(CBC) Quebec’s secularism law, which bans some civil servants from wearing religious symbols at work, is facing a new legal challenge.
Lawyers representing a multi-faith group filed a motion Thursday in Quebec Superior Court that argues the law violates constitutional protections of gender equality and religious freedom.
The motion, a copy of which was provided to CBC News, also argues the law exceeds provincial jurisdiction and fails to live up to its own definition of laicité — or secularism.
“Fundamentally, what the law does is take a rather crude and odious form of discrimination — which is to ban the wearing of religious symbols — and wrap up that ban in the language of human rights,” said Eric Mendelsohn, one of the lawyers representing the inter-faith group, Coalition Inclusion Québec.
