Quebec‘s government is moving to further restrict visible displays of faith in its education system, a move continuing a decade-long debate over religious freedom and state secularism.Announced Monday, teh proposed legislation woudl expand existing rules governing religious symbols to include all levels of education, from daycare through university. Minister of secularism Jean-François Roberge is set to formally introduce the bill Thursday, building on a 2017 law and subsequent measures aimed at ensuring state religious neutrality.
Quebec’s government is expanding its secularism policy to include anyone receiving or working within the province’s education system, from daycare through university. The move, announced Monday, further restricts the display of religious symbols in public institutions.
Publié à
The new regulations will apply to employees and students at all levels of education, including early childhood centers, post-secondary institutions, and private schools, according to reports. The policy builds on legislation passed earlier this fall prohibiting face coverings for students and staff in primary and secondary schools.
Quebec’s Minister of Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, is expected to introduce a bill Thursday formalizing the expansion. The legislation will reportedly prohibit religious symbols for daycare workers and those providing subsidized childcare services. Existing employees who currently wear religious symbols will be grandfathered in.
No census has been conducted to determine how many individuals within the education system currently wear face-covering religious symbols.
“Governing means anticipating what could happen,” a government source, unauthorized to discuss the pending legislation, told reporters. The source indicated the government is concerned about a potential increase in the wearing of such symbols.
The move stems from a 2017 law, “An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State,” which requires all public sector employees to perform their duties with their faces uncovered. Individuals receiving public services are also required to show their faces during interactions with employees. This new legislation would extend that requirement throughout the entire educational journey.
Under the bill Roberge is set to present this week, individuals will be required to show their faces at all times while participating in educational programs.
Full Face Veils Not Banned in Public Spaces
Despite a resolution passed by members of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) calling for a ban on face coverings in all public spaces, Roberge will not prohibit the wearing of full-face veils in public.
At the CAQ’s annual congress in September, party members voted 152 to 150 in favor of “prohibiting anyone, at all times, from concealing their face in public spaces.” Roberge voted in favor of the resolution and publicly encouraged others to support it.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Secularism, in March.
“We wanted diversity and inclusion in Quebec, for people to interact with each other, to share, to bring elements of their culture, to integrate. Can this be done with a hidden or covered face? […] We can ask ourselves that question,” he said at the time.
“It is perfectly normal that we ask ourselves the question for reasons of public safety and social cohesion,” Roberge added.
Restrictions on Public Prayer and Dedicated Spaces
The proposed legislation will not ban full-face veils in public spaces, but it will prohibit public prayer in streets and parks. It also aims to prevent the display of religious symbols in official public communications, such as a recent advertisement from a Montreal library featuring a veiled young woman sourced from a stock photo.
The bill will also prevent public institutions, such as colleges and universities, from establishing dedicated prayer spaces. Such spaces will only be permitted in residential settings, like prisons or long-term care facilities.
All other existing places of worship within the public sector, whether denominational or multi-denominational, will be dismantled.
Public institutions will also be prohibited from offering food services exclusively based on religious precepts, such as halal or kosher meals, as was recently the case at a Quebec daycare that served only halal food to children for logistical reasons.
The “Act Respecting the Laicity of the State,” adopted earlier this fall, already prohibits religious symbols for new childcare workers and prevents accommodating students with dietary restrictions for religious reasons. The law also prohibits time off for religious holidays not already included in the school calendar.
