(CBC) As the Quebec government prepares to table its secularism bill, constitutional experts are raising concerns about Premier François Legault’s reported plans to pre-emptively invoke the notwithstanding clause to ensure public workers in positions of authority are banned from wearing religious symbols.
Robert Leckey, dean of McGill University’s law faculty, said doing so would effectively make it impossible to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation.
“It really immunizes the law from the more obvious charter challenges,” Leckey said in an interview.
Montreal’s La Presse newspaper reported last week that a provision to invoke the clause could be written into Bill 62 itself.
