{"id":63655,"date":"2018-10-04T19:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T23:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=63655"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:35","slug":"quebec-anti-niqab-efforts","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/quebec-anti-niqab-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"New premier, same old story: Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s longtime anti-niqab efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n New premier, same old story: Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s longtime anti-niqab efforts\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

One day after the surprise victory of the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) in the recent Qu\u00e9bec election, Premier-elect Fran\u00e7ois Legault told a news conference<\/a> that he plans to invoke the notwithstanding clause to finally pass legislation that will ban religious symbols for employees in \u201cpositions of authority\u201d throughout the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even though the Qu\u00e9bec election is being described as a landmark shift in political power<\/a>, the threat to ban religious symbols throughout the province\u2019s public service sector is nothing new. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"New
\n The crucifix in Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s national assembly is seen in this 2013 photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jacques Boissinot<\/span>)<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Politicians in the province have been trying to pass various religious symbols bans for the past decade, including the Parti Qu\u00e9becois\u2019s sweeping Values Charter from 2013 outlawing \u201cconspicuous\u201d religious symbols<\/a> for anyone giving or receiving public services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the leadership of Philippe Couillard, the Liberals passed more modest legislation: Bill 62, which singled out full-face coverings in the public service sector<\/a>, was passed in October 2017. But the law was quickly stayed by a provincial judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenged by civil liberty groups<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each of these attempts has been challenged by groups like the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These organizations point out that much of the proposed legislation has singled out a small number of Muslim women who choose to wear the full-face covering niqab rather than applying broadly to all religious symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has played a key role in preventing the widespread adoption of these laws, which appear only to circumscribe the religious symbols of minority groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"New
\n The nun\u2019s habit is not a concern in Qu\u00e9bec. (THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Ryan Remiorz<\/span>)<\/span>
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Indeed, since the 2013 Values Charter, legislation banning religious symbols has included exemptions for \u201cthe emblematic and toponymic elements of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s cultural heritage, in particular its religious cultural heritage, that testify to its history.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This clause effectively exempts Catholics from the secularization mandate by redefining their religious symbols as \u201ccultural\u201d and \u201chistorical\u201d rather than religious (and, notably, creates an exception for the large crucifix that hangs at the head of the National Assembly). It is yet unclear whether the CAQ\u2019s attempt will include a similar exemption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minority government<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PQ Premier Pauline Marois also made threats about her party invoking the notwithstanding clause<\/a> to pass the Values Charter in 2013. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the PQ had a minority government at the time, and Marois unsuccessfully risked an election to get a broader vote of confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legault\u2019s comments, in comparison, come on the heels of Premier Doug Ford\u2019s threat to use the notwithstanding clause for the first time in Ontario, suggesting that the Charter has become something of a pawn in the struggle between right-of-centre provincial populists and the federal Liberals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Legault\u2019s comments also come before he enters the premier\u2019s office \u2014 and backed by a majority government \u2014 signals that his attempt to pass a \u201csecularization\u201d bill might be successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that\u2019s the case, the CAQ\u2019s success where other parties have failed will come at the cost of both civil rights in the province and the protective capacity of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Carleton University is a member of this unique digital journalism platform that launched in June 2017 to boost visibility of Canada\u2019s academic faculty and researchers. Interested in writing a piece? Please contact Steven Reid<\/a> or sign up to become an author<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photos provided by The Conversation from various sources.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
\nCarleton Newsroom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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One day after the surprise victory of the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) in the recent Qu\u00e9bec election, Premier-elect Fran\u00e7ois Legault told a news conference that he plans to invoke the notwithstanding clause to finally pass legislation that will ban religious symbols for employees in \u201cpositions of authority\u201d throughout the province. But even though the Qu\u00e9bec […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":63690,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1623],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-63655","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-expert-perspectives"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63697,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63655\/revisions\/63697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=63655"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=63655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}