faith. With a potential face-covering ban, many niqab-wearing students and teachers would be torn from an aspect of their religious expression.
With potential prayer bans — which students around the world cherish as a time to reconnect with their faith during a busy school day — many students in Quebec will be forcibly separated. It’s a gross violation of the rights Canadians are promised and an affront to diversity, equity, and justice.
While the issue of Law 21 and Bill 94 appears to impact all religions equally, the truth is that minority religions face the brunt of this kind of legislation. But people of faith and people of non-faith in Quebec will all suffer the consequences.
When religious people are pushed to the sidelines and out of the public eye — they’re not seen as school staff, lawyers or judges — it sends the wrong impression. People of faith, with their religious symbols, are capable of doing every job justice. Quebec needs to recognize that.