Members of the McGill Muslim Law Students’ Association (MSA McGill) are asking the public to join them in denouncing Bill 21, the Quebec legislation that bans certain public sector workers from wearing religious symbols while working with the public.
The students organized a protest Monday morning on the steps of the Palais de Justice in Montreal, where opening arguments in a legal challenge to the bill before the Quebec Superior Court are scheduled to begin later in the day.
The Quebec National Assembly passed Bill 21 in 2019 by a vote of 75-35. The ban fulfilled Premier François Legault’s campaign promise to tackle religious neutrality in the province. The debate surrounding secularism has generated protests across the province and around the world.
“As law students, we feel it’s important to show our support because we realize some of our colleagues will not be able to practise in Quebec because of this discriminatory law,” says Emily Knox of the McGill Radical Law Students Association in a statement to Global News.
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Those opposing the bill claim, among other things, that it prevents members of Quebec’s visibility minority communities from pursuing careers in the public school system as well as other public sector employment opportunities.
“This law is a glass ceiling imposed on those of us who wish to adhere to a religious practice and serve our community when we are otherwise qualified,” MSA McGill says in a prepared statement.
To protect the controversial bill from legal challenges, the Legault government had invoked the rarely used “notwithstanding clause” section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
But opponents are arguing that the bill is actually a piece of criminal legislation which is beyond the scope of provincial jurisdiction. They’re also arguing that it violates section 28 of the Charter, the gender equality provision, which is not covered by the notwithstanding clause.
The case being heard Monday combines four different lawsuits seeking to have the law or parts of it struck down.