June 18, 2019

Anna Murray 

The Quebec provincial legislature passed a bill, Bill 21, late on June 16 in a 73-35 vote barring judges, police officers, schoolteachers, and other public servants from wearing religious symbols such as the kippah, turban, or hijab in the workplace. It applies to Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, Sikh turbans, and Catholic crosses, among other symbols and makes the French-speaking Canadian province the first North American jurisdiction in decades to enact such a ban, prompting criticism from Muslims and civil-rights groups. The government also added an amendment that would allow inspectors to verify that the law would comply.

Quebec Premier François Legault calls the bill a necessary measure to ensure the separation between religion and state in an abidingly secular province.

The provincial government says it is a "logical continuation of the Quiet Revolution" in which Quebec society rapidly embraced state secularism in the 1960s. Advocates regard it as a reasonable step with broad support in Quebec. Critics call it a dark day for the province and denounce it is discriminatory, unfair harm to Muslim women. They also worry it will be more difficult for religious minorities to integrate into Quebec society.

The bill also has echoes in Europe where Austria approved a law in May banning Muslim headscarves in primary schools; France banned Muslim headscarves and other conspicuous religious symbols at state schools as well.

Photo:Webshot.