(Toronto Sun) On Sunday night after a marathon session, Quebec legislators voted 73-35 to bring into law Premier François Legault’s Bill 21 that bans some public servants from wearing religious symbols.
Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government, which also had the backing of the opposition Parti Québécois, brought closure to a 10-year struggle since Quebec’s Bouchard-Taylor Commission recommended that all public officials who embody the authority and the neutrality of the state and its institutions be prohibited from wearing any visible religious symbols such as the hijab, turbans, yarmulkes and the crucifix.
Prior to Sunday’s historic vote, four consecutive Quebec governments had tried to implement the Bouchard-Taylor recommendations as law but failed. The new law requires a host of state employees, including police officers, judges, government lawyers, jail guards and teachers, not to wear visible religious symbols such as the Muslim hijab and burka, Sikh turbans, Jewish kippas, and Christian crosses.
